Civil Georgia, Georgia
April 12 2005
Enlivened U.S. Diplomacy Compels Abkhaz Leadership to Visit Moscow
President of breakaway Abkhazia Sergey Bagapsh is visiting Moscow
from April 12-13, following talks with senior U.S. diplomats in the
Abkhaz capital Sokhumi on April 11. While various Russian news
agencies have reported that Bagapsh plans to talk with unspecified
Russian officials no other details of this trip are known.
Sergey Bagapsh told reporters after talks with the U.S. delegation,
which included the U.S. Department of State’s Senior Advisor for
Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy Ambassador Steven Mann, who is also
the Special Negotiator for Nagorno-Karabakh and Eurasian Conflicts,
and U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Richard Miles, that Abkhazia will not
give up its uncompromising stance over the region’s independence.
The Abkhaz leader reiterated that Sokhumi is presently ready to
discuss only economic issues with the Georgian side, as talks over
the political problems would bring the negotiation process to a halt.
Sergey Bagapsh said that the Abkhaz side is ready to contribute
developing a peace plan, which could guarantee the `peaceful
co-existence of the two neighboring states,’ the Abkhaz news agency
Apsnipress reported.
After talks in Sokhumi, Steven Mann and U.S. Ambassador to Georgia
Richard Miles met with President Mikheil Saakashvili to brief him
over this visit to Sokhumi. Later, the U.S. diplomats also met with
Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli, as well as with Chairman of Georgian
Parliamentary Committee on Defense and Security MP Givi Targamadze in
Tbilisi on April 12.
MP Givi Targamadze told reporters after talks that the `Georgian
President Mikheil Saakashvili is ready to meet Sergey Bagapsh and
Eduard Kokoity [leader of breakaway South Ossetia] in Tbilisi during
the visit of [U.S. President] George Bush to Georgia’ on May 10. The
statement immediately triggered speculations that the U.S. diplomats
invited the Abkhaz leader to Tbilisi during the U.S. President’s
visit. Steven Mann, however, said that his visit to Sokhumi had
nothing in common with the U.S. President’s planned trip to Georgia.
Political analysts in Tbilisi say that this recent visit by senior
U.S. diplomats to Abkhazia, as well as the U.S. President’s scheduled
visit, is a clear indication of Washington’s increased interest in
the the Abkhaz conflict resolution issue.
`This is the first time that such a high-level, U.S. diplomatic
mission has visited Abkhazia. Tbilisi has tried for a long time to
increase U.S. motivation towards being more actively involved in the
resolution of this conflict. But these attempts have been fruitless
so far. But now the U.S. understands very well that there will be no
stability in this region without settlement of these conflicts,’
political analyst Archil Gegeshidze, from the Georgian Foundation for
Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS), told Civil Georgia.
He also said that the planned visit by George W. Bush also contributs
to U.S. diplomatic efforts. `Washington is studying this conflict in
more detail on the eve of Bush’s visit… I do not rule out the
possibility that the U.S. diplomats invited Bagapsh to Tbilisi during
the U.S. President’s visit. But it would be very difficult for this
to happen because of Russia’s role,’ Archil Gegeshidze said.
`Bagapsh is not the kind of person to take important steps without
prior agreement with Moscow. That is why he left for Russia shortly
after his talks with U.S. diplomats,’ he added.
Many political analysts also believe that the U.S. diplomats
delivered at least two messages to the Abkhaz leader: `find a
compromise with the Georgian side; and, secondly, the international
community will never recognize Abkhazia’s independence,’ Gegeshidze
said.