Georgia Rejects Abkhaz Reasons for Boycotting Talks

(Tbilisi. April 17, 2003. Civil Georgia) – Georgia denies presence of the regular unites of the Georgian armed forces in Kodori gorge, the only part of breakaway Abkhazia controlled by the Georgian authorities.

The Abkhaz-Georgian talks initially scheduled for 8 April and postponed until 15 April have again been postponed.

The Abkhaz refused to participate in any further talks with the Georgian side under the aegis of the UN-sponsored Coordinating Council as long as Georgian troops remain in the upper reaches of the Kodori gorge.

Georgian authorities dismissed today accusation, claiming that there are no unites of the Georgian armed forces the gorge.