Georgia has withdrawn its agreement for the presence of Commonwealth of Independent States peacekeepers in breakaway Abkhazia after an October 30 conflict between Georgian police and Russian peacekeepers in a Georgian village bordering the disputed territory.
Georgia says it will move to formally ask Russian peacekeepers to leave the breakaway region of Abkhazia following reports that they seized and beat five Georgian police officers.
Crammed into a beat-up van driving up the Black Sea coast to Sukhumi, the capital of the breakaway territory of Abkhazia, we passengers listen over and over to a CD compilation of Caucasian pop hits. One of the songs, a bouncy Russian tune called "Sukhumi," has lyrics that open a window on the past:
Crammed into a beat-up van driving up the Black Sea coast to Sukhumi, the capital of the breakaway territory of Abkhazia, we passengers listen over and over to a CD compilation of Caucasian pop hits. One of the songs, a bouncy Russian tune called "Sukhumi," has lyrics that open a window on the past:
Two days before March 4 parliamentary elections in the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, campaign posters in its predominantly ethnic Georgian district of Gali were few and far between. But, amidst an ongoing campaign by Georgia to reclaim its breakaway regions, scrutiny of the elections in this district has been anything but sparse.
Less than a week before the March 4 parliamentary elections in Georgia's unrecognized breakaway republic of Abkhazia, opposition candidates have accused President Sergei Bagapsh of interfering in the election process with the aim of ensuring the election of a parliament "loyal" to the present leadership.
Following Georgia's recent aggressive action in the Kodori Gorge, residents in the separatist region of Abkhazia are bracing for a resumption of armed conflict.
Tensions between Tbilisi and the separatist leaders in Sokhumi escalated July 28 after Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili announced that the Tbilisi-based Abkhaz government-in-exile will be moved to the Kodori Gorge, a small pocket of Georgian-controlled territory within the disputed territory of Abkhazia.
"A guest is a gift from above," a storeowner told me over homemade vodka, honey and grapes during a recent trip to the breakaway region of Abkhazia. When God was distributing land to the world's nations, he continued, the Abkhaz missed out because they were busy attending to their guests.
While Georgia and Russia focus their attention on easing tension in South Ossetia, recent developments in Abkhazia should not be overlooked. The breakaway Black Sea region's political environment appears to be ripening for peace. Unfortunately, Tbilisi might be too preoccupied to take notice.
