49r--Think we will see more of this>>UN Kidnappers Want Shevardnadze
Suspects Freed
8.36 a.m. ET (1337 GMT) February 19, 1998
TBILISI, Georgia - The group that seized four U.N. observers in
Georgia Thursday has demanded the release of all suspects arrested
following a failed assassination attempt on President Eduard
Shevardnadze, the Interior Ministry said.
Valeryan Gogoladze, head of the ministry's press center, told
Reuters by telephone more negotiators had been sent to the area of
western Georgia where the kidnappers and their hostages have been
surrounded by special forces.
"Those holding the military observers of the United Nations have
demanded freedom for all those arrested by the police in connection
with the terrorist attack on February 9 against President Eduard
Shevardnadze,'' Gogoladze said, referring to the failed assault on
the Georgian leader. He was unharmed.
"Talks are going on,'' he said. "I can't say any more.''
In Stockholm, the Swedish Foreign Ministry said the four military
observers were from Uruguay, the Czech Republic and Sweden. It
named the Swede as Major Marten Molgard from Undersaker near
Ostersund in central Sweden.
There were two Uruguayans being held. Initial reports said one of
the four was Georgian. The observers are part of a U.N. mission
monitoring developments in the breakaway region of Abkhazia on
Georgia's Black Sea coast. |
