Georgia gets on track of abductors of UN military observers

The Georgian law enforcement agencies have got on track of the kidnappers of the United Nations mission of military observers in the zone of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict (Abkhazia is a self-proclaimed republic on Georgia's territory).

The mobile telephone of the kidnapped translator Lasha Chikashua has been discovered in the woods near the region's administrative center Azhar, the RIA Novosti correspondent quotes the PR center of Emzar Kvitsiani, the Georgian president's plenipotentiary in the Kodori gorge.

Law enforcers hope to reach the abductors and the kidnapped UN military observers in a few hours, said Kvitsiani.

The kidnapped UN staffers are German officers Klaus Ott and Herbert Bauer, Danish officer Henrick Sorosel.

The four Russian peacekeepers accompanying the UN officers were disarmed and released. They are now found in the CIS peacekeepers' headquarters in Azhar.

Representative of the UN mission in Georgia Martin Straszevski told journalists he hopes for the earliest liberation of the UN staffers. As regards a possible ransom, he said: "The United Nations will never pay a ransom for its officers. It is the principled position." On Thursday morning unidentified persons in balaclava helmets took hostage three UN officers and one Georgian translator, who were patrolling the Gentsvishi populated place in the Kodori gorge.