Tbilisi-Based Abkhaz Government Moves to Kodori

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili announced on July 27 that the authorities have decided to establish the Abkhaz government-in-exile, currently based in Tbilisi, in the Georgian-administered upper Kodori Gorge.

He said the decision means that Kodori will now be ?Abkhazia?s temporary and legitimate administrative center.?

?[The Abkhaz government-in-exile] will exercise the Georgian state?s full jurisdiction, full control over this territory [Kodori],? Saakashvili said.

?This decision means that for the first time since 1993 the government is entering into the middle of Abkhazia, of our Abkhazia to exercise Georgian jurisdiction and Georgian constitutional order. This is a very important fact and very fundamental political event,? Saakashvili said.

?I always thought that Tbilisi was not the place for the Abkhaz government-[in-exile]… This legitimate government of Abkhazia, which was forced out of Abkhazia [in 1993] will now be based in Kodori,? Saakashvili said.

The Georgian President announced the decision in his televised address to the nation after officials said that the ?anti-criminal operation? against a rebel militia group in upper Kodori Gorge was ?successfully over.?

?From now on Georgia exercises direct control over a very important, strategic part of Abkhaz territory ? as there will be legitimate authorities and this legitimate government,? Saakashvili said.

It is likely that the decision will be strongly condemned by the secessionist authorities in Abkhazia, which have for a long time been demanding that Tbilisi disband the, as they call it, ?so called legitimate Abkhaz government.?

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