RFE/RL: Abkhaz Oppositionist and War Veteran Detained
|
posted by circassiankama on July, 2009 as Abkhazia
June 29, 2009
Abkhaz Oppositionist And War Veteran Detained
Colonel Valmer Butba, who during the 1992-93 war and after headed a
counterterrorism unit that sought to thwart attacks in Abkhazia's
southernmost Gali district by Georgian guerrilla formations, was detained
on June 26 in Gali by a group of armed men commanded by a senior Abkhaz
Interior Ministry official after a weapon was discovered in his car.
Butba
was accompanying his namesake Beslan Butba, who heads the opposition
Party of Economic Development (PERA), of which Valmer Butba too is a
member. Beslan Butba is considered a possible challenger to incumbent Sergei Bagapsh in the presidential election scheduled for December 12.
The PERA and five other political organizations, some of which joined last month in ... >> full artcle...
comments (0)
RFE/RL: Half-Abkhaz, Half-Georgian -- One Woman Fights To Preserve Ethnic Heritage
|
posted by circassiankama on as Abkhazia
June 25, 2009
Half-Abkhaz, Half-Georgian -- One Woman Fights To Preserve Ethnic Heritage
by Brian Whitmore
Lela
Avidzba reads the poem "The Knight In The Panther's Skin" by Shota
Rustaveli (in the original Georgian, Russian, and Abkhaz).
TBILISI -- Lela Avidzba is a rarity -- an Abkhaz who is fluent in the Abkhaz language.
According
to most estimates, up to one-third of Abkhaz cannot speak their
language, even on a basic level. Even fewer can read or write it. The
dominant language in Abkhazia -- which broke from Georgian rule after a
bitter war in the early 1990s, and saw its de facto independence
recognized by Moscow last August -- is Russian.
Avidzba's
mastery of her intricate native tongue -- with its bewildering,
64-letter alphabet and complex ... >> full artcle...
comments (0)
UN WITHDRAWAL LEAVES BORDER GEORGIANS FEARFUL
|
posted by circassiankama on as Abkhazia
UN WITHDRAWAL LEAVES BORDER GEORGIANS FEARFUL
Georgian minority in Abkhazia feels especially exposed now international monitor are packing their bags.
By Irakli Lagvilava in Zugdidi and Anaid Gogorian in Sukhum
United Nations observers are pulling out of Georgia, leaving many people who live in the conflict zone that they have been monitoring afraid for their security and prompting predictions of an escalation of tension.
The withdrawal process started on June 30 and is to be completed by the end of July.
The UN Observer Mission in Georgia, UNOMIG, was established in 1993. The mandate of its roughly 130 observers was extended for what we now know was the last time in February 2009.
On June 15, however, Russia torpedoed the mission, vetoing a UN Security Council draft resolution that sought a technical extension of the ...
>> full artcle...
comments (0)
Abkhazia and Georgia: Time for Reassessment
|
posted by circassiankama on as Abkhazia
Abkhazia and Georgia: Time for Reassessment
The Brown Journal of World Affairs, vol. XV, Issue II, Spring/Summer 2009, pp.183-196.
George Hewitt* Professor of Caucasian Languages
SOAS, London University
Introduction
Much has been written since the
summer of 2008 about Russo-Georgian relations and the rights and wrongs
of the August fighting that erupted in or around both South Ossetia
and, to a lesser extent, Abkhazia. Most commentators (foreign
correspondents, media opinion-formers, NATO-spokesmen, politicians)
forgot (or chose to ignore) the issues underlying the conflicts in both
these long-suffering Transcaucasian regions, preferring to take their
cues from Georgia's well-oiled (or, at least, well-financed) spinning
machine. The argument has, thus, been that President Dmitry Medvedev
and Premier Vladimir Putin have embarked on a mission to revive the
Kremlin's imperial ambitions, dormant since the 1991 collapse of the
USSR, along the ... >> full artcle...
comments (0)
SPIEGEL ONLINE: A SHATTERED DREAM IN GEORGIA EU Probe Creates Burden for Saakashvili
|
posted by circassiankama on as Abkhazia
SPIEGEL ONLINE
06/15/2009 04:02 PM
A SHATTERED DREAM IN GEORGIA
EU Probe Creates Burden for Saakashvili
By Uwe Klussmann
Unpublished
documents produced by the European Union commission that investigated
the conflict between Georgia and Moscow assign much of the blame to
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. But the Kremlin and Ossetian
militias are also partly responsible.
From her office on Avenue de la Paix, Swiss diplomat Heidi
Tagliavini, 58, looks out onto the botanical gardens in peaceful
Geneva. The view offers a welcome respite from the stacks of documents
on her desk, which deal exclusively with war and war blame. They
contain the responses, from the conflicting parties in the ... >> full artcle...
comments (0)
|
