GEORGIAN PRESIDENT DECRIES HIS NATION "IS NOT WHOLE"

Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Germany
September 26, 2007 Wednesday 11:38 PM EST

DPA POLITICS Georgia Diplomacy UN Georgian president decries his nation
"is not whole" New York
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili told the UN General Assembly
Wednesday his nation is still divided and "signs of hope are few and
far between."

A former Soviet republic, Georgia has been fighting to keep its
province of Abkhazia from seceding. Saakashvili said up to 500,000
Georgians have fled Abkhazia since the 1990s when separatist forces
there mounted a military campaign to demand autonomy.

He said UN diplomatic efforts have not succeeded to bring peace to
the region despite recognition of Georgian sovereignty.

He charged an "ethnic cleansing" war in Abkhazia has uprooted
Georgians, Armenians, Estonians, Greeks, Jews and Russians who had
been living there for centuries.

Saakashvili urged the UN to launch a comprehensive review of "all
aspects of the peace process … by injecting a new and positive
dynamic" into the negotiating process.