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Georgia Puts Trade Limits on Province
Georgia's president slapped trade restrictions on the restive Adzharia province Monday after the region's leader ignored a deadline to accept federal authority. Tension was high along the regional border, where Adzharian security forces and armed civilians stood guard. Shots were fired in the air Monday evening as Georgia's interior minister approached. On Sunday evening, Saakashvili had given Adzharia a 1:30 p.m. EST Monday deadline to accept his authority and disarm paramilitary forces. In a briefing in the capital Tbilisi after the deadline expired, Saakashvili said he had put in place measures to "introduce control" over the port of Batumi, Adzharia's checkpoint on the Turkish border, and rail traffic. He didn't give precise details, but said the measures would be "temporary, until the situation returns to normal." "That's something any normal state would do in similar circumstances," Saakashvili said. "We are not doing anything dramatic."
| Other than mobilizing the army, you mean. |
After speaking Monday to Abashidze, Saakashvili said he sensed a softening. "I think they are starting to reconsider their actions," he said. Abashidze, who returned to Adzharia from Moscow early Monday despite his claim that Saakashvili had threatened to shoot down his plane if he entered Georgian airspace, said he was ready to talk with Saakashvili, but struck a defiant note. Speaking on Adzharia TV, Abashidze said he and Saakashvili had "a difficult conversation" by telephone Sunday. "He was just saying what he wanted and wouldn't listen," Abashidze said, referring to the 36-year-old president.
| Wouldn't let you browbeat him, huh? |
Saakashvili won a landslide election to replace Shevardnadze in January and pledged to reunite the Caucasus Mountains country. New parliament elections are scheduled March 28, and Saakashvili said Abashidze may be acting out of fear he will lose power in the parliament vote. Repeating a pledge to solve the tension without bloodshed, Saakashvili added that "we are committed to the supremacy of our constitution." Abashidze on Monday introduced a state of emergency - one of several he has declared since the November revolution - and a curfew for Adzharia. Georgian State Security Minister Zurab Adeishvili told an emergency government meeting in the neighboring Black Sea port of Poti that special armed formations have been created in Adzharia with more than 1,000 people, while weapons had been handed out to civilians. Groups of men, many armed with automatic rifles, were seen arriving Monday at the river that forms Adzharia's border with Georgia, the Interfax news agency reported. Several hundred men in camouflage were also patrolling the area and set up camp. Since November, Adzharia has run its own affairs, withholding tax payments from the central government and otherwise refusing to cooperate with Tbilisi. Abashidze has claimed the central government was preparing to use the military to overthrow him. Saakashvili on Monday denied claims he was deploying tanks and armored personnel carriers to quell the region. "We have enough means to do it without tanks, so far," he said.
| Georgians seem to be about as enlightened as the Chechnyans. Popcorn, anyone? |
Posted by: Steve White 2004-03-16 |
