Abashidze Admits Many Adjarians Possess Arms

Leader of the Adjara Autonomous Republic Aslan Abashidze told Adjarian television on March 26 that people in Adjara possess arms, however denied that the weapons were distributed recently because of tensions between Batumi and Tbilisi.

He said, the weapons were given to the population during the civil war in the country in early 90s, as Adjara had no armed groups and it had to defend itself against possible incursion of paramilitary forces terrorizing rest of the Georgia.

?We tried to withdraw these weapons several times but in vain,? the Adjarian leader added.

He also said that U.S. Ambassador Richard Miles was interested with the issue during the talks on March 26 in Batumi.

?Richard Miles [U.S. Ambassador] said, we should not use arms. He wondered how many weapons there were in Adjara and how many were distributed among the population,? Aslan Abashidze said.