The Messenger
Monday, September 13, 2004, #173 (0697)

Railway link connects Sokhumi-Moscow
In Abkhazia, tension high for pre-election campaign
By Warren Hedges and James Phillips

Tbilisi and Moscow are locking horns over Friday’s restoration of
Sokhumi’s rail link to Moscow while allegations that Tbilisi plans to
interfere in Abkhazia’s upcoming presidential elections have further
soured relations with the separatist region.

Friday afternoon, a four-car train departed Sokhumi for Russia marking
the first regular train route between Abkhazia and Russia in over
eleven years. According to the new schedule, two of the cars will
travel to the southern Russian city of Rostov on the Don, while the
other two will be reconnected to a Moscow bound train.

The restoration of rail service was foreseen by a March 2003 agreement
reached in Sochi between the Abkhazian prime minister, President Putin
and then-President Shevardnadze. But the same agreement included a
package of provisions like the return of Georgian IDPs to their homes,
a process that has seen little progress while the Russian government
and Abkhazia have eagerly pursued the rail link.

Georgia’s First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nick Tabatadze
told The Messenger on Sunday that the rail connection represents a
“grave violation of international agreements.”

“We are facing the violation of a number of international and
bi-lateral agreements,” he said, including the 1993 UN regulation
agreement, an agreement by the CIS heads of state and the Sochi
agreement.

“The Sochi agreement contemplates the railway construction in parallel
with the refugees return to the Gali region,” Tabatadze said, “They
should have started together – synchronized.”

Now the Tbilisi has sent a letter of protest to the Russian Ministry
of Foreign Affairs. In addition the ministry has written to the UN
and the Friends of Georgia and awaits a response.

Georgia’s State Minister for Conflict Resolution Goga Khaindrava
called the move open support for separatism.

“Unfortunately, we cannot take tough steps to prevent these illegal
activities, but we will use every civilized technique in the framework
of international law to put an end to this outrage,” he said according
to Itar-Tass.

“Russia’s activities encourage and support separatism in Abkhazia,”
Khaindrava added.

In a statement released on Friday, the Russian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs said it wanted to “assess the situation in a correct manner.”

According to the ministry, the repair works began in July by the
Joint Stock Company Russian Railways. “There is nothing new in this:
it is necessary to maintain the state of the railway in a working
and secure manner.”

While stating “the main thing is that all this corresponds to the Sochi
agreement reached at the Russian-Georgian summit with the participation
of the Abkhaz side in March 2003,” the ministry said nothing about
the fate of the return of refugees that was also part of the agreement.

The ministry added that the restoration of the railway is in fact
in Georgia’s interests: “We would like to recall that the importance
of the Sochi agreement on bilateral movement of trains via Abkhazia
is in the fact that railway ties will be established between Georgia
and Russia. Thus, the countries of the given region including Georgia
and Armenia are interested in this issue.”

According to railway officials, travelers in Sokhumi will be able to
buy tickets to ‘anywhere in Russia.’

“In the future more cars may be added. It all depends on how many
tickets are sold,” a spokesperson for the Russian Railways told
Itar-Tass.

Rail service was first restored in December 2002 and immediately
raised a strong Georgian protest. Three months later in Sochi,
President Shevardnadze approved the rail link as long as Georgian
refugees were able to return. Meanwhile, On October 3, the voters in
Abkhazia are scheduled to elect a new president and ailing de facto
President Vladislav Ardzinba has already endorsed Prime Minister Raul
Khajimba. Late in August Khajimba had a short meeting and photo-op
with President Putin leaving many to believe that he is Moscow’s
favored candidate.

The election season has put an effective halt on Georgian-Abkhazian
negotiations. After Georgian Coast Guard vessels fired on a ship
illegally docking in Sokhumi on July 30, the Abkhaz representatives
have refused to participate in the weekly quadripartite meetings on
maintaining peace in the region. It is expected that the Abkhaz side
will not return to the negotiation table until after the elections.

Now Abkhaz security officials accuse Georgia of plotting to create
diversions in the weeks leading up to the elections.

“Georgian sabotage groups, who entered Abkhazia from Georgia, were
spotted [in Abkhaz villages]. According to our information, the
objective of these sabotage groups is to destabilize the situation
in Abkhazia in the run-up to the republic’s presidential elections,”
said Mikhail Tarba, chair of the de facto republic’s security services.

Speaking with Interfax, he added that special units from the security
service have begun a search for the alleged saboteurs. “Steps are
being taken to increase the security of candidates for president of
the republic,” he said adding that these people are in danger.

In response, Georgia’s Khaindrava called the statements “absurd”.
“If Georgia wanted to disrupt elections in Abkhazia, it would do this
without acts of sabotage,” Khaindrava told journalists on Friday.
“Despite the illegitimacy of the elections in Abkhazia, the Georgian
authorities understand that they would have to maintain relations
with the candidate who wins for several years,” he said as quoted
by Interfax.