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Thursday, 28 April 2005
GEORGIA\'S MINORITIES COMPLAIN TO PRESIDENT
By empty (4/28/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Representatives of some 50 organizations and NGOs representing Georgia\'s ethnic minorities have addressed an open letter to President Mikheil Saakashvili criticizing the approach adopted by his administration to issues that impinge on the rights and sensitivities of national minorities, including revision of internal district borders, reform of the election process, and providing educational opportunities for members of ethnic minorities. Visiting Georgia on 27 April for the fifth time in three years, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Rolf Ekeus met with Minister for Conflict Resolution Giorgi Khaindrava, OSCE Mission head Roy Reeve, and with Heidi Tagliavini, who is UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan\'s special representative for the Abkhaz conflict, to discuss the Abkhaz and South Ossetian conflicts, the situation of the Greek and Armenian minorities, and the prospects for the repatriation to southern Georgia of the Meskhetians deported in 1944. Also on 27 April, Georgian Education Minister Kakha Lomaya announced to journalists the creation of a special school in Kutaisi to train 200-400 civil servants annually, primarily Armenians and Ossetians.
Representatives of some 50 organizations and NGOs representing Georgia\'s ethnic minorities have addressed an open letter to President Mikheil Saakashvili criticizing the approach adopted by his administration to issues that impinge on the rights and sensitivities of national minorities, including revision of internal district borders, reform of the election process, and providing educational opportunities for members of ethnic minorities. Visiting Georgia on 27 April for the fifth time in three years, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Rolf Ekeus met with Minister for Conflict Resolution Giorgi Khaindrava, OSCE Mission head Roy Reeve, and with Heidi Tagliavini, who is UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan\'s special representative for the Abkhaz conflict, to discuss the Abkhaz and South Ossetian conflicts, the situation of the Greek and Armenian minorities, and the prospects for the repatriation to southern Georgia of the Meskhetians deported in 1944. Also on 27 April, Georgian Education Minister Kakha Lomaya announced to journalists the creation of a special school in Kutaisi to train 200-400 civil servants annually, primarily Armenians and Ossetians. (RFE/RL)