Sokhumi Warns Against Restarting Georgian Guerrilla Groups

The Interior and Foreign Ministers of breakaway Abkhazia said that the unrecognized republic has enough force to ?respond adequately? if Georgian guerrilla groups resume operations in the Gali district of Abkhazia, Apsnipress news agency reported.

The Abkhaz officials commented on a statement made by Zurab Samushia, former chief of the Georgian guerrilla group White Legion, who said that there is a necessity to restore the guerrilla movement in order to respond to the deteriorating security situation in the Gali district, which is predominately populated by an ethnic Georgian population.

The Georgian authorities disbanded the guerrilla groups ? White Legion and Forest Brothers last year. This move was hailed by officials in Sokhumi.

In an interview with the Georgian daily Rezonansi, published on November 10, Temur Mzhavia, chairman of the Tbilisi-based exiled Abkhaz Supreme Council, responded cautiously to the question of whether the guerrilla groups should restart operations in Abkhazia. ?It should become a subject for political discussions, but I am sure that a resistance movement has the right to exist,? Mzhavia said.

But Zaza Gorozia, the Governor of Samegrelo region, which borders with breakaway Abkhazia, told Rezonansi that the authorities ?do not support the restoration of guerrilla movements. They have not brought about any result.?

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