Abkhazia is an unrecognised Black Sea coastal republic, former autonomy, within Georgia. Its Gali district was scene of bitter fights between ethnic Georgians and Abkhazians in the early 1990s. Surviving Georgians had to flee their homes.
The conference of the two preceding days confirmed compliance with the Sochi and other available understandings. The gathering voiced firm determination to step up the activities of all three Sochi ad hoc teams.
Georgian and Abkhaz spokesmen considered a draft letter of intentions on prospective Gali refugee return. The draft leaves room for improvement, and work on it will go on, determined the conferees. They highlighted the importance of the refugee return cause. The team intends to attract to it the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. It has appealed to the UNHCR to draw recommendations on related practical demands before the nearest team session.
The conferees highly evaluated consistent UN efforts to promote refugee return in compliance with international principles.
The gathering thanked Russia for providing it a Moscow venue.
The team will have its next session in Sochi, as soon as UNHCR recommendations come up, and no later than next June.
Leading the Georgian delegation was Georgi Khaindrava, State Minister for Conflict Settlement; the Abkhaz, Sergei Shamba, republican Foreign Minister; and the Russian, Mikhail Bocharnikov, Ambassador at Large. Heidi Taliavini, UN Secretary General's special envoy for Georgia, and Lieutenant-General Alexander Yevteyev, in command of the CIS collective peacekeeping forces for the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone, attended the event.
