Abkhazia rejects Georgia’s call for international control over Gal

Sukhum/Agency Caucasus – Georgia proposed that the Gal province of Abkhazia should be brought under the control of international forces after it was hit by a blast on July 27 that killed one and injured four people.Some sources blamed the blast on the explosion of an anti-tank mine while some other sources blamed it on the detonation of a bullet that occurred as a person named Malkhaz Pertay tried to extract from its carriage. The blast killed Pertay, injured his two cousins and two other children, named Lika (3) and Monika (5).

Temur Mjaviya, President of the Abkhaz government in exile that Georgia set up in Upper Kodor, was quick to conclude from the blast that the Gal province should be taken away from the Abkhaz people. “This is a place not controlled at all. For that reason, Gal should be submitted to the control of international forces, or similar things will continue to happen.”  

Mjaviya further argued that both Georgia and the international community should exercise maximal force to reach the desired end.

Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba, however, dismissed Mjaviya’s call as being “an empty and populist slogan”: “Statements of this kind are particularly aimed at refugees who believe in the slogans. Temru Mjaviya and those who are like him can only exist if they confuse the minds of refugees. As soon as refugees stop believing in such slogans, autonomists will be deprived of all the sources that they have.”     

Shamba was firm in his rejection of the Georgian offer to bring Gal under the control of international forces. “Gal is not different from the other six provinces of Abkhazia.”

If Georgia did not get involved in Gal anymore, it would increase the chances for stabilization, said Natella Akaba, Speaker of the Civilian Parliament of Abkhazia.

KU/ÖZ/FT