From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 11/2/2007 12:22 AM
01-Nov-07
Georgia Demands Russian Exit from Abkhazia

Abkhaz talk of war as Tbilisi calls for end to Russian peacekeeping mission

By Irakly Lagvilava in Ganmukhuri, Dmitry Avaliani in Tbilisi and Inal Khashig in Sukhum (CRS No. 417 01-Nov-07)
The situation in Abkhazia is darkening after the Georgian government demanded that Russian peacekeepers pull out of the conflict zone, following a clash on the border in which the Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili personally intervened.

The Abkhaz authorities have said they fear a new war, while the Russian authorities have accused Tbilisi of destabilising the already fragile situation in the conflict zone. The Georgian opposition, while supporting the pullout of the Russians in principle, questioned the timing of the announcement just ahead of a major opposition rally in the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

The speaker of the Georgian parliament Nino Burjanadze confirmed on October 31 that the government is formally calling for a pullout of Russian peacekeeping troops, who have been stationed near the Abkhaz ceasefire line since 1994. She said that a decision on the timing of the withdrawal would be made after consultations with Tbilisi’s “international partners”.

The Georgian parliament has already passed several resolutions calling for the withdrawal from Abkhazia of the peacekeepers, who operate under a Commonwealth of Independent States mandate, as well as those deployed in South Ossetia. Tbilisi accuses the Russians of being a partisan anti-Georgian force that is hampering the resolution of the conflict.

The Georgians also demanded the removal of the head of the peacekeeping forces, General Sergei Chaban, with Saakashvili declaring him “persona non grata” on Georgian territory.

The Georgians and Russians give different versions of an armed stand-off that occurred at the Georgian youth camp of Ganmukhuri on the administrative border with Abkhazia on October 30.

The Georgians say that around eight Russian armoured vehicles and 100 Russian peacekeepers surrounded the camp, disarmed and detained five Georgian interior ministry soldiers and then blocked a 100-metre section of road leading to the camp.

The Georgian interior ministry announced that its troops were put on a state of high alert after shots were fired.

Georgian television channels showed footage in which Russian soldiers and Georgian interior ministry troops were directing their weapons at one another and the Russians fired in the air. There were no casualties.

The Georgian foreign ministry posted on its website video footage showing the beating of the Georgian policemen which it said had been filmed by the Russian peacekeepers and had been snatched by a Georgian television journalist.

Russian lieutenant-colonel Alexander Diordiev, an aide to the commander of CIS peacekeeping forces, said that the peacekeepers had been carrying out a routine mission and Georgian police officers had threatened them with weapons and verbally abused them.

“A Georgian interior ministry official arrived at the spot where the patrol stopped and, without introducing himself, raised his voice and swore, threatening to burn the peacekeepers’ armoured personnel carrier and to shoot the Russian soldiers,” said Diordiev. “He tried to physically bully the leader of the patrol. The Georgian official and those officers with him were detained and disarmed.”

The Georgian police officers were beaten by the Russians, a fact testified by an IWPR correspondent at the scene and Georgian television footage.

Saakashvili arrived in person at the scene and secured the release of the police officers. He berated the Russian peacekeepers in front of the television cameras.

“Instead of defending the local population, the peacekeepers have dared for many years to kill and kidnap people and extort money from them,” said the president, pointing at the bloody face of a Georgian police officer. “We have set up this youth camp according to all the laws of Georgia. We set up a police post to protect it.

“You attacked the police this morning in violation of your mandate, in violation of all international norms, in violation of the UN observation mission which also did nothing and you beat our police officers who were defending the lives of civilians.”

The Ganmukhuri camp was the subject of criticism by UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon in July (See “Georgia Angered by UN Abkhaz Report, CRS No. 404 August 2, 2007), who said that its presence on the Abkhaz border was “provocative” and called for it to be moved. However, the Georgian authorities rejected the demand.

A Russian foreign ministry statement on November 1 asserted that the peacekeepers had behaved with restraint and had agreed to hand over the Georgian policemen to the UN - but, after initially agreeing to this, the local governor had changed his mind and waited for the arrival of Saakashvili. The foreign ministry also said the Georgians had fired at a Russian helicopter.