GEORGIA URGES UN TO RECOGNISE ETHNIC CLEANSING AGAINST GEORGIANS IN ABKHAZIA

ITAR-TASS, Russia
Oct 16 2007

TBILISI, October 15 (Itar-Tass) — Georgia will urge the United
Nations to recognise ethnic cleansing against Georgians in Abkhazia
in 1992-1993, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said on Monday.

"It is very important" that the U.N. Security Council resolution on
the on the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict adopted on Monday "for the
first time states the unconditional right of all refuges to return to
all parts of Abkhazia and specifies the mechanisms for their return,
but we expect more from the United Nations", the president said.

"We will insist that the United Nations not just engage in general
discussions about several hundred residents of Abkhazia who had to
leave their houses and land in 1992-1993 but recognise that it was
ethnic cleansing with all ensuing legal acts and responsibility of
all persons who committed this ethnic cleansing," Saakashvili said.

He welcomed the resolution as a "diplomatic breakthrough" in the
peaceful resolution of the conflict.

"The resolution is a serious step in the peaceful resolution of the
Abkhazian conflict," he said.

In his view, "the most important aspect is that the resolution for the
first time states the rights of refugees from the Abkhazian region
to their property they had to leave in places of their permanent
residence."

"This means that the rights of refugees to their property are
protected not only by Georgian laws but also by a U.N. Security
Council resolution," he added.

"From now on all those who infringe upon the property of refugees they
left in the Abkhazian region will bear responsibility in accordance
with international law," he warned.

Saakashvili confirmed that Tbilisi favours "peaceful resolution of
the Abkhazian conflict".

"Georgian authorities will continue efforts towards a peaceful
and political settlement of the conflict and restoration of their
jurisdiction over the entire territory of the Abkhazian region,"
the president said.

Tbilisi has been controlling only one district in Abkhazia – the
upper part of the Kodori Gorge — since 1993.

At the beginning of September, Saakashvili said the sale by Sukhumi
authorities of Abkhazian refugees’ property left during the armed
conflict in 1992-1993 was unlawful.

"The property left in Abkhazia by local residents who have become
refugees belongs only to them. Any attempt to buy the land of flats
of refugees is unlawful and will be annulled by Georgian authorities,"
the president said.

Prior to the 1992-1993 conflict, 525,000 people lived in Abkhazia,
including 47 percent of Georgians, 18 percent of Abkhazians, and rest
were Russians, Armenians, Greeks, Jews, etc.

About 400,000 people left the Abkhazian region in 1993, including
240,000 Georgians. Since the end of the 1990s, about 45,000 Georgian
have spontaneously returned to the Gali district of Abkhazia. The
other refugees are living in other parts of Georgia, Russia, Ukraine,
Greece, Israel, and other countries.