SUKHUM, April 7. /TASS/. An agreement with Georgia on non-use of force is still an elusive task despite more than five years of consultations on security in the Caucasus in Geneva, Abkhazian Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Chirikba said on Tuesday.
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"The key goal of the Geneva consultations is to sign an agreement between Abkhazia and Georgia and between South Ossetia and Georgia on the non-use of force, and this goal seems to be hard to reach," he told journalists.
"For Georgia, such an agreement means recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. It is extremely difficult to persuade Georgia that this agreement will be in its own interests, since the absence of a peace treaty means that we are still in a state of warfare," the Abkhazian minister noted. "Nowadays, we must think about peace, not about war. That is why we need a treaty signed not only by the parties to the conflict but also by guarantor states, including Russia and others, as well as the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the European Union."
The Geneva consultations on security in the Caucasus are held on the basis of agreements between the Russian and French presidents reached following Georgia’s aggression against South Ossetia and Abkhazia in August 2008. Soon afterwards, Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent republics. The Geneva consultations involving Georgia, Russia, the United States, South Osseria and Abkhazia are brokered by the United Nations, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). These consultations are the only format of dialogue between Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Gergia.