From: Abe Rein (ARein@sorosny.org)
Date: Fri Feb 07 2003 - 18:28:47 EST
GEORGIAN OFFICIALS MAKE CONTRADICTORY STATEMENTS ON PANKISI GORGE
Responding to U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's 5 February
presentation to the UN Security Council, in which he said that
colleagues of Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, an alleged Palestinian associate of
Osama bin Laden, "have been active in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge,"
Georgia's Ambassador to the UN Rezo Adamia said on 6 February that he
does not know how many Al-Qaeda members are in Pankisi, but that the
Georgian government should continue its mop-up operation until the gorge
is free of terrorists, ITAR-TASS reported. Adamia said that during the
search operation in Pankisi last fall, Georgian troops detained several
suspected Al-Qaeda members and handed them over to the United States. In
Tbilisi, Georgian National Security Ministry spokesman Nika Laliashvili
told journalists in Tbilisi on 6 February that "there are currently no
persons directly connected with Al-Qaeda in the Pankisi Gorge,"
ITAR-TASS reported. National Security Minister Valeri Khaburzania said
there are currently some 60 "criminals," including two or three criminal
kingpins, in Pankisi, Caucasus Press reported. He did not specify their
nationalities. Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said on 6 February
he has ordered forces from the Interior and Security ministries to rid
Pankisi of "undesirable persons" within one month, Caucasus Press
reported. LF
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