The United Nations envoy in Georgia has expressed outrage over the murder of a UN consultant on human rights, Zurab Achba, in the breakaway province of Abkhazia.

Mr Achba -- a former deputy of the Abkhaz parliament -- was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the centre of the Abkhaz capital, Sukhumi.

The UN envoy, Dieter Boden, said he would contact the Sukhumi authorities to find out details of the incident. UN observers are deployed in the region to monitor a ceasefire agreed in 1994 between Abkhaz rebels and Georgian government forces.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service