UN chief 'shocked' by attack on UN chopper in Abkhazia
( 2007-10-09 10:17) (7)
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Monday expressed shock over the attack against a UN helicopter shot down by rebels in Georgia's breakaway republic of Abkhazia.
"The Secretary-General was shocked," said spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva.
Four UN observers, two local employees and three Ukrainian crew members were killed in the attack.
He said Abkhazian authorities informed members of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia that "the helicopter had been shot down by a missile near the village of Amktel."
The helicopter was shot down over Abkhazia's Kodori gorge, which is under rebel control.
A UN rescue team was dispatched to the site, but its arrival was delayed by fighting between "Abkhazian forces and armed partisan groups," said de Almeida e Silva.
About 100 military observers have been in the region since 1994 to monitor a cease-fire between Georgia and Abkhazia.
Situated in western Georgia, Abkhazia was integrated into the Soviet republic of Georgia in 1921. It has claimed de facto independence from Tbilisi since 1993 after fighting a war in the early 1990s in which the separatists were supported by Moscow.
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