Georgian troops were moved to the the Kodori Gorge July 25 to disarm a rebellious militia unit led by Emzar Kvitsiani. Georgia said it was a police operation, but later admitted army units were also involved. The gorge in the north of the former Soviet republic is the Georgian-controlled territory and the de facto border with Abkhazia.
Sergei Chaban, commander of the Collective Peacekeeping Forces in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict zone, said after four-party talks in Cheburkhindzhi that peacekeepers were already controlling the withdrawal of vehicles from the Kodori Gorge. "But taking into account that over 100 vehicles are remaining in the gorge, this work is still to continue," Chaban said.
The talks on conflict resolution were held between Georgia, Abkhazia, representatives of the United Nations and peacekeepers in the region. Abkhazian delegation head Ruslan Kishmariya said Georgia's operation in the gorge was in breach of previously assumed obligations, particularly under the 1994 Moscow ceasefire and disengagement agreement.
He added that the Abkhazian leadership would have to take over control of the gorge if Georgia continued attempts to establish a new "legitimate government" of the breakaway region there.
The talks had been previously scheduled for July 28 but failed after Abkhazia refused to attend the meeting following the arrival of a representative of a pro-Tbilisi government. "Abkhazia has no intention of holding four-party talks with the Georgian delegation that comprises a representative of the so-called Abkhazian autonomy in exile," Kishmariya said then.
The bloody conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia erupted in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was suspended by a ceasefire agreement that introduced peacekeeping troops of the former Soviet republics, including Russia, in the separatist area.
