EU peacekeepers for Georgia a non-starter?

ITAR-TASS on 4 February quoted an EU official as saying Georgia has not addressed any request to the EU to provide troops from its embryonic Rapid Reaction Force to replace the CIS peacekeepers currently deployed in the Abkhaz conflict zone. Interfax similarly quoted Georgian presidential adviser Levan Aleksidze as saying the use of the EU force in Abkhazia is out of the question. Aleksidze also expressed doubt that the EU would intervene in the Abkhaz conflict, given that Georgia is not an EU member. Shevardnadze mentioned the possibility of an EU force for Abkhazia at a press conference in Tbilisi on 3 February. LF