From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 7/4/2006 5:16 AM

Tuesday, July 4, 2006, #123 (1143)

Abkhaz separatists against railway reconstruction
M. Alkhazashvili

Abkhaz political circles say it is impossible to restore Russia-Georgia railway route via Abkhazia at this stage. This issue was discussed during a round table meeting of the Abkhazian branch office of the Caucasus Democracy Institute, which had been created at Moscow's initiative. Abkhazian de facto MPs, administration members and representatives of political parties participated in the meeting.

The newspaper 24 Saati says that according to Oleg Damenia, the head of Strategic Research Center, if this project is implemented Abkhazia will find itself in a political deadlock. He adds that the consortium regulations connected with the renovation of the railway are against the Abkhazian Constitution.

According to Astamur Tania of the Public Unity Forum, by renovating the railway route Abkhazia "gives up its sovereignty" and it is not clear "what it gets in return". He thinks Sokhumi must not be in a hurry to implement suspicious economic projects.

Gary Samanba, the chairman of the Legal Issues Committee of the Abkhaz Parliament, says the Sokhumi administration must not restore the railway route at the expense of giving up its own sovereignty. And until the independence of Abkhazia is acknowledged by those states that are interested in restoring the railway it is "too early to think about restoring Sochi-Tbilisi railway."

Beslan Butba, Chairman of Foreign Relations Committee of the Abkhaz Parliament agrees. According to him, the activation of the consortium is neither economically nor politically profitable for Abkhazia. He states that Abkhazia can restore the railway route by itself and after that it will be able to raise its own claims.

Georgian Prime-Minister Zurab Noghaideli and Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin talked about the restoration of the route within the frames of the Georgian-Russian governmental economic commission on December 16, 2005.

Georgian authorities link the restoration of the railway with the return of refugees to the conflict zone. Russia, and most of all Armenia, are vitally interested in the railways restoration. So we must assume that these Abkhazian ideas are the invention of the separatists, who for some reason are under the illusion that they can make any decisions independently.
http://www.messenger.com.ge/issues/1143_july_4_2006/eco_1143_1.htm