SUKHUMI. Oct 13 (Interfax-AVN) - Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba explained reasons for toughening the border rules on the Inguri River to Alexandra Manescu, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross mission in Abkhazia.
"The rules for crossing the state border along the Inguri River have been toughened because of permanent acts of provocation on the part of Georgia, which are aimed at destabilizing the situation in the Gali district," the Abkhaz Foreign Ministry quoted Shamba as saying.
"Being guided by the Moscow Accords, Abkhazia had not brought additional troops and heavy armor to the border zone, and the function of separating the [conflicting] parties was delegated to the peacekeeping forces. In the past several months, the situation has changed radically, and the previous format of the accords no longer works," he said.
Shamba also said Abkhaz border troops will be deployed along the borders and will control security in the area. "As soon as the situation in the conflict zone stabilizes, the rules for crossing the border through the Inguri River will be eased," he said.
Manescu said she was worried that the crossing of the border through the Inguri river for the residents of the Gali district is complicated and that there is no chance for inhabitants of the upper part of the Kodori Gorge to return home.
Commenting on the situation in the Kodori Gorge, Shamba said, "People are gradually coming back home in that region of Abkhazia, and Abkhazia is not going to obstruct this process."
However, he said he had information that the Georgian authorities were intimidating the people returning to their homes in the Kodori Gorge.
Shamba thanked Manescu, whose mandate will expire in November, for the ICRC's work in Abkhazia aimed at providing assistance to the most unprotected categories of people.