Abkhazia Authorities Against New Georgian Chief Negotiator

Foreign Minister of breakaway Abkhazia Sergey Shamba said the new Georgian chief negotiator Irakli Alasania is “unacceptable” for the de facto Abkhaz authorities, Itar-Tass news agency reported.

President Mikheil Saakashvili appointed Irakli Alasania as his Special Envoy for conflict settlement in Abkhazia on February 16.

Shamba said that Alasania is unacceptable, as he is in charge of the Abkhaz government-in-exile, operating in Georgia proper. His “appointment as negotiator would mean legitimizing the ‘government-in-exile’ [by the current de-facto authorities]”, Shamba argued.