Breakaway Regions Reject Calls for Reunification

Both breakaway regions of Georgia – Abkhazia and South Ossetia, have rejected President Saakashvili?s calls for launching talks over status within the Georgian state.

“We have reiterated for many times that South Ossetia is a sovereign state and is ready to build only good-neighborly relations with Georgia,” South Ossetian de facto Foreign Minister Murad Dzhioyev told Russian news agency Interfax on May 26. 

Dzhioyev said South Ossetia is conducting negotiations with Georgia on conflict settlement, but not on the creation of a unified state.
 
De facto Prime Minister of Abkhazia Raul Khajimba also rejected Saakashvili?s offers of reintegration.
 
?Abkhazia status is final. The Republic has adopted the constitution of an independent state and the issue of Abkhazia?s status can not be the subject of discussion,? Khajimba said on May 26.
 
On May 26 Saakashvili addressed breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia in their native languages and urged the separatist leaders to launch peace talks to determine the breakaway regions? status.