Police Forces to Remain in Kodori

Influential parliamentarian Giga Bokeria said on July 26 that Georgian police forces will remain in upper Kodori Gorge to protect rule and order there even after the ongoing operation which aims at clearing the gorge of the rebel militia group Monadire.

Upper Kodori Gorge is the only part of breakaway Abkhazia which was at least under the nominal control of the Georgian central authorities.

The paramilitary group Monadire, led by Emzar Kvitsiani, was in full control of the gorge until now. But the government dispatched troops to the gorge after Kvitsiani announced defiance towards the central authorities on July 22.

Kvitsiani?s paramilitary group was part of the Defense Ministry before it was formally disbanded in 2005. The Monadire group was regarded as a protector of the gorge against potential offensives by Abkhaz troops.

The decision of the Georgian authorities to permanently deploy police forces in Kodori will most likely trigger protests from the Abkhaz side.

But officials in Tbilisi say that the 1994 Moscow agreement between Tbilisi and Sokhumi on cease-fire and separation of forces bans deployment of only armed forces in Kodori, and that it does not apply to police forces.

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