TBILISI. Nov 27 (Interfax-AVN) - Tedo Dzhaparidze, secretary of the Georgian National Security Council, said that the CIS peacekeeper force present in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone since 1994 should to become international.
Tbilisi is willing to give impetus to the peaceful settlement process, including the problem of peacekeeper force internationalization, for the methods used now have given no result, he told Interfax-Military News Agency Wednesday.
He also said that in the current stage of the process, he does not see "any positive practical outlook for peacekeeper internationalization with participation of international organizations, for example, the United Nations".
It will most likely be done within the framework of the CIS, as is prescribed by the mandate of the Collective Peacekeeping Force, he added.
According to Dzhaparidze, this issue will be touched upon during Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma's visit to Georgia, due in mid-December.
"We will have to work hard to really internationalize the peacekeepers", he said. However, he added that Georgia had not raised the question on engagement of peacekeepers form other countries at the NATO summit of November 21-22 in Prague.
The latest mandate of the CIS Collective Peacekeeping Force in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone expires December 31, 2002. The force made up by Russian detachments has been in the region since 1994, with more than 20 posts currently in the conflict zone. The force has about 2,000 personnel.