Georgia: Optimism Prevails in Tbilisi-Controlled Section of Abkhazia

The Upper Kodori Gorge, the only part of breakaway Abkhazia still governed by Georgia, has emerged in recent weeks as a flashpoint in relations between Tbilisi and Moscow. To Abkhaz separatists, it is the launch pad for a potential attack. To Georgians, it is a symbol of their intentions to regain Abkhazia without conflict.

At first glance, it might seem a bucolic mountain get-away. But this is no Switzerland.

Russian officials say that a supposedly massive buildup of Georgian army units in Kodori, along with the alleged introduction of heavy equipment there, serves to justify Moscow's recent increase in the number of Commonwealth of Independent States peacekeeping forces within Abkhazia -- a situation that Georgian officials claim has brought them to the brink of war with Russia. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

A May 18 trip organized for foreign journalists by the Georgian government to the region, however, revealed no sign of a substantial Georgian military presence -- apart from a handful of armed Interior Ministry troops guarding checkpoints at an airfield and security zone. Nor did residents mention their presence.

United Nations monitors and other Western news organizations have reached similar conclusions, but such reports have done little to stem official assumptions in Moscow and Sukhumi, the separatist-controlled Abkhaz capital. On May 19, separatist Abkhaz leader Sergei Bagapsh stated that he would not sign any agreement about the non-resumption of hostilities with Georgia unless Tbilisi first withdraws its troops from the Upper Kodori Gorge, Interfax reported. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Talks between the two sides stopped in 2006 after Georgian forces moved into the area to oust rebel militia leader Emzar Kvitsiani. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Malkhaz Akishbaia -- the 36-year-old, English-speaking chairman of the pro-Tbilisi Abkhaz government-in-exile -- says that a 500-strong Georgian police force stationed in the gorge should not be view as an offensive threat. The police officers are deployed solely to promote law-and-order in the area. "We want to build this region so that we can attract them, so that they will reintegrate into our society," Akishbaia said in reference to Abkhaz living within bordering separatist-controlled areas. On May 15, the United Nations reinforced the immediacy of that mission by adopting a resolution calling for the return of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to Abkhazia.

Akishbaia, a native of Abkhazia's Gali region, says that he will propose that Tbilisi use the Upper Kodori Gorge, known officially as Upper Abkhazia, as a conduit for returning IDPs to Abkhazia. "We could take about 10 to 15 families, give them cottages, give them cash to set up their businesses