TBILISI. Feb 10 (Interfax-AVN) - Georgia has postponed the departure of the next shift of its peacekeepers to Iraq due to maladjustment of transportation issues with the U.S., a source in the Georgian Defense Ministry told Interfax-Military News Agency on Tuesday.
"The peacekeepers which were supposed to leave for Iraq on February 9 will fly there next week after the U.S. party provides a military transport plane for delivering the Georgian Defense Ministry's task force," the source said.
Acting Georgian Defense Minister David Tevzadze returned from an international security conference in Munich early on Tuesday, the source said.
"While staying in Germany, Tevzadze met with Pentagon leader Donald Rumsfeld three times to discuss continuation of Georgian- U.S. military cooperation," he noted.
Press secretary of the Georgian Defense Ministry Nino Sturua earlier told Interfax-AVN that the next Georgian peacekeeping unit would leave for Iraq on Monday.
"The unit numbers over 200 servicemen, which is nearly three times more than the first unit that was sent to Iraq in August last year," she noted.
According to the press secretary, U.S. military instructors were involved widely in the training of the new shift of peacekeepers.
A Georgian unit numbering 70 people, including military doctors, sappers and a platoon of the Kojori quick-response brigade, is staying in Iraq. The unit is stationed near the town of Tikrit.