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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: maceng2 who wrote (9960)	11/16/2001 4:46:44 AM
From: maceng2	Respond to of 281500

The Fatal Attraction of Abkhazia. Extensive article. War in the Caucasus is not all sorties, shelling and death. The region's legendary hospitality is on display even on the front lines. NAA, Georgia -- The most recent armed conflict in Abkhazia began Sept. 24, on the eve of the tangerine harvest. Some 400 well-armed Chechen and Georgian guerrillas entered the breakaway republic of Abkhazia and clashed with local defense forces in Lata, a village on the Kodori River. In a lightning raid, fighters led by Chechen field commander Ruslan Gelayev seized the villages of Georgiyevskoye and Naa, killing 14 residents. Later, on Oct. 8, the rebels downed a helicopter, killing nine people, including four United Nations observers. At that point events in the Kodor Gorge became the focus of international media attention. Reserves were mobilized in the Abkhaz capital, Sukhumi, and thousands of Abkhaz militiamen headed into the hills to defend their republic. The Abkhaz forces succeeded in stopping the fighters 40 kilometers from Sukhumi. At first, Tbilisi denied any ties to the fighters, pointing out that the Kodor Gorge is not under Georgian control. Later, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze suggested that Chechen insurgents from Russia, together with Georgian guerrillas from among the country's internal refugees, had entered Abkhazia without his knowledge or assistance. According to Abkhaz intelligence, Gelayev's forces were ordered to proceed from the Pankisi Gorge, on Georgia's border with Chechnya, into Abkhazia's Kodor Gorge back in August with backing from the Georgian leadership. Early on the Kremlin maintained a notable silence but allowed members of Russia's political elite to air their views on the conflict. Led by numerous State Duma deputies and the major mass media outlets, the Moscow establishment expressed its sympathy for the Abkhaz side. Shevardnadze countered by accusing Moscow of supporting the Abkhaz separatists. The Georgian parliament backed the president, unilaterally ordering the removal of Russian peacekeepers from their posts along the Inguri River, which serves as the border between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia. Tbilisi also called on Moscow to honor its commitment to the 1999 Istanbul summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and remove its troops from the military base at Gudauta. Russian President Vladimir Putin met Shevardnadze's challenge with limited concessions. He made a point of recognizing the territorial integrity of Georgia and promised that Russian troops would leave Gudauta in short order. The pullout began a few days later. As for Russia's peacekeepers, Putin insisted that the decision to remove them from their posts must be made by the Commonwealth of Independent States, which sent them there in the first place. At the same time, Putin sought to cool Shevardnadze's martial ardor, reminding him that Georgia, as a member of the CIS, had long enjoyed a privileged relationship with Russia. Georgia purchases vital gas and electricity from Russia at rock-bottom prices, for instance. Such unambiguous hints about the possibility of economic sanctions against Georgia seemed to sober Shevardnadze. The Georgian softened his rhetoric, and took a more diplomatic approach in his dealings with Moscow. But Shevardnadze to this day has tried to distance himself from the Kodor Gorge events. Abkhaz Prime Minister Anri Dzhergenia has accused the Georgian leadership of supporting international terrorism, citing as evidence Shevardnadze's positive assessment of Gelayev in a recent interview. Russia has demanded that Georgia hand over Gelayev, for whom an international warrant was issued in September 2000. Shevardnadze has thus far refused to comply. <<endsnip>> themoscowtimes.com