Abkhaz VP: Force May be Needed to Regain Kodori

Raul Khajimba, the vice-president of breakaway Abkhazia, said he thought force might be needed one day to regain Tbilisi-controlled upper Kodori Gorge, the Abkhaz news agency, Apsnipress, reported.

“We will have trouble there [in Kodori] as long as Georgian troops – be they army units or other types of units – remain in the gorge,” he told Abkhaz journalists in Sokhumi on June 20. “Kodori Gorge is our territory and – whether someone likes or not – eventually we may have to resolve this issue with the use of force; unfortunately I do not see any other solution.”

Khajimba became the vice-president of the breakaway region as a result of a power-sharing agreement with the unrecognized republic’s president, Sergey Bagapsh, after fiercely disputed presidential elections in the region in late 2004. Khajimba had the backing of Moscow in the elections. The disputed elections and the subsequent political crisis in Abkhazia ended in late December 2004 and early January 2005, with a power-sharing agreement between the two figures, with Bagapsh becoming the president and Khajimba the xice-president.

Speaking at a news conference on June 20 Khajimba had to respond to some criticism from influential pro-Bagapsh political groups.

Controversy was trigged earlier this month, when Aruaa, an influential organization uniting veterans of the armed conflict of the early 1990s, issued a statement at its congress criticizing what it called the Abkhaz leadership’s “multi-vector foreign policy” and called for more focus on closer ties with Russia. Khajimba, who is a member of this group, attended the congress.

In response, Vladimir Nachach, a co-chairman of another influential Abkhaz group, Amtsakhara, which is a pro-Bagapsh political union, said in an address to Khajimba that it was “immoral” to criticize the authorities and at the same time to be the part of the government.

“The December 6 [power-sharing] agreement does not say that I should change my attitude towards my supporters, or I have to change my political views,” Khajimba responded at the June 20 press conference.

“My presence in the government does not stipulate that I should not have my own opinions, or that I should sing to others’ tune. Yes there are problems and difficulties, related with misunderstandings between state agencies, but problems should be resolved from within.”

In its criticism of the Abkhaz leadership’s foreign policy, Aruaa alleged that the current foreign policy course was “dangerous, leading to change of negotiating formats and undermining the alliance with Russia.”

“Whatever we are doing, everything should be done transparently and I support Aruaa in this regard,” Khajimba said. “Our policy should be pro-Abkhazian. We have not enough resources to direct them towards a multi-vector [foreign policy]. We are talking about this problem, because this issue is being imposed on us.”

He also said that there was no one except Russia willing to protect Abkhazia. “Russia is doing everything possible to help the resolution process remain on a peaceful track,” Khajimba added.