Saakashvili’s ex-envoy: “Georgia’s authorities actively prepare to war”

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Former plenipotentiary representative of Georgian president in the upper Kodori Gorge Emzar Kvitsiani has accused Georgia’s authorities in a fraud of results of local municipal elections in Georgia held Oct 5, 2006. Kvitsiani made his statement in a video addressed to the population of Georgia publicized Nov 1 by Abkhazia’s state TV Channel news program, REGNUM correspondent reports. According to Kvitsiani, population of upper Kodori Gorge did not take part in the vote – instead, voices of Georgian regular servicemen were counted.

Kvitsiani who fought against Abkhazia in 1992-1993, emphasized that that had been a mistake, and Georgia has to regulate relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia by exclusively peaceful means. “Instead, Georgia’s authorities actively prepare to war that may yield the worst ever results for the current Georgia’s authorities and for the Georgian people.”

Employees at Abkhazia’s state radio and TV company informed that the videotape with the Kvitsiani’s address was found early Oct 31 near local municipal office of the Lata village in the lower Kodori Gorge controlled by Abkhazia’s authorities.

In June 2006, Emzar Kvitsiani accused Georgia’s authorities of ignoring problems of the Svan people who live in the upper Kodori, stating that the people starves. Following this, Kvitsiani announced insubordination to official Tbilisi and demanded resignation of ministers of defense and internal affairs Irakli Okruashvili and Vano Merabishvili, correspondingly. Kvitsiani characterized the latter as “bandit minister.”

Official Tbilisi dispatched to the upper Kodori Gorge (the only region of Abkhazia controlled by Tbilisi — REGNUM) troops headed by both of the mentioned ministers and carried out there what it called a wide-scale “police operation” aimed to eliminating “criminal elements.” The forces, however, failed to capture Emzar Kvitsiani himself. Georgia’s prosecutor general initiated a criminal case against him, accusing Kvitsiani, among other offenses, of treason. Simultaneously, Tbilisi accused Sukhumi of concealing Emzar Kvitsiani.

Emzar Kvitsiani was plenipotentiary representative of president of Georgia in the upper Kodori Gorge and member of the Georgian military. However, when Irakli Okruashvili became minister of defense in 2005, he dismissed Emzar Kvitsiani from the military and dissolved the Hunter local self-defense detachment headed by Kvitsiani.