TBILISI. Aug 14 (Interfax-AVN) - The opening of a UN military observer post in the Georgia-controlled part of the Kodoro gorge is being cleared with the Security Council and a positive decision on the matter is likely to be made in the near future, Georgian State Minister Avtandil Dzhorbenadze told reporters on Wednesday.
The Georgian party is ready to guarantee security to UN military observers near the Azhara village in the gorge and near the Chkhalta village if needed.
Dzhorbenadze said that Georgia would not sanction the opening of a permanent post of Russian peacekeepers in the area. The opening of the UN post should satisfy the Abkhaz party, the minister stressed.
At present UN military observers and the Collective Peacekeeping Forces in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone, the latter being manned with Russian servicemen since 1994, periodically patrol the Kodori gorge, though the Abkhaz party considers it to be insufficient.
Dzhorbenadze stressed that he was going to speak on the phone with Abkhaz Prime Minister Anri Dzhergenia on Wednesday to discuss the situation in the gorge where shootouts took place on Tuesday.