Moscow/Gali, Georgia - Georgia's rebel region of Abkhazia on Friday rejected as "unacceptable" an international peace plan for calming escalating tensions in the region.

"These offers are unacceptable to us ... We are not prepared to discuss the status of Abkhazia, which is already for many our republic. Abkhazia is an independent state, and this not open to discussion," Abkhaz president Sergei Bagapsh said Friday.

Bagapsh made the remarks after talks with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the town of Gali on the separatist region's border with Georgia.

Steinmeier met with the Abkhaz leader as part of a two-day tour aimed humbly at restarting peace talks between Georgia and the Russian-backed rebel region.

On the heels of the meeting, Steinmeier said all parties in the conflict had an obligation to prevent the crisis from escalating.

Georgia said the situation was on the brink of war last month over mutual accusations of troop build ups and spying with Russia.

Russia and a Georgian-American coalition were holding mass military exercises on their respective side of the Caucasus region this week, maneuvers frowned upon by European allies.

Over 2,500 Russian peacekeepers have patrolled the autonomous region since a 1994 UN ceasefire agreement that ended civil war, and most Abkhaz residents have been issued Russian passports in recent years. (dpa)