Georgia: UN envoy meets with Abkhaz Premier

Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini, who is UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy for the Abkhaz conflict, met in Sukhum on 19 March with Abkhaz Prime Minister Gennadii Gagulia and Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba, Caucasus Press reported. Tagliavini told journalists that the talks focused on implementation of the agreements reached during talks in Sochi on 6-7 March between the Russian and Georgian presidents. Shamba reportedly advocated a key role for the UN in ensuring the implementation of the agreements on repatriation of displaced persons and resuming rail communication between Sukhum and Tbilisi. In Tbilisi, however, Georgian President Shevardnadze told Georgian State Television on 19 March that the UN is incapable of ensuring the implementation of Security Council resolutions, including 28 such resolutions on Abkhazia, Interfax reported. LF