U.N. military observers hopeful of kidnapped Polish officer's release

U.N. military observers in Georgia said Tuesday they hoped that Polish Lieutenant-Colonel Zbigniew Blechacz, one of two military observers from a small U.N. peacekeeping contingent seized Sunday by unidentified gunmen near the village of Verkhnyaya Lata, which is under the control of the breakaway region of Abkhazia, would soon be released. "I believe that we will have some positive developments in the nearest future ... today or tomorrow," said the U.N. mission senior political adviser Marian Staszewski. Staszewski said the mission had no direct contact with the kidnappers and that he could neither confirm nor deny information about Georgian authorities being in talks with the gunmen. U.N. observers have been abducted several times in Abkhazia but have been freed unconditionally. (Reuters; Gazeta Wyborcza, p.10)