Interfax News Agency, Russia
May 17 2008

Saakashvili vows to return to Georgians their "lawful property" in
Abkhazia

TBILISI May 17

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has ordered to the Justice
Ministry and the Foreign Ministry to track every instance of illegal
investment in Abkhazia and to take measures not to allow illegal sale
of real estate in Abkhazia.

"I want to order to the Justice Ministry and the Foreign Ministry not
to allow even a single attempt to make illegal investment in Abkhazia,
not to allow even a single attempt to illegally sell properties in
Abkhazia, because Abkhazia is Georgia. There our citizens have their
houses, their lands, their lawful property that will soon be returned
to them for their legal use," Saakashvili said at the government’s
session on Friday evening.

"This is Georgia’s legal demand that has already been reflected in UN
(United Nations) documents," he said.

On Thursday, the UN General Assembly passed Georgia’s draft resolution
on Abkhazia, which was favored by 14 countries, including
Azerbaijan. Eleven countries, including Russia, Belarus and Armenia,
opposed. The resolution recognizes Georgian refugees’ rights to return
to Abkhazia.

According to the UN charter, any resolution passed at the UN GA is not
binding and can only be a recommendation.

Meanwhile, on Friday the leader of the provisional parliamentary
committee on Georgia’s territorial integrity, Shota Malakhshiya,
accused Russia of ignoring the UN General Assembly’s resolution.

"Russia’s breach of the resolution on Abkhazia, passed by the UN
General Assembly on Thursday, can cost it very dearly, and it could be
left outside the peaceful talks on the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict,"
Malakhshiya told Interfax on Friday.

"Already today we saw Russia violating yesterday’s resolution, when
governor of the Krasnodar Territory Alexander Tkachov arrived in
Abkhazia to consider Abkhazia’s participation in the preparations for
Sochi Olympics and buying several properties," Malakhshiya said.

On Friday, Abkhaz President Sergei Bagapsh and governor of Russia’s
Krasnodar Territory Alexander Tkachov signed in Gagry an agreement on
cooperation between the Krasnodar Territory and the Abkhaz Republic.

"The Agreement reflects the supplies that Abkhazia can make for
construction of the Olympic facilities in Sochi," Bagapsh said after
the signing ceremony.