President of breakaway Abkhazia Sergey Bagapsh said in an interview with the Russian news agency Regnum on August 4 that the recognition of Abkhazia's independence by Tbilisi in exchange for Sokhumi's consent on the return of Georgian internally displaced persons to the unrecognized republic's Gali district would be a reasonable compromise that will help to solve decade-old conflict.
"Two neighboring states [Georgia, Abkhazia] -- is the best compromise. Georgia now has a perfect chance to recognize Abkhazia's [independence]... In turn we will return [Georgian refugees] to the Gali district. I think it will be very difficult to reach another compromise," Bagapsh said.
He said that currently about 50-60 thousand Georgians live in the Gali district. "There were 72,000 Georgians in Gali before the war... a census of those who have already returned will start in October, 2005," Sergey Bagapsh said.
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