Abkhaz Clash Sparks War of Words

The deadly September 20 clash has triggered a fresh war of words between Tbilisi and Sokhumi, making the resumption of suspended talks even less likely.

Abkhaz leader Sergey Bagapsh said Sokhumi would reclaim Tbilisi-controlled upper Kodori Gorge “sooner or later.”

“Abkhazia will not rest until we have reclaimed upper Kodori Gorge,” Bagapsh told an emergency session of the Abkhaz Security Council on September 21.

His remarks follow a clash between Abkhaz and Georgian forces on September 20, in which two Abkhaz militiamen were killed and seven others captured.

Bagapsh, in comments broadcast on Abkhaz state television, also said that the situation was both “difficult and alarming.”

“We live next to an aggressor, which is incapable of engaging in dialogue,” he added, referring to the Georgian side. “The only thing it knows is how to inflict damage and carry out provocations.”

He demanded that Tbilisi immediately release the captured Abkhaz servicemen.

Meanwhile, Sergey Shamba, the breakaway region’s foreign minister, said that Sokhumi had “the necessary means at its disposal to carry out any type of operation” in the Upper Kodori Gorge.

“However,” he added, “we understand that it would cause a large-scale [confrontation] and so [we would take such a step] only in the event of an emergency.”

His comments were made in the context of political dissatisfaction in Sokhumi that the secessionist authorities hadn’t been taking a tough enough response to perceived Georgian aggression in upper Kodori Gorge.

“We should take very decisive action in response,” Guram Gumba, the head of breakaway Abkhazia’s parliamentary committee for foreign affairs, said on September 21. “All these developments are the result of the occupation of upper Kodori Gorge by Georgia. Our moderate, non-aggressive stance has turned Georgia’s terrorism threats into a real danger to our security.”

The war of words, however, has not been confined to Sokhumi. President Saakashvili, for example, hailed the Interior Ministry for, as he put it, “repelling a group of saboteurs and terrorists” in the Tbilisi-controlled areas of breakaway Abkhazia and instructed law enforcement agencies to give “an even tougher response” in the event of a reoccurrence.

Davit Bakradze, the Georgian state minister for conflict resolution issues, warned the authorities in Sokhumi on September 22 “to stop playing with fire.”

He said Abkhaz secessionist authorities’ remarks were “open calls for aggression” which was “a source of serious alarm.” “We will response to any kind of provocation appropriately,” he said.

Kote Gabashvili, the chairman of the Georgian parliamentary committee for foreign affairs, said on September 22: “Georgia will never rest until we have regained control of all of Abkhazia.”

He said that the Georgian foreign minister, Gela Bezhashvili, had invited Sokhumi to start direct talks with Tbilisi without any preconditions.

“If they want it they should agree; if not then they should remember: Georgia will never forfeit Abkhazia ,” Gabashvili said.

Talks between Sokhumi and Tbilisi were suspended more than a year ago and their immediate resumption is considered unlikely.

Sokhumi has continued to link the resumption of dialogue to preconditions, such as the withdrawal of Georgian forces and the Tbilisi-backed Abkhaz government-in-exile from the upper Kodori Gorge.

The Georgian-controlled areas in breakaway Abkhazia stretch from the northern part of the administrative border that separates Abkhazia and Georgia’s Svaneti region, west deep into Abkhaz territory and ends at the point in Kodori Gorge where a Russian peacekeeper checkpoint is located.
 
The checkpoint divides the gorge in two, with the northern part under Tbilisi’s control. Georgian authorities prefer to call the area Upper Abkhazia, but it is still commonly referred to as upper Kodori Gorge.

Although the area has never been under Sokhumi’s control, it was,  however, a no-go area for the Georgian central authorities, with local Georgian militia groups effectively controlling it.

The situation, however, changed last summer with a military crack down on the militias and the restoration of central control. The change has been a major source of concern for Sokhumi.