TBILISI. April 14 (Interfax) - Georgia believes there is no need to deploy peacekeepers in the conflict zone with breakaway Abkhazia and plans to propose forming a joint Georgian-Abkhaz police force to patrol the area, Georgia's reintegration minister announced on Saturday.
"Today there is no longer any need to have any peacekeepers in the conflict zone," Temur Iakobashvili told reporters. "There is no need there for either Russian or Western or international peacekeepers. There is a greater need in the conflict zone for police forces that would be fighting crime."
Georgia is proposing setting up a Georgian-Abkhaz police force and hopes to raise the initiative with Abkhazia, Iakobashvili said.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was due to meet with Georgian ministers on Saturday evening to discuss the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. On the agenda should be the joint police force proposal.