Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------------------------- [When the NATO puppet regime in Tbilisi refers to "international peacekeepers" it means NATO/OSCE colonial troops. Shevardnadze's Georgia, which has already announced its entrance into NATO even before Brussels has given the green light, is NATO's home base and launching pad for penetration into both the Black and Caspian Seas and points further east. Note how the ever compliant Agence France-Presse places the title of the Abkhazian defense minister in quotation marks, when at the same time it grants - double comma-free - whichever CIA-controlled seccesionist contra in the Balkans, the Caucasus and Central Asia any grandiose title he chooses to appropriate.] Wednesday August 8, 8:44 PM Georgia, Abkhazia argue over Russia's handover of Soviet military base TBILISI, Aug 8 (AFP) - Georgia is demanding that international peacekeepers monitor Moscow's handover to Tbilisi of a Soviet-era military base located in the breakaway republic of Abkhazia, a foreign ministry official said Wednesday. However, Abkhazia's "defense minister," Vladimir Mikamba said also Wednesday that the republic would oppose these plans and was claiming for itself the Gudauta base, which Russia failed to relinquish July 1. "If the Russians leave the base, then it could very well be used by the Abkhazian army," Mikamba said. But Georgia is not prepared to let that happen, said the Georgian foreign ministry's spokesman, Kakha Sikharulidze. "Georgian observers will monitor the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Gudauta base, which will be guarded by a peacekeeping contingent from countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)", a loose group of all former Soviet republics, minus the three Baltic states, Sikharulidze said. Georgia will make "no compromise about that problem, as we unfortunately don't control" Abkhaz territory, he insisted. Under a 1999 agreement brokered by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Istanbul, Russia was to relinquish control of Gudauta on July 1, along with the Vaziani air base, near Tbilisi, which it did hand over. The Russian army said it had been unable to vacate Gudauta, which is believed to house up to 1,000 troops, because of an absence of Georgian troops to take control of the base, situated in the unstable Abkhazia territory. Russia also said local Abkhaz inhabitants, who fear they will come under Georgian control if Russian troops leave, had prevented them from doing so. Abkhazia has claimed de facto independence from Tbilisi since 1993 after fighting a war in the early 1990s in which the separatists were supported by Moscow. Gudauta is one of four Russian military bases on Georgian territory, the remnant of the 2,000 installations left in the country after the desintegration of the Soviet Union. Georgia is seeking a total withdrawal of Russian troops from its territory within three years, but Russia argues that such a timetable does not give it sufficient time to find new accommodation for the Russian troops based there. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9spWA Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: [email protected] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
