Georgia civil war looms
2004-05-04 17:27
Tbilisi - A crisis between the Georgian authorities and the renegade region of Adjara deepened on Tuesday, as the leader of the Black Sea province ignored international appeals for him to back down in his armed stand-off with the country's rulers.
Speaking overnight, Adjara's leader Aslan Abashidze said the conflict was heading towards bloodshed, as Georgia's central government gave him a deadline until the middle of next week to come to heel or face being forced out.
"Unless Georgian President (Mikhail Saakashvili) heeds recommendations on avoiding bloodshed voiced by the European Union, the United States and our neighbour Russia, another conflict zone will appear on the world map," Abashidze said in comments broadcast live on local television.
The latest crisis flared after Abashidze - claiming his autonomous republic was under threat of invasion by Georgian forces - blew up the river bridges linking his province to the rest of Georgia.
The move angered Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, which for months has been claiming that Abashidze has run Adjara like a feudal kingdom, complete with his own private militia, and refusing to recognise the authority of the central government.
For a third day on Tuesday, Adjara was effectively severed from the rest of the Georgia, with makeshift footbridges the only way of getting in or out.
The self-imposed blockade meant that railway cars carrying thousands of barrels of oil and oil products from the Caspian Sea were prevented from reaching a major Western-owned oil terminal at the Adjaran port of Batumi.
The US government, which is an influential player in the region, came out strongly on the side of Saakashvili - a US-educated lawyer swept to power in a velvet revolution last year.
"Recent steps taken by Mr Abashidze and his government raise concerns that he may be trying to provoke a military crisis with Georgia's newly democratically elected leadership," US state department spokesperson Richard Boucher said in Washington.
He added: "We strongly support the Georgian government's effort to restore its authority and the rule of law in Ajara."
Saakashvili has given Abashidze until Wednesday next week to disarm his militias and submit to Tbilisi's rule. If that does not happen, the Georgian president said he will dissolve local institutions in Adjara, including Abashidze's own post, and call fresh elections.