Neilikka
09-07-2008, 07:24 AM
Sixteen years since the end of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, the traces of war are still visible in the breakaway republic. Most of the buildings are still riddled with bullet and shell holes, but the tiny republic has no funds to initiate reconstruction programs.
Today, unlike in South Ossetia, no shots are heard in Abkhazia, but the Abkhaz leader, together with Russian peacekeepers and average residents, all agree that the situation could change overnight. The tension is palpable. Reporters traveling from Sukhumi to Ochamchir, a town just a stone's throw away from the Georgian border, is either escorted by an armored personnel carrier, or a handful of servicemen armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles.
On June 20, 1994, CIS Collective Peacekeeping Forces (CPF) entered the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict area; the former Soviet republics decided that the contingent would be manned by Russians. Although more than 100 servicemen have been killed since then, full-blown hostilities between the conflicting sides have not resumed.
Peacekeepers: Mission UnACCOMPLISHed
At the same time, CPF command, UN observers and Russia are concerned that negotiations between Tbilisi and Sukhumi, halted by the Abkhazian side 10 months ago when Georgia brought troops into the upper part of the Kodori Gorge in breach of the standing agreement, have yet to restart [The Kodori Gorge in northern Georgia marks the de facto border between Abkhazian- and Georgian-controlled territory. The lower part of the gorge is controlled by Abkhazia, and the upper part by Georgia. Georgia previously agreed to UN monitoring of the Kodori Gorge, but with a minimal Russian presence].
The Russian peacekeepers' area of responsibility is 12 km on either side of the Georgian-Abkhazian administrative border. Tbilisi insists on the withdrawal of the Russian peacekeeping forces and their replacement by international peacekeepers, but Abkhazia is categorically against this. Sergei Bagapsh describes the Russian peacekeepers as guarantors of peace in Abkhazia.
"Apart from political expediency, there is also human decency," he says. "The peacekeepers save human lives. Replacing the Russian ‘blue helmets'' with an international contingent in Abkhazia, for that matter, is an unacceptable option."
All peacekeepers in Abkhazia are contract servicemen. They sign a three-year contract to serve in the Caucasus and then are sent on a one-year assignment to Abkhazia. Before going to Abkhazia, they must pass a combat proficiency test and a psychological exam. After a one-year stint, servicemen take a leave of absence. As a general rule, they go home. Everyone is free to either extend or terminate his contract. Servicemen who chose to quit are not censured even by their peers. Peacekeepers' service is not an easy one, while wages are on average about 22,000 rubles [$85] a month. Service is 24 hours a day. Contractors may not leave base even when they are off duty.
INTO THE MOUNTAINS
We are flying to the Kodori Gorge, escorted by a combat helicopter. We land at Checkpoint 106, where the 2nd Motorized Rifle Company is deployed. Servicemen live in a three-storey concrete rundown building with its windows half sealed with bricks. Inside, the barracks look decent since they were recently renovated. There is also a good cafeteria, medical post and a bathhouse. Opposite this building is a bunker with heavy overhead cover that remotely resembles a bus stop shelter. It turns out that before the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict broke out, there was indeed a bus stop there, while Checkpoint 106 is located in what used to be a village of 500 houses. The barracks is a former village school. Peacekeepers told this reporter that it had taken a year to rebuild it. Today, one house from the village is still standing. The family of an Abkhazian militia unit commander, who was killed during the war with Georgia, lives there now. As for the other houses, only their foundations remain, grim reminders of a different day.
Higher up in the mountains, closer to the border, is the village of Zema Lata, where Checkpoint 107 is located. This point can only be accessed by motor vehicle, since there is no helicopter pad there. We are riding in a GAZ-66 military truck over very rocky terrain. There is a cliff on one side and a precipice on the other. Far below flows the Kodorka, a turbulent mountain river. The mountainous road is barely wide enough for our truck, which has great difficulty negotiating the turns. Some reporters (as it turned out later) are ready to jump out of the truck and go on foot. But the truck driver remains undaunted: he calmly navigates the vehicle, downshifting when he has to, and even managing to look around on occasion. Later, peacekeepers tell us they have to use this road several times a day.
Abkhaz Reservists: "Always Prepared!"
A few kilometers before the Russian peacekeepers' posts is situated the Abkhazian army checkpoints. The core of the Abkhazian Armed Forces is made up of reservists. They are former army conscripts who have completed a special training course. Lt. Gen. Anatoly Zaitsev, deputy defense minister and chief of the General Staff of the republic's Armed Forces, believes that mobilization is key to the strategic deployment of troops.
"Combat training standards in our army are very high," the general says. "New programs have been developed, taking into account terrain features, and field manuals have been updated accordingly. We also have a strong coastal defense capability." Abkhazia periodically conducts training sessions and exercises for reservists. Abkhazian reservists have two hours after alert has been issued to report to their subunits and immediately start redeploying to a designated area.
Arms and equipment are a bit of a problem though. Abkhazia had the status of an unrecognized republic so all air and even rail communication links have been effectively cut off. No state in the world may sell arms to Sukhumi. Therefore, the Abkhazians use what was left after the armed conflict. A local factory (in the town of Tkvarcheli) also produces revolvers. "We have made considerable progress in the past two years," Gen. Zaitsev says proudly. "We are ready to repel any aggression in a fitting way. The enemy will never reach Sukhumi. Terrain conditions are also on our side. Georgia's combat potential if higher, of course, in the number of tanks, artillery and aircraft. But as the military science says, arms may not always ensure victory. And the last war has shown that this is indeed the case."
No Forced Peace, Thank You Very Much
From every indication, Tbilisi still regards the use of force as an option in resolving the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. Georgia will probably be admitted to the North Atlantic alliance despite its outstanding problems in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. "The sooner this happens, the better. But before Georgia joins NATO, Abkhazia must determine its status. Russia is as powerful as other G-8 member states, and it has its own geopolitical interests near its borders to look after. Abkhazia has been and will remain a buffer zone along Russia's borders," Sergei Bagapsh says. "Peace cannot be forced - it may only be based on agreement. There is no force that will compel the Abkhaz, South Ossetians, or Transdnestrians to join the republics from which they have already seceded. To us, the subject is closed."
By Natalia Pulina
Today, unlike in South Ossetia, no shots are heard in Abkhazia, but the Abkhaz leader, together with Russian peacekeepers and average residents, all agree that the situation could change overnight. The tension is palpable. Reporters traveling from Sukhumi to Ochamchir, a town just a stone's throw away from the Georgian border, is either escorted by an armored personnel carrier, or a handful of servicemen armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles.
On June 20, 1994, CIS Collective Peacekeeping Forces (CPF) entered the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict area; the former Soviet republics decided that the contingent would be manned by Russians. Although more than 100 servicemen have been killed since then, full-blown hostilities between the conflicting sides have not resumed.
Peacekeepers: Mission UnACCOMPLISHed
At the same time, CPF command, UN observers and Russia are concerned that negotiations between Tbilisi and Sukhumi, halted by the Abkhazian side 10 months ago when Georgia brought troops into the upper part of the Kodori Gorge in breach of the standing agreement, have yet to restart [The Kodori Gorge in northern Georgia marks the de facto border between Abkhazian- and Georgian-controlled territory. The lower part of the gorge is controlled by Abkhazia, and the upper part by Georgia. Georgia previously agreed to UN monitoring of the Kodori Gorge, but with a minimal Russian presence].
The Russian peacekeepers' area of responsibility is 12 km on either side of the Georgian-Abkhazian administrative border. Tbilisi insists on the withdrawal of the Russian peacekeeping forces and their replacement by international peacekeepers, but Abkhazia is categorically against this. Sergei Bagapsh describes the Russian peacekeepers as guarantors of peace in Abkhazia.
"Apart from political expediency, there is also human decency," he says. "The peacekeepers save human lives. Replacing the Russian ‘blue helmets'' with an international contingent in Abkhazia, for that matter, is an unacceptable option."
All peacekeepers in Abkhazia are contract servicemen. They sign a three-year contract to serve in the Caucasus and then are sent on a one-year assignment to Abkhazia. Before going to Abkhazia, they must pass a combat proficiency test and a psychological exam. After a one-year stint, servicemen take a leave of absence. As a general rule, they go home. Everyone is free to either extend or terminate his contract. Servicemen who chose to quit are not censured even by their peers. Peacekeepers' service is not an easy one, while wages are on average about 22,000 rubles [$85] a month. Service is 24 hours a day. Contractors may not leave base even when they are off duty.
INTO THE MOUNTAINS
We are flying to the Kodori Gorge, escorted by a combat helicopter. We land at Checkpoint 106, where the 2nd Motorized Rifle Company is deployed. Servicemen live in a three-storey concrete rundown building with its windows half sealed with bricks. Inside, the barracks look decent since they were recently renovated. There is also a good cafeteria, medical post and a bathhouse. Opposite this building is a bunker with heavy overhead cover that remotely resembles a bus stop shelter. It turns out that before the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict broke out, there was indeed a bus stop there, while Checkpoint 106 is located in what used to be a village of 500 houses. The barracks is a former village school. Peacekeepers told this reporter that it had taken a year to rebuild it. Today, one house from the village is still standing. The family of an Abkhazian militia unit commander, who was killed during the war with Georgia, lives there now. As for the other houses, only their foundations remain, grim reminders of a different day.
Higher up in the mountains, closer to the border, is the village of Zema Lata, where Checkpoint 107 is located. This point can only be accessed by motor vehicle, since there is no helicopter pad there. We are riding in a GAZ-66 military truck over very rocky terrain. There is a cliff on one side and a precipice on the other. Far below flows the Kodorka, a turbulent mountain river. The mountainous road is barely wide enough for our truck, which has great difficulty negotiating the turns. Some reporters (as it turned out later) are ready to jump out of the truck and go on foot. But the truck driver remains undaunted: he calmly navigates the vehicle, downshifting when he has to, and even managing to look around on occasion. Later, peacekeepers tell us they have to use this road several times a day.
Abkhaz Reservists: "Always Prepared!"
A few kilometers before the Russian peacekeepers' posts is situated the Abkhazian army checkpoints. The core of the Abkhazian Armed Forces is made up of reservists. They are former army conscripts who have completed a special training course. Lt. Gen. Anatoly Zaitsev, deputy defense minister and chief of the General Staff of the republic's Armed Forces, believes that mobilization is key to the strategic deployment of troops.
"Combat training standards in our army are very high," the general says. "New programs have been developed, taking into account terrain features, and field manuals have been updated accordingly. We also have a strong coastal defense capability." Abkhazia periodically conducts training sessions and exercises for reservists. Abkhazian reservists have two hours after alert has been issued to report to their subunits and immediately start redeploying to a designated area.
Arms and equipment are a bit of a problem though. Abkhazia had the status of an unrecognized republic so all air and even rail communication links have been effectively cut off. No state in the world may sell arms to Sukhumi. Therefore, the Abkhazians use what was left after the armed conflict. A local factory (in the town of Tkvarcheli) also produces revolvers. "We have made considerable progress in the past two years," Gen. Zaitsev says proudly. "We are ready to repel any aggression in a fitting way. The enemy will never reach Sukhumi. Terrain conditions are also on our side. Georgia's combat potential if higher, of course, in the number of tanks, artillery and aircraft. But as the military science says, arms may not always ensure victory. And the last war has shown that this is indeed the case."
No Forced Peace, Thank You Very Much
From every indication, Tbilisi still regards the use of force as an option in resolving the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. Georgia will probably be admitted to the North Atlantic alliance despite its outstanding problems in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. "The sooner this happens, the better. But before Georgia joins NATO, Abkhazia must determine its status. Russia is as powerful as other G-8 member states, and it has its own geopolitical interests near its borders to look after. Abkhazia has been and will remain a buffer zone along Russia's borders," Sergei Bagapsh says. "Peace cannot be forced - it may only be based on agreement. There is no force that will compel the Abkhaz, South Ossetians, or Transdnestrians to join the republics from which they have already seceded. To us, the subject is closed."
By Natalia Pulina