UN Expresses Concern At Situation In Abkhazia's Gali Region
November 07, 2005
7 November 2005 (RFE/RL) --
The United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) today expressed concern at the overall situation in breakaway Abkhazia's southern Gali region, saying tensions there could rise.
UNOMIG said in a statement it has urged Georgia and Abkhazia to address security issues as soon as possible. It also said that it is ready to help with the creation of a human rights office in Gali and the deployment of an international police force in the area.
Tbilisi says Abkhazia is forcibly drafting ethnic Georgians from Gali into its separatist armed forces and that one Georgian
villager was recently killed after he refused to take the oath of allegiance. Sukhumi denies the accusations.
Abkhazia's Gali region is home to an estimated 20,000 to 60,000 ethnic Georgians who returned there after the 1992-1993 separatist war.
( RFE/RL's Georgian Service/
UNOMIG)