Abkhazia Threatens Force Against Georgia
July 28, 2006
Georgian troops in the Kodori Gorge (InterPressNews)
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on July 27 said he will move the government-in-exile, which fled Abkhazia following a war in 1992-93, to the upper part of the Kodori Gorge, which straddles Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia.
Georgia plans to make the move after its forces defeat a local militia based in the Kodori Gorge. Tbilisi began a security operation in the gorge on July 26, but has yet to capture the militia's leader, Emzar Kvitsiani.
The warning issued by Abkhazia's foreign minister, Sergei Shamba, came shortly after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Georgia that it would "have no chance" of solving the problems of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the other Georgian breakaway region, by using force.
(Rustavi 2, Reuters)
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