Abkhazia set to conduct large-scale maneuvers in September
05/09/2006 14:43
SUKHUMI, September 5 (RIA Novosti) - The self-proclaimed republic of Abkhazia, in Georgia, will conduct large-scale military exercises September 24-27 near the Kodori Gorge, a deputy defense minister said Tuesday.
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.
"The live firing stage [of the exercise] will take place September 27 in the lower part of the Kodori Gorge," Anatoly Zaytsev said.
He said up to 3,000 troops from all branches of armed forces and reserve brigades will participate in the exercise.
He also said the Abkhazian Defense Ministry plans to invite observers from CIS collective peacekeeping forces in the zone of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict and UN military observers to monitor the exercise.
Georgia started an operation in the remote Kodori Gorge in late July to find and disarm a rebellious militia unit led by Emzar Kvitsiani, a former Georgian presidential envoy to Abkhazia.
Sergei Bagapsh, the leader of the breakaway region, said in September it was a military operation under the guise of a police operation, whose purpose was to establish the government in exile in the gorge. He also said the operation has frustrated efforts being made by the sides since 1993 to resolve the conflict.
The bloody conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia erupted in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was suspended by a ceasefire agreement that introduced peacekeeping troops from the former Soviet republics, including Russia, into the separatist area.
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