Georgia sends peace proposals for Abkhazia and South Ossetia

Georgia sends peace proposals for Abkhazia and South Ossetia

2010-12-08 00:59:42 GMT+7 (ICT)

TBILISI, GEORGIA (BNO NEWS) -- Georgia on Tuesday announced that President Mikheil Saakashvili officially sent peace proposals for Abkhazia and South Ossetia to the international community.

"The Georgian president has recently sent official letters to the UN Secretary General, EU and OSCE leaders, the NATO Secretary General, the U.S. president and the European Commission president and once again informed them of Georgia's peace initiatives," the president's spokesperson Manana Manjgaladze said.

The proposal was first announced at an European Parliament session in Strasbourg, France, last month. President Saakashvili assured that his country would never use force bring back Abkhazia and South Ossetia under its control.

Instead, Saakashvili said that Georgia will only use peaceful means to ensure the withdrawal of the occupation forces and a possible reunification. These statements were urged by Russia to be put on paper and to come into legal force to avoid them to be merely promises.

South Ossetia, along with neighboring Abkhazia, consider themselves independent nations but are only recognized by Russia, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Georgia still considers the region as part of its country, as most of the world's governments do.

Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states two weeks after a five-day war with Georgia in August 2008. Georgian forces had attacked South Ossetia in a failed attempt to bring it back under central control.

Hundreds of Russian, Georgian, South Ossetian and Abkhazian soldiers were killed during the conflict, as well as more than 160 civilians.

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