Translated material
Independence for three
Abkhazia will host a summit of unrecognized states
Today, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General Jean Arnault will hold talks in Sukhumi with the leaders of the unrecognized Republic of Abkhazia on the situation in the zone of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. Abkhazia, like two other unrecognized states from the “Community for Democracy and the Rights of Peoples” created last year - South Ossetia and Transnistria - with the approaching resolution of the Kosovo issue, remind the international community of their claims to independence.Foreign Minister of Abkhazia Sergei Shamba told Vremya Novostey that in Sukhumi on November 3 he will discuss the situation in conflict zones in the post-Soviet space with his colleagues from Tskhinvali and Tiraspol. After this, on November 4 and 5, a meeting of the presidents of the “triple alliance” will be held in the capital of Abkhazia.
“The extradition by Georgia last Saturday of seven of our prisoners of war captured on September 20 does not reduce our concern regarding Tbilisi’s aggressive plans. And the special representative of the UN Secretary General will be informed about this,” said Sergei Shamba. - The investigation of this incident was carried out by UN military observers and Russian peacekeepers, and Georgia’s guilt has already been proven. And now we need to identify specific perpetrators and punish them.” On September 20, in the mountains of Abkhazia, Georgian special forces shot and killed two instructors of the Abkhaz border center, and seven soldiers were captured. A Georgian court sentenced them to a suspended five-year sentence for participation in an “illegal formation.”
During today's negotiations with Jean Arnault, according to VN, Abkhazia, as a reciprocal gesture of goodwill, will announce the restoration of traditional weekly meetings between the parties with the participation of UN observers and Russian peacekeepers. They were held in the Gali region of the unrecognized republic, but were interrupted several months ago due to constant complications of the situation.
“Our President Eduard Kokoity and the head of Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsh recently called and discussed the situation. There is operational information about Georgia’s plans to organize armed provocations against both South Ossetia and Abkhazia in early November,” Irina Gagloeva, chairman of the South Ossetian Committee on Information and Press, told VN. -- Consultations will continue during the meeting in Sukhumi. In order for our cooperation to be more fruitful, we recently opened an embassy in Abkhazia. By spring, the Abkhazians plan to open an embassy in Tskhinvali. We know that at the upcoming meeting in Sukhumi, Abkhazia will come out with some new developments in the “Kosovo context,” but for now we should not talk about this specifically, so as not to get ahead of events.”