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100 Georgian troops quit over reforms...
More than 100 elite Georgian combat troops have quit the army over military reforms supported by the United States. Georgia is trying to modernise a disgruntled, often mutinous military that has been defeated in two separatist wars since independence from Soviet rule. Many officers are known to be unhappy at what they see as the slow pace of change. Acting chief of Georgia's land forces Nikolai Dzhanzhgava, among those who resigned, said 102 troops and officers had quit. "This is neither a protest nor a revolt. We have left our weapons in the armoury," Dzhanzhgava told Rustavi-2 television. "We are leaving because we cannot perform our duties in such conditions while the so-called construction of a new Georgian army is proceeding." The troops belonged to the army's rapid reaction force and the commando battalion. Both units are part of the U.S.-sponsored programme, but Dzhanzhgava said the men had no objection to Washington's involvement. So the Georgian government is hosing things...? U.S. army Green Beret instructors arrived in Georgia in May as part of a 21-month modernisation programme that will cost $64 million â four times Georgia's annual defence budget. Georgian Defence Minister David Tevzadze told reporters he did not have complete information about the incident, but described Dzhanzhgava's actions as "inappropriate". President Eduard Shevardnadze, who launched the reforms, personally negotiated an end to the most spectacular army mutiny in May last year when 400 men walked out of their barracks after being denied pay for 14 months. Yup. Sounds like the apparatchiki are hosing things... Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2002-07-20 |
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