Abkhazia has declared its readiness to cross the border and “put in order” the Zugdidi district of Georgia.
Photo: Dmitry Lebedev
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Abkhazia Is the Second Front
// Panic breaks out on border town of Zugdidi
A second front started against Georgia over the weekend. Abkhazia, “in accordance with alliance obligations to South Ossetia” began an operation “to press Georgian forces out of the upper part of the Kodori Gorge.” Abkhazian armed formations entered the zone of responsibility of peacekeeping forces of in the Gali region. In Tbilisi, they are claiming that the Russian army is taking part in the offensive, that the Russian Air Force is providing air support and that the Black Sea Fleet is providing naval support. Moscow and Sukhumi deny that. Abkhazia has declared its readiness to cross the border and “put in order” the Zugdidi district of Georgia. Panic broke out in Zugdidi in the evening.
Yesterday morning, Abkhazian forces struck at Georgian positions in the upper part of Kodori Gorge with missile artillery “Abkhazian forces were given the task of dislodging Georgian armed formations out of the area, where they have been located since 2006 in violation of the 1994 agreement on the disengagement of the sides and ceasefire,” Abkhazian Defense Minister Sergey Shamba told Kommersant. “At present, the artillery is undergoing preparation.” Earlier, Abkhazia demanded that Georgian authorities “withdraw all armed formations from the upper part of Kodori Gorge, including border forces and the so-called marionette government of the Abkhazian Autonomous Republic.” Abkhazian President Sergey Bagapsh stated yesterday that “Georgia still has time.” Bagapsh noted that “When the main phase of this operation begins, you will know.” On Monday, martial law will be imposed in several districts of Abkhazia for ten days and a partial mobilization is being declared.
Sukhumi has officially asked UN military observers to leave Kodori Gorge. Assistant to the secretary general of the UN Edmund Mulet stated that Abkhazian authorities refused to explain the reason for their request. He said that the UN was extremely concerned about the expansion of the conflict.
Abkhazian forces simultaneously entered the collective peacekeeping forces’ zone of responsibility in Gali District of the republic and took up positions on the border with Georgia along the Inguri River. “The goal of the operation is to bring order to the zone of responsibility of the peacekeeping forces both on the territory of Abkhazia and on the territory of Zugdidi District in Georgia,” Bagapsh stated. Slightly later, his official representative Kristian Bzhania explained that “At this stage of the operation, the Abkhazian army does not plan to cross into Georgian territory.”
By that time, however, speaker of the Georgian parliament David Bakradze had already announced, citing certain informational sources, an offensive by Russian-Abkhazian forces against Georgian Zugdidi. In that city, which has a population of 100,000, panic began.
Rumors circulated of a large presence of Russian infantry brought to the Abkhazian port of Ochamchire by the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Tornike Keburia, a member of the Zugdidi city administration, told Kommersant that “A significant part of the population has left to the nearest villages where they have relatives or homes.”
According to the city official, Zugdidi is under the control of the Georgian police. No additional armed Georgian forces have been introduced there, since Zugdidi is within the security zone of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict, as defined in the 1994 Moscow agreement. Keburia acknowledged that Russian peacekeepers have given assurances that, if the necessity arises to defend the city, they will not allow Abkhazian armed formations to enter it. The public is placing greater hopes on the nearby large Georgian military base in Senaki.
Both Sukhumi and Moscow deny that Russian forces are taking part in the actions of the Abkhazian army. “We do not intend to take the initiative in escalating the conflict in that area [i.e., Abkhazia],” Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces stated yesterday. “We are interested foremost in stabilization there.” The Abkhazian president’s representative stated yesterday that additional Russian peacekeepers were introduced into the unrecognized republic yesterday. “The Russian peacekeepers are making efforts not to allow a repetition of the tragedy in South Ossetia, where the peacekeeping forces were attacked by Georgian subdivisions” Bzhania said. “Under its mandate, up to 3000 peacekeepers can be located in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict zone, but there number has not exceeded 2500 until recently.”
The Russian fleet has not remained on the side in the conflict either. “The flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, the missile cruiser Moskva, arrived in the assigned area [the eastern part of the Black Sea] from Sevastopol on Sunday morning, along with the patroller Smetlivy and escort vessels,” a source in the Russian Navy stated yesterday. He said that three large infantry ships are also located in the area. They arrived earlier from Sevastopol and Novorossiisk. “The purpose of the location of the group of Black Sea Fleet vessels in that area is preparedness to provide assistance to refugees,” the source said. Chief of the Georgian National Security Council Alexander Lomaya claims, however, that the Russian ships are blockading the main Georgian port of Poti. “The Russians are not allowing Georgian ship loaded with grain and fuel into Georgia,” he stated.
Most experts say that, in the event that the conflict is expanded, it will be extremely difficult for the Georgian army to wage war on the two fronts of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Tbilisi is under no illusions of it either, although for different reasons. “If Russia has decided to occupy Georgia, not only on two fronts in the war, but on one front with Russia we will have little chance,” a high-placed Georgian Foreign Ministry official told Kommersant.
Georgy Dvali, Tbilisi; Alexander Reutov
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 11, 2008
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