The U.S. administration told visiting Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania to keep cautious and solve Adjara crisis through peaceful means. Zurab Zhvania said that situation in Adjara is one of the issues discussed during the talks with the U.S. officials. Zurab Zhvania also reiterated that the Georgian government will not tolerate the “bandits, criminals and drug-barons ruling in Georgia’s one of the regions.” Meanwhile, Adjarian leadership, which enforced state of emergency in the region on April 24, made another confrontational move and barred Georgian Minister for Agriculture Davit Shervashidze from entering region on April 27. Agriculture Minister was accompanying several lorries loaded with agricultural fertilizers, due to be delivered in the Adjarian villages. However, convoy was denied from entering Adjara by the local authorities, explaining decision with the state of emergency in the region. “Because of state of emergency the movement of cargo through Adjara is restricted. Hence we offered the Minister [of Agriculture] to distribute agricultural fertilizers in Adjara after the situation becomes more stable,” Rostom Japaridze, Prime Minister of Adjara Autonomous Republic told reporters. The state of emergency in Adjara is imposed for the third time for past five months. “The Adjarian authorities need the state of emergency to prevent possible mass protest rallies in the region. The state of emergency is one of the methods of intimidation of the local population,” Evgenie Tavdgiradze, Batumi-based journalists working for Radio Liberty told Civil Georgia. Eter Suladze, another local journalist working for Batumelebi newspaper says that security control has been tightened by the local authorities at Choloki checkpoint, which divides Autonomous Republic from rest of Georgia, since the state of emergency was imposed. President Saakashvili called the Adjarian population on April 25 to defy state of emergency. He also said that discussions over holding of the snap elections of the Adjarian legislative body are underway by the Georgian government.
Situation in Georgia was also discussed during the phone conversation between U.S. President George W. Bush and his Russian counterpart on April 26, according to White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. However he did not give any further details of talks.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed hope after talks with Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania in Washington on April 27 that the standoff between the Georgia’s central authorities and its defiant Adjarian Autonomy’s leadership would without violence.
“I expressed to the Prime Minister our hopes that they could achieve their desired goals through political and economic measures and hoped that it would not result in any kind of violence. This is a time to find political and economic solutions to the outstanding issues within the state of Georgia,” Colin Powell said.
Before talks Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania told Georgian reporters that the situation in Adjara is also discussed during his visit in the United States.
“Everybody understands that presence of illegal armed groups in Georgia’s one of the regions is inadmissible and the problem should be solved once and forever through peaceful means,” Zurab Zhvania said.
