Tbilisi offers to create joint Abkhaz-Georgian administration in Gali District

(Tbilisi February 3, 2003. Civil Georgia) - Georgia wants to create a joint Georgian-Abkhaz administration in Gali district of breakaway Abkhazia, which is mainly populated by the Georgians.
"We want this administration to operate under the international aegis and international observation," Malkhaz Kakabadze, Special Affairs Minister, which is actively engaged in the talks with Abkhaz side told Civil Georgia today.

President Shevardnadze said in his radiobroadcast on February 3 that Georgia will prolong the Russian peacekeepers' mandate in the conflict zone in case the peacekeeping operation will be expanded on enter Gali district.

At the moment Russian peacekeepers control only the 12-kilometer security zone, that is the separation line between Georgian and Abkhaz forces.

Georgia hopes that the expansion of the peacekeepers' mandate on entire Gali district will enable safe return of the IDPs in this district.