World should recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia - Nicaraguan president

Ria Novosti -- The time has come for the international community to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said on Tuesday.

Abkhazian President Sergei Bagapsh and South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity are in Nicaragua for talks with Ortega.

Ortega said in an interview with RIA Novosti that the joint visit "is a kind of a signal to the international community that it is time to...recognize the sovereign right of the Abkhazian and South Ossetian peoples to live in accordance with their choices."

"It is time to recognize that such notions as independence, a chance to choose your destiny, are the indispensible rights of any nation, large or small," he said.

Ortega noted that the history of the fight for independence in Nicaragua had similarities with events in Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

"If you consider how Abkhazia and South Ossetia fought for their independence, we have a lot in common. Our countries have trodden a common path of armed struggle," he went on.

Ortega said bilateral talks, slated for later on Tuesday, will see the discussion of specific issues of mutual cooperation.

"It is time to move toward concrete agreements. This concerns not only the political but also economic, cultural and sports spheres," he said.

The talks will be part of the 31st anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution, which ousted dictator Anastasio Somoza and brought Ortega to power for the first time.

Besides Russia and Nicaragua, Venezuela and the tiny island nation of Nauru are the only other two countries to have recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia since a short-lived war between Russia and Georgia in August 2008. Fighting began when Georgian forces attacked South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control.