Tensions High as Troops Move Towards Kodori

Reports say a military convoy of Georgian troops has moved towards troubled Kodori gorge early on July 25 after crossing the northern part of the administrative border with breakaway Abkhazia.

Officials in Tbilisi have declined to comment on the reports, but Abkhaz sources say that 30 Kamaz-type trucks, 18 Niva off-road cars and two armored vehicles were dispatched towards Kodori gorge, where rebel warlord Emzar Kvitsiani and his militia are based.

Authorities are not ruling out the use of force against Kvitsiani, who announced his defiance towards the central authorities on July 22.

Georgian sources said that about 500 troops from both the Interior Ministry and the Defense Ministry were sent to the area.

The move has already triggered the concerns of the Abkhaz authorities, who have put their troops on high alert.

Abkhaz leader Sergey Bagapsh warned that Abkhaz forces will undertake “adequate measures” if the Georgian troops cross Russian peacekeepers’ checkpoints located in a lower Kodori gorge.

Upper Kodori gorge is the only territory of Abkhazia which is not under the secessionist authorities’ control.

The Foreign Ministry of breakaway Abkhazia said in a statement that the deployment of troops on the territory of Abkhazia is a violation of the 1994 Moscow cease-fire and separation of forces agreement made between the Abkhaz and Georgian sides.

Echoing the Abkhaz side’s statement the Russian Foreign Ministry also accused Tbilisi of violating the Moscow agreement and said that it is closely watching developments in Kodori gorge, which “borders with Russia and Abkhazia,” and warned Tbilisi to refrain from use of force, which “may provoke a new conflict in the region.”

According to the 1994 agreement, Georgian troops should be withdrawn from Kodori gorge “beyond the frontiers of Abkhazia.”

Information about the current situation in Kodori gorge is extremely scarce. Phone communication with the gorge was cut on July 25, according to Georgian media reports.

Georgian media sources reported on July 25 that Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili and Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili were in Kodori gorge to meet with the council of elders – an influential informal body which rules the gorge.

In the early hours of July 25, Georgian media sources reported that Interior and Defense Ministry forces were deployed in Mestia, the mountainous region of Svaneti in western Georgia which borders breakaway Abkhazia.

A bumpy road in mountains in the north of the security zone (see map) is currently the only possible way to get into Kodori gorge from Mestia. This road is out of the secessionist authorities’ control. The road is currently strictly controlled by Georgian security forces, and movement there is reportedly extremely restricted. Another road, which is the major one in Abkhazia, runs via the Enguri bridge in the south and is controlled by Russian peacekeeping forces.

Meanwhile in Tbilisi, Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze met with representatives of Kodori and Svaneti communities on July 25 to discuss the situation in the Kodori gorge. The meeting grew into verbal sparring between the Parliamentary Chairperson and Svaneti community leaders, who are calling on the authorities to refrain from using force against militiamen in Kodori and to negotiate with Kvitsiani.

On July 24 President Saakashvili ruled out any talks with the Kodori-based rebel warlord and vowed to curb activity against the country’s “unity and statehood.”

"The only issue I can negotiate with Kvitsiani and his gang – and this will happen only if they surrender [their] arms – is about what kind of cells they will have in prison," Saakashvili told reporters.

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