Meeting on prevention of conflicts between Georgia and Abkhazia ends in Gali

A second five-party meeting on preventing conflicts and investigating incidents at the border of Georgia and Abkhazia has taken place today in the border town of Gali.

In his talk with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, Maxim Gvindzhiya, member of the Abkhazia delegation and deputy minister of foreign affairs, characterized it as "constructive", despite the fact that the meeting was "held in a tense atmosphere".

According to him, at the beginning the parties have discussed organizational issues, including the opening of a hot line to exchange information on the situation in the border area.

Regarding the issue raised by the Georgian party on the arrest of two buses with passengers, which tried to cross the Georgia-Abkhazia border on July 22, representatives of Abkhazia stated that "the buses tried to cross the border outside allocated check-points and the passengers had no identity documents ".

Representatives of Abkhazia expressed their deep concern about the fact that, so far, the fate of David Sigua, head of Gali district election commission, is unknown. He was kidnapped in February 2007, as the Abkhazia party claims, by Georgian secret services.

"However, representatives of Georgia stated that they knew nothing about Sigua and promised to provide information if they found something out", said Maxim Gvindzhiya.