Authorities in Tbilisi have blamed the “inactivity” of Russian peacekeepers stationed in the Abkhaz conflict zone for a pre-dawn attack on the Georgian Interior Ministry’s checkpoint in the village of Ganmukhuri, which killed one policeman and injured another on January 5.
“The attack took place in the Security Zone, which is under the control of Russian peacekeeping forces, who did nothing to prevent this [attack]. As a result we have witnessed a rough violation of the cease-fire agreement, which is a result of the Russian peacekeepers’ failure to fulfill the duties envisaged by their mandate,” a statement issued by the Georgian Foreign Ministry on January 5 reads.
“The Georgian side considers this incident a well-planned and deliberate act of provocation, which aims to further escalate tensions in the conflict zone and may result in grave consequences,” the statement said.
Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Giorgi Manjgaladze met with officials from the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) on January 5 and requested that they investigate the attack on the Georgian police post in Ganmukhuri village, which is located on the Abkhazian side of the Enguri river.
Manjgaladze also met on January 5 in Tbilisi with diplomats from France, Germany, Russia, the UK and the U.S. – all members of the UN Secretary General’s Group of Friends on Georgia, a grouping involved in the Abkhaz peace process. The Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister briefed the diplomats about the incident and called on them to “appropriately react” to the incident.
Officials in breakaway Abkhazia have strongly dismissed accusations that Abkhaz militias were involved in the attack on the Georgian police post. Chief of the Abkhaz police in the Gali district Laurens Kogonia said on January 5 that the Georgian policeman died as a result of a skirmish with Georgian criminal groups in the Zugdidi district of Georgia.
Later on the same day, Ruslan Kishmaria, the Abkhaz leader’s envoy in the Gali district, said that the attack on the police checkpoint was masterminded by Georgian special services with an aim to stir tensions in the conflict zone in order to justify a potential invasion in the Georgian-populated Gali district.
Some Georgian media sources say that the attack on Ganmukhuri checkpoint was an act of retaliation by Abkhaz militiamen in response to the killings of two influential Abkhaz warlords in late December in the Gali district of breakaway Abkhazia. Sokhumi has blamed the Georgian side for masterminding the murders of Otar Turnanba and Alik Khishba on December 25 and on December 26, respectively.
Officials in Tbilisi have denied the allegations and said that the murders were the result of a conflict between Abkhaz criminal gangs.
Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili arrived in the conflict zone and visited Ganmukhuri village on January 5.
“Usually casualties during this kind of attack are higher, but our policemen acted with professionalism and the attack failed to catch them by a surprise,” Merabishvili told reporters after inspecting the site.
He said that the attack was carried out by fighters from the Abkhaz anti-terrorist center, which was set up by secessionist authorities last year.
“Information about the identities of the attackers is available to us, and we categorically demand that the Abkhaz side hand them over to us… We also want UNOMIG to assess the incident appropriately and to confirm that Abkhaz aggressors have fired on our checkpoint,” Merabishvili said.
He also said that at least one attacker was wounded by return fire, but was taken from the scene by his fellow attackers.
According to the Georgian Interior Ministry grenade-launchers were used during the attack on the police checkpoint.
Tbilisi-based Rustavi 2 television reported that Georgian policemen who man checkpoints in the Abkhaz conflict zone are to be equipped with night-vision goggles.
