German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier embarked yesterday on a trip to Georgia and Russia to float an international peace plan aimed at ending a dangerous dispute over the separatist Georgian region of Abkhazia.
Steinmeier was bound first for Tbilisi and later the Black Sea city of Batumi to hold talks with the Georgian government and opposition figures before traveling today to Abkhazia, where he was expected to meet local leaders.
The trip will then take him to Moscow for talks with his Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“Germany has long been engaged in trying to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict,” German foreign ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke told reporters on Wednesday, adding that the visit was part of international efforts to cool tempers in the region. “The goal of the trip is to find with all the affected parties ways out of the logic of escalation, out of this spiral of constantly escalating incidents.”
Tensions have soared in recent months over Tbilisi’s bid to join NATO and Moscow’s support for two separatist territories, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which broke away from the rest of Georgia in the 1990s.
Berlin chairs the UN secretary-general’s Group of Friends of Georgia, which also includes Britain, France, Russia and the US.
Germany has drawn up a three-stage plan to settle the conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia. The steps would entail an end to violence and confidence-building measures as well as the return of about 25,000 Georgian refugees to Abkhazia, German media reports said.
The second stage would involve developing joint reconstruction projects, while the third and most difficult step would determine Abkhazia’s future status.
German diplomatic sources said the trip would involve vetting specific initial steps with all sides to find a viable way forward.
The speaker of the Georgian parliament, David Bakradze, hailed Steinmeier’s visit late on Wednesday as “a serious step towards modernization of the [Russia-led] peacekeeping operation format” in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
However, “at this stage it is premature to talk about implementation of the three-stage [conflict resolution] plan proposed by Germany,” Bakradze told reporters.
Abkhaz leader Sergei Bagapsh, whom Steinmeier was expected to meet today, said this week he would not “consider the plan,” Russian news agencies said.
“We do not intend to discuss Abkhazia’s political status with anyone. We are constructing an independent and democratic state,” Interfax quoted Bagapsh as saying.
Steinmeier met with visiting UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday and called Lavrov and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this week to discuss Abkhazia.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater. Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects. The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects. Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters. “We don’t file cases for
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
‘ATTACK ON CIVILIZATION’: The culture ministry released drawings of six missing statues representing the Roman goddess of Venus, the tallest of which was 40cm Investigators believe that the theft of several ancient statues dating back to the Roman era from Syria’s national museum was likely the work of an individual, not an organized gang, officials said on Wednesday. The National Museum of Damascus was closed after the heist was discovered early on Monday. The museum had reopened in January as the country recovers from a 14-year civil war and the fall of the 54-year al-Assad dynasty last year. On Wednesday, a security vehicle was parked outside the main gate of the museum in central Damascus while security guards stood nearby. People were not allowed in because
A feud has broken out between the top leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on whether to maintain close ties with Russia. The AfD leader Alice Weidel this week slammed planned visits to Russia by some party lawmakers, while coleader Tino Chrupalla voiced a defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The unusual split comes at a time when mainstream politicians have accused the anti-immigration AfD of acting as stooges for the Kremlin and even spying for Russia. The row has also erupted in a year in which the AfD is flying high, often polling above the record 20 percent it
RSS