From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng (Original Message) Sent: 12/6/2006 6:38 AM Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Thousands Rally For Abkhazia's Independence
Georgia -- map with Abkhazia and South Ossetia (RFE/RL) December 6, 2006 -- Thousands of people today rallied in the Abkhaz capital Sukhumi calling on Russia and the international community to recognize the breakaway region's independence from Georgia.
Some 35,000 people reportedly took part in the rally, which also called for Abkhazia to join the Russian Federation.
Sergei Bagapsh, the self-declared Abkhaz president, told the rally Abkhazia and Georgia could not coexist within one state.
Russia's lower house of parliament is due today to debate statements on Abkhazia and Georgia's other breakaway region, South Ossetia.
Andrei Kokoshin, the head of the State Duma's committee for CIS affairs, told reporters ahead of the debate that the draft statement will, if passed, call on "all international organizations and on the international community to fully take into consideration the will expressed by the South Ossetian people" in a recent referendum on independence. "The draft statement on Abkhazia contains similar positions," he added.
Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili has warned that the Duma will commit a "very serious mistake" if it passes the resolutions.
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