Georgians say four dead in Kodori Gorge clash
By Temuri Kiguradze
Thursday, July 10
Tension remains high in Georgia’s separatist regions, with all sides trading accusations over who is to blame for the bloodiest month in the conflict regions since 2004.
Yesterday the Interior Ministry said Georgian policemen were patrolling Kodori Gorge—the sliver of breakaway Abkhazia under Georgian state control—ahead of a visit from UN representatives when they came under fire from Abkhaz militia.
Abkhaz representatives say the Georgians opened fire first on their checkpoint, using grenade launchers and machine guns. Ceasefire agreements permit Georgia to have police forces in the conflict zone, but not military weaponry.
The two sides also gave different accounts of Abkhaz casualties.
Temur Iakobashvili, Georgia’s top official for conflict issues, said four Abkhaz militants were killed in the clash while de facto Abkhaz defense minister Merab Kishmaria told the news agency Interfax that only two on the Abkhaz side were injured.
The Interior Ministry also said a separate incident occurred the same day when a Georgian police checkpoint near the administrative border with Abkhazia came under fire. No one was injured.
Abkhaz authorities say the incidents were orchestrated by Tbilisi to pave the way for a change in the peacekeeping format.
“All these actions are conducted by the Georgian side to artificially increase the tension in the region before the visit of US state secretary…It is obvious that Georgia is trying to change the format of the peacekeeping operation with the support of its Western partners,” said an Abkhaz statement.
Georgian Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvil said Russia was behind the incidents.
She said Moscow is trying to “distract the attention of the international community from the real problems in the conflict region.”
Iakobashvili also said Russia was to blame, describing Moscow as the “real provocateur” that wants to see military action.
Yesterday the Defense Ministry also claimed to have radar evidence of four Russian military aircraft crossing into Georgian airspace above South Ossetia on July 8.
A Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson told the Messenger they are aware of the claim, but declined to comment.
Peter Semneby, the EU’s top representative to the region, appealed to both sides to “step back now.”
He was dispatched to Tbilisi by the EU earlier this week as tensions continued to grow around the country’s separatist regions.
So far this month violence in Abkhazia and South Ossetia has left at least seven dead and more injured, not including the Kodori skirmish.
Semneby said that only direct dialogue would lead to a way out of the situation.
Abkhaz authorities have repeatedly said that they will be ready to resume negotiations only after Georgia withdraws its forces from Kodori Gorge, and separatist officials said they would cut all ties with Georgia and seal the administrative border in response to this month’s violence.
Georgia has maintained that only police units—allowed by a ceasefire agreement—operate in Kodori, which has been under Tbilisi control since an operation in 2006 to put down a rebellious local warlord.