World

U.N. Hostage Drama Ends

October 13, 1999 / 7:39 AM EDT / AP

The three remaining U.N. workers held by gunmen in Georgia's breakaway Abkhazia region were released Friday after negotiations with Georgian officials, a government spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman, Lela Chelidze, did not say whether a ransom had been paid or if any concessions were made. What condition they were in wasn't known.

Five U.N. military observers, a U.N. doctor and their translator were seized Wednesday while delivering aid to the Kodor Gorge, a remote mountainous area in Abkhazia, though still controlled by the Georgian government.

On Thursday, four of the hostages - a German doctor and observers from Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Uruguay - were freed. Georgian officials said the releases had been made without conditions.

But the kidnappers then raised the ransom demand for the remaining hostages from the initial $250,000 to $350,000.

After negotiations with Georgian Defense Minister David Tevzadze and the Georgian presidential envoy to the Kodor Gorge, Iveri Chelidze, the three others were released Friday.

They were Capt. Giorgos Kopanos of Greece, Swedish Air Force Maj. Joergen Oeberg and translator Artur Pogosyan.

The four men released Thursday were identified as Czech Maj. Petr Pokovba, German medic Sgt. Dirk Krause, Swiss Capt. Markus Styblo and Uruguayan Army Maj. Gonzalo Agrelo. They appeared in good health, a U.N. political adviser, Vissalin Kostok, was quoted as saying by the ITAR-Tass news agency.

The U.N. group had just arrived by helicopter in the mountain village of Azhara to deliver aid when they were seized by the gunmen, officials said. The gunmen also tried to commandeer the helicopter, but the pilot managed to fly away.

Abkhazian separatists drove out Georgian government forces during a 1992-93 war and have run the breakaway province since then. They have balked at the return of more than 300,000 ethnic Georgian refugees who fled the fighting, and peace talks have stalled.