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Caucasus
Georgia's president to fly to rebel province for talks
2004-03-18
BATUMI, Georgia. There was a glimmer of hope that a row between Georgia and its renegade province of Adjara could be resolved after the leadership of the Black Sea region agreed to let Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili fly in for crisis talks. The development came after more than six hours of talks between Adjara's autocratic leader Aslan Abashidze and Nino Burjanadze, the speaker of Georgia's parliament. "President Mikhail Saakashvili will be coming to Batumi on Thursday for negotiations with Aslan Abashidze," Burjanadze told reporters as she emerged from the marathon talks.

There was no guarantee that Saakashvili and Abashidze -- who make no secret of the fact they loathe each other -- would be able to resolve their dispute. But the mere fact that Saakashvili would be coming to Batumi was seen as a breakthrough. Saakashvili confirmed the visit late Wednesday and said he was ready to lift an economic blockade imposed on Adjara if Abashidze agrees to hold democratic legislative elections. "If the negotiations are successful, the economic sanctions will be lifted," he said. "The only subject of the negotiations will be the question of the imposition on the conditions necessary for the holding of democratic elections in the region" of the Adjara. Saakashvili accused Adjara of trying to secede from Georgia and took the unprecedented step of ordering the blockade which has brought Batumi's busy port and oil terminal to a standstill.

The row with Adjara is a local spat with international repercussions: Russia has a military base in the province and backs Abashidze, while the United States worries that instability in Georgia will jeopardize a multi-billion-dollar (-euro) oil pipeline project. The European Union on Wednesday renewed its support for Georgia's territorial integrity, and in a statement urged both sides to "re-establish dialogue at the highest level". It said the EU's special envoy for the South Caucasus, Finnish diplomat Heikki Talvitie, flew to Georgia on Tuesday to discuss the crisis with Saakashvili.
Atta boy. Gum 'em to death.
In Batumi, after speaking with Burjanadze, Abashidze confirmed that Saakashvili would visit on Thursday, and said he backed a peaceful settlement of the conflict. But he sounded a defiant note too, saying that Georgia's government had "violated its obligations one hundred percent". Burjanadze, who had travelled to Adjara as Saakashvili's emissary, cautioned that a solution to the row was still a long way off. "It is impossible to resolve all the problems straight away," she said. "But the most important thing is to handle this in a peaceful way, through negotiations."

Georgia's economic blockade on Adjara was in its second day Wednesday and there was no sign of it being lifted. Georgian naval vessels were blockading Batumi's port and Adjara's border with Turkey was also shut down. The hope in Georgia's capital, Tbilisi has been that the blockade will convince Abashidze to fall into line. But the embargo was also causing a knock-on effect much further afield. Batumi is a major transit point for goods between Europe and Asia, and for oil exports from the Caspian Sea to Western markets. An official in neighbouring Azerbaijan said nearly 2,000 railway wagons carrying oil products were backed up on sidings near Azerbaijan's border with Georgia due to the blockade.
Posted by:Steve White

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