The Messenger, Georgia
April 13 2005
Tbilisi: U.S. envoys pleased with visit to Abkhazia
American delegation reveals little about talks; Sergei Bagapsh flies
to Russia and rejects notion of meeting with Bush
By Anna Arzanova
Although U.S. officials have said little publicly about their talks
on Monday with separatist leaders in Abkhazia, Georgian officials on
Tuesday said the envoys were pleased with talks and even sparked
reports that the talks were connected with the upcoming visit of U.S.
President George Bush to Georgia.
The U.S. delegation included U.S. Ambassador to Georgia Richard Miles
and U.S. Senior Advisor for Caspian Basin Energy Diplomacy Steven
Mann, who is also the Special Negotiator for Nagorno-Karabakh and
Eurasian Conflicts.
Chair of the parliamentary defense and security committee Givi
Targamadze, who met with the U.S. envoys on Tuesday, reported that
Miles and Mann positively assessed the results of their visit.
According to Targamadze, HE Mann told Abkhaz leaders, including de
facto President Sergei Bagapsh, to provide additional security
guarantees so that IDPs can return to the Gali region. Targamadze
stated the Abkhaz leadership promised to give security guarantees not
only to those Georgians who are currently living in Gali, but to
those who would return there in the future.
Neither Mann nor Miles talked in depth about their visit on Tuesday
except to say that it was Steven Mann’s first visit to the region
and, Mann said, “it was not connected to President Bush’s upcoming
visit.”
His statement tempered earlier speculation that the delegation may
have invited Sokhumi officials to travel to Tbilisi for Bush’s visit.
Targamadze said there was a possibility that the leaders from
Georgia’s separatist states in South Ossetia and Abkhazia would meet
President Bush together with President Mikheil Saakashvili in Tbilisi
on May 10.
“The leaders of these regions may attend the meeting of the Georgian
and U.S. presidents,” Targamadze said, “Saakashvili has already said
that he is prepared for a such meeting.”
In addition to meetings in Parliament, the U.S. delegation also met
with President Saakashvili and Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli on
Tuesday.
The bulk of reports on the meetings came from Givi Targamadze
himself, who said the U.S. group found it was much better to speak
with Baghapsh than with his predecessor Vladislav Ardzinba.
Targamadze reported the American diplomats saw progress but still
want to observe whether or not Bagapsh is “free from Russia’s
influence.”
Based on his meeting with Steven Mann and Richard Miles, Targamadze
enthused that “Sergei Bagapsh did not insult the guests and in
addition was not too categorical.”
Bagapsh flies to Moscow for consultation
Immediately following the visit of the U.S. delegation, Abkhaz
president Sergei Baghapsh departed for Moscow, fueling speculation
that the U.S. delegation had delivered an important statement.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, the newly elected
separatist leader said he told U.S. diplomats that Abkhazia will not
change its uncompromising stance over the region’s status as an
independent state.
Instead he reiterated that Sokhumi is ready to discuss only economic
issues with Georgia because negotiations on political issues will
bring the negotiation process to a deadlock.
Baghapsh stated that he is prepared to negotiate with American or
other Western countries over the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, but the
“most important and main mediator in this issue is Russia.”
He flatly rejected the possibility that the U.S. delegation had
invited him to Tbilisi and, moreover, said he would refuse such an
offer.
“Such an issue has not even been considered. Nobody has even offered
me such a thing. I think that there is not and will not be such a
possibility. We have already said with whom we deal with about our
problems. This is Russia,” Bagapsh said in a phone conversation with
Imedi TV.