PM: Georgia Committed to Peaceful End to Abkhaz Conflict

Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania told the UN Security Council on April 29 that the main goal of the country’s new leadership was to restore the territorial integrity of Georgia through peaceful means, UN news centre reported.
 
The Prime Minister expressed hope that the international community, particularly the UN Security Council, would make energetic new efforts to reach a comprehensive and peaceful resolution to the conflict in Abkhazia.

Zurab Zhvania expressed regret that the Abkhaz side is refusing to discuss UN-proposed document over the division of powers between Tbilisi and Sukhumi, while giving Abkhazia wide-ranging autonomy within Georgia.
 
Zhvania said the Russia, as the special facilitator, had been trying to deliver the document to the Abkhaz side, but without much success. He expressed hope that with the increased involvement of his Russian colleagues now it would be possible to begin meaningful deliberations.

In February Abkhaz side refused to attend a scheduled meeting and two days ago, at a meeting in Moscow, despite the efforts of the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the participation of the Russian side, Abkhaz side was “unconstructive.”
 
In his latest report in April UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was encouraged by the commitment of the new Georgian leadership to find a comprehensive settlement by peaceful means.

He called on the Abkhaz side to use the changing political climate in Tbilisi to start negotiations on the substantive issues of the conflict.