UN envoy briefs Abkhaz, Georgian leaders on Geneva talks
Heidi Tagliavini, who is UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan's envoy for the Abkhaz conflict, met in Sukhum on 27 February
with Abkhaz Prime Minister Gennadii Gagulia and Foreign Minister Sergei
Shamba, and in Tbilisi with President Shevardnadze, to inform them about
the 19-20 February "brainstorming session" in Geneva of representatives
of the UN Secretary-General's Friends of Georgia group, Caucasus Press
reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 February 2003). That session
was intended to generate new approaches to resolving the Abkhaz conflict.
Tagliavini reportedly said that participants agreed on the need to create
three bodies to focus, respectively, on economic problems, the repatriation
of displaced persons, and political issues. In 1997, a Coordinating Council
for resolving the conflict was established under the UN's aegis. That body
has three working groups to address security issues, including maintaining
the existing cease-fire, assisting displaced persons, and coping with economic
issues (see "RFE/RL Newsline" 19 November 1997). LF
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