Last Updated: Friday, 30 December 2016, 11:20 GMT

Georgia: Saakashvili says Pacific island no longer recognizes Abkhazia

Publisher Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Publication Date 21 May 2013
Cite as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Georgia: Saakashvili says Pacific island no longer recognizes Abkhazia, 21 May 2013, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/51a47a2d2d.html [accessed 3 January 2017]
DisclaimerThis is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

May 21, 2013

By RFE/RL's Georgian Service

The tiny Pacific island nation of Vanuatu recognized Georgia in 2011. (file photo)The tiny Pacific island nation of Vanuatu recognized Georgia in 2011. (file photo)

TBILISI – Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili says the tiny Pacific island nation of Vanuatu has withdrawn its recognition of Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia.

Saakashvili, who held talks with Vanuatu Prime Minister Moana Carcasses Kalosil this week on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Water Summit in Thailand, announced on May 20 that Vanuatu authorities had "changed their mind" on Abkhazia.

Moscow was the first to recognize Abkhazia as an independent state after a brief war with Georgia in 2008.

Only a handful of countries have followed suit, including Vanuatu in 2011.

Saakashvili praised Vanuatu's policy reversal as "historic" and said it represented a "very serious defeat on the diplomatic front" for Russia.

Vanuatu never recognized Georgia's other breakaway territory, South Ossetia.

With reporting by AFP and Interfax

Link to original story on RFE/RL website

Copyright notice: Copyright (c) 2007-2009. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036

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