Georgia, Abkhazia trade fresh accusations
Abkhaz Vice President Valerii Arshba told
journalists in Sukhum on 27 January that the Abkhaz leadership cannot rule
out the possibility that Georgia might co-opt "international terrorists"
to launch a new attempt at infiltrating the Kodori Gorge once snows there
melt in April or May, Interfax and Caucasus Press reported. He claimed
that some 1,000 armed men including members of the Georgian special forces,
are encamped in the upper, Georgian-controlled reaches of the gorge. Also
on 27 January, Abkhaz Defense Minister Raul Khadjimba discussed the Kodori
situation with Major General Kazi Ashfaq Ahmed, who is the UN's chief military
observer in Abkhazia, Caucasus Press reported. Ashfaq proposed convening
a session of the working group for military issues of the UN-sponsored
Coordinating Committee to discuss the Kodori situation. Meanwhile in Tbilisi,
Georgian Intelligence Service head Lieutenant General Avtandil Ioseliani
said Abkhazia could serve as a base from which international terrorists
could infiltrate Russia or Europe, Interfax reported. Ioseliani claimed
that the Chechens who hijacked a Turkish ferry in the Black Sea in January
1996 are living legally in Abkhazia. LF
- Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
- © RFE/RL, Inc. All Rights Reserved.