Abducted UN Observers are Unharmed

(Tbilisi, June 6 2003, Civil Georgia) – The UN spokesman Fred Eckhard told the reporter in New York that the UN observers abducted in Georgia?s breakaway region of Abkhazia are alive.

?They managed to report by radio that they were unharmed,? a UN spokesman said in New York.

The incident occurred when a joint UN Mission and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) peacekeeping force were patrolling in the upper Kodori gorge, scene of previous clashes in the Abkhazian conflict zone.

The Russian peacekeepers were released shortly thereafter but the UN personnel – two military observers, a paramedic and a local interpreter – are still in the hands of the hostage-takers.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)