Saakashvili Visits Kodori

President Saakashvili paid a two-hour visit to Tbilisi-controlled upper Kodori Gorge in breakaway Abkhazia on March 14, less than three days after the area was reportedly attacked by Russian army helicopters, officials said.

President Saakashvili visited the headquarters of the Abkhaz government-in-exile in the village of Chkhalta, which was damaged as a result of the shelling. He then met with the local population, according to Malkhaz Akishbaia, head of the exiled Abkhaz government.

?He called on the local population for calm and assured them that the government will spare no effort to provide security there, and [said] that the March 11 attacks were an attempt to terrorize the local residents of the gorge,? Akishbaia said in a telephone interview with Tbilisi-based Rustavi 2 TV from the upper Kodori Gorge on March 14.

He said that President Saakashvili spent two hours in the gorge and has already left the area.

Akishbaia also said that fragments of up to 25 rockets have been recovered from the gorge so far.

?Here we have all the evidence proving that the gorge came under fire from both air and land [by Abkhaz forces]. It is also clear that the helicopters entered into the Georgian airspace from the Russian Federation, and experts investigating the incident will confirm this,? Akishbaia added.

Both the Abkhaz and Russian sides have strongly denied being behind the incident.

A joint fact-finding team consisting of UN observers, Russian peacekeepers, and representatives from the Georgian and Abkhaz sides launched an investigation into the reported attack on March 13. No findings of the group has been unveiled yet.

Meanwhile, officials in Tbilisi, including State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Merab Antadze and Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili, said that a possible aim of the provocation is the ?creation of a negative atmosphere? about security conditions in upper Kodori Gorge ahead of a UN Security Council session that is expected to discuss Abkhazia in April.

Georgia?s Ambassador in the UN Irakli Alasania told a media briefing in New York on March 13 that the attack on upper Kodori Gorge was an act of provocation and he has already informed the UN Secretary General about it.

He said that Georgia will not allow itself to be influenced by acts of provocation and remains committed to the peace process, ?although we clearly understand that there is a high probability for the reoccurrence of similar provocations.?

The U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi said on March 13 it is ?deeply concerned by the reports of attacks in upper Kodori Gorge and condemns any such acts of violence? and called on the parties concerned for restraint.

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