Khaindrava: Tbilisi Works over Abkhazia, South Ossetia Status

Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Goga Khaindrava said on January 3 that the government is developing a draft on the status for breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia.  He said by January 10 the draft will be submitted to the National Security Council for consideration.
 
?I think we should discuss the draft together with the representatives of the Abkhaz and South Ossetian authorities. I hope they will agree to a dialogue,? Goga Khaindrava said in an interview with Imedi television on January 3.
 
President Saakashvili instructed the government to prepare a peace plan in December for resolving the Abkhazian and South Ossetian conflicts. He said, while addressing the Georgian National Security Council late on December 17, that the plan should envisage a ?federal arrangement? of the country with ?the widest form of status? for those breakaway regions in the ?common state? of Georgia.

Goga Khaindrava also said that in the case of Abkhazia, the paper will be based on an already existing document, which has been developed by a group of Georgia political and legal experts.

This document implies the creation of a two-member federation state. Abkhazia would enjoy the largest possible degree of autonomy in exchange for the abandoning of its current uncompromising position concerning total independence.