#8
San Francisco Chronicle
March 21, 2002
Georgia has its own agenda
U.S. trainers seen as allies against secessionists
Anna Badkhen, Chronicle Staff Writer

Kojori Military Base, Georgia -- Special Forces Capt. Shalvab Badzhelidze is one of 1,600 Georgian soldiers the United States has pledged to train in the art of flushing out suspected al Qaeda fighters from a remote mountain redoubt.

Badzhelidze says he is happy to learn from the 200 U.S. military instructors, who began arriving this week. But he doesn't think he'll see action in the Pankisi Gorge anytime soon.

"Pankisi is a minuscule problem. Regular troops and police can handle that, " Badzhelidze said at this military base 16 miles north of Tbilisi, Georgia's capital. "We are doing something much more serious. We are training for an operation in Abkhazia."

Badzhelidze is not the only one who believes President Eduard Shevardnadze might use his army's improved skills to win back Abkhazia, a subtropical province of 300,000 inhabitants sandwiched between the Caucasus Mountains and the Black Sea that was lost to secessionist rebels in 1993.

The conflict, a humiliating defeat for the government, killed an estimated 10,000 people and forced 300,000 ethnic Georgians from their homes in Abkhazia, once a favorite summer resort of the Soviet elite.

Everyone from government ministers to guerrillas fighting to regain Abkhazia believe the American trainers will be used to help restore control over the unruly region, which enjoys de facto independence. That would constitute a severe departure from the U.S. troops' stated objective of fighting international terrorists.

"Let Americans come and help us," said Gia Lomia, a leader of Georgian guerrilla forces who mount armed raids into Abkhazia with the Shevardnadze government's tacit approval. "But tell the American government that 200 advisers are not enough. We need them to send at least 2,000 troops."

In an indication of how blurred the lines of political allegiances are here, the anti-separatist guerrillas readily acknowledge being aided by Chechen and Arab fighters -- the designated targets of the U.S. war on terrorism.

Zurab Lipartia, a member of a guerrilla organization called the Forest Brotherhood, said about 500 Chechens and Arabs and 80 Georgian rebels had fought Abkhazi soldiers last October in a failed attempt to invade the region.

"They offered to help us, and we accepted," he said. "Why not?"

COMPLEX CROSSCURRENTS

The association between the Georgian rebels and Muslim militants is one of many complex issues for the U.S. mission, analysts say. Washington's claim that Chechen rebels in Pankisi may be linked to al Qaeda risks being misconstrued as support of Russia's brutal campaign in Chechnya, which the State Department recently criticized for its numerous human rights abuses.

The U.S. program to train Georgian soldiers in anti-terrorism and counter- insurgency operations also moves the Bush administration closer to the unpopular Shevardnadze, the former Soviet foreign minister who has been widely criticized for the corruption and poverty that has shackled this nation of 4.5 million inhabitants.

And then there is the issue of Russia.

The separatist Abkhazian government, which is not recognized internationally, is unofficially protected by Russia, whose peacekeeping troops patrol the region's 80-mile border with Georgia. Just this month, Abkhaz leader Vladislav Ardzhinba wrote to President Vladimir Putin, asking for "associated status." Some Russian politicians have urged Moscow to recognize Abkhazia's independence or even annex the region.

KREMLIN OFFENDED

Russia, which is fighting its second war in Chechnya in eight years, feels snubbed by Washington's program to train the Georgians. Despite strong anti- Russian sentiment in Georgia, the Kremlin had hoped to deploy its own soldiers to hunt down Chechen rebels who are reportedly hiding in the Pankisi Gorge.

In recent weeks, Georgian officials have put their spin on events. Although Shevardnadze has never said that he would send U.S.-trained special forces into Abkhazia, Cabinet members such as Interior Minister Mamuka Nachkebia and Security Minister Valeri Khaburdzania charged that at least 45 al Qaeda members had left the Pankisi Gorge for refuge in Abkhazia.

The deputy foreign minister of the Abkhazian separatist government denied the allegation last week. "There are no Chechen fighters, no al Qaeda in Abkhazia -- it's a complete fabrication," Daour Arshba told reporters.

To be sure, the White House has said U.S. military advisers will limit their mission to training Georgian soldiers for operations against al Qaeda in Pankisi. U.S. officials have said that they do not expect U.S.-trained troops to fight in Abkhazia or South Ossetia, another breakaway province.

Shevardnadze's government does not officially support rebel groups like the Forest Brotherhood, whose members are mostly Georgian refugees who left Abkhazia in 1993. Although Shevardnadze insists that the conflict be solved peacefully, his government has yet to disarm the guerrillas or keep them from making frequent armed incursions.

In Zugdidi, a town on the border with Abkhazia, Georgian rebels openly carry weapons. This week, they proudly fired several rounds into the air while a U.S. journalist took photographs.

Guerrilla fighter Lipartia, who posed for a photograph holding a Kalashnikov automatic rifle in one hand and a shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft weapon in the other, said the U.S. military presence was a sign that the United States had come to support their cause.

"Now that we have U.S. backing, we will return Abkhazia to Georgia," he said.

Nearby, Gigo Parlava, a rebel leader in Zugdidi, hung a homemade U.S. flag in his office.

"When a powerful nation extends its hand from across the ocean, why should we refuse its help?" he asked. "When I return to Abkhazia, I will hang up two American flags in my house."

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