U.S. Diplomat Calls for Abkhaz Talks Without Preconditions

It is still unclear whether the Abkhaz side will take part in proposed talks in Berlin next week, Mathew Bryza, the U.S. deputy assistance secretary of state, said on July 26.

He held talks with the Abkhaz leadership in Sokhumi on July 25 in an attempt to convince them to engage in talks with the Georgian side without preconditions. Sokhumi, backed by Moscow, said it would not resume direct talks with Tbilisi unless the latter pulls out its forces from upper Kodori Gorge and signs a treaty on the non-use of force.

Abkhaz officials have so far given mixed reactions to calls to participate in proposed talks in Berlin next week with the Georgian side, and with the participation of the Group of Friends of UN Secretary General on Georgia, involving France, Germany, Great Britain, Russia and the U.S.

The U.S. diplomat also held talks with President Saakashvili, State Minister for Reintegration Temur Iakobashvili, and Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili and her deputy Giga Bokeria in Batumi after meeting the Abkhaz leadership.

Speaking at a news conference in Tbilisi on July 26, Bryza suggested it was up to Russia to help encourage Abkhaz involvement in the talks without preconditions.

“Hopefully Russia will tell us there are no difficulties in scheduling or summer holidays and Russia will be able to join us in Berlin as soon as possible,” he said. “It is up to Russia to decide whether it considers itself as a party into the conflict or a facilitator. But if it wants to facilitate, then it needs to help us resolve this conflict in accordance with all the [UN] Security Council resolutions and that’s not been happening yet.”

He also said that preconditions to talks were not helpful.

“I can not understand why there are no direct talks between Sukhumi and Tbilisi. The Georgian government is ready,” Bryza said. “There should be no preconditions at all; we need sides to get together to reinvigorate peace process.”

“So if parties are serious about reducing tension and getting closer to settlement of the Abkhazia conflict, they should not put any preconditions and if they wish to just stall [the peace process] and play for time, they can always come up with some excuse.”

The U.S. diplomat, however, also said that prospects for removing preconditions and restarting talks were “pretty good.”

"I am somewhat optimistic that the situation is improving, because the international community, especially the Euro-Atlantic community, is so strongly encouraging the parties to start negotiations without any preconditions,” he said.

He underlined that Germany, which is the coordinator of the Group of Friends, “is leading efforts with the foreign minister [Frank-Walter Steinmeier] personally involved, as well as the chancellor [Angela Merkel].”

Unlike European diplomats, who are lukewarm on changing the current Russia-led peacekeeping operation, at least for now, the U.S. official suggested that there was a need for stronger law enforcement in the Gali district – a proposal which is in line with Tbilisi’s calls for the deployment of a joint Georgian-Abkhaz police force under international supervision in the Gali and Ochamchire districts of the breakaway region. 

“What is clear is that there probably is a role for the international community to play at least in the Gali district to ensure security of the residents there, especially of returned displaced persons,” Bryza said. “And that is because the mandate of CIS peacekeepers does not include law enforcement, so there is a big vacuum in the Gali district when it comes to law enforcement.”

At the news conference, Bryza also addressed the controversy triggered by his remarks on the withdrawal of Georgian forces from upper Kodori Gorge made in the Russian language on July 25 in Sokhumi after talks with the Abkhaz leadership.

When asked if he had been misquoted or misinterpreted, Bryza responded: “The U.S. does not have position according to which we are asking Georgia to pull out its Ministry of Internal Affairs personnel from upper Kodori Valley; so let’s be clear about that.”

He then said – recalling the most recent UN Security Council resolution on Abkhazia – that the Security Council members “believe that situation in upper Kodori Valley is in accordance to previous resolutions and to the 1994 Moscow ceasefire agreement.”

The resolution passed by the UN Security Council in April 2008 in fact reads: “[UNSC] stresses the necessity to keep under close observation the situation in the upper Kodori valley which has to be in line with the Moscow agreement on ceasefire and separation of forces of 14 May 1994.”