Rebel militia leader re-emerges to "declare war" on Georgian forces in Kodori

CEP20060910950075 Tbilisi Imedi TV in Georgian 1700 GMT 10 Sep 06

Rebel militia leader re-emerges to "declare war" on Georgian forces in Kodori

Georgian Imedi TV has broadcast fragments of a 10-minute video statement released by rebel militia leader Emzar Kvitsiani. This is the first new television footage of Kvitsiani shown since 30 July, shortly after the Georgian government deployed forces in the Kodori Gorge to suppress a rebellion by Kvitsiani's once loyal militia. In the video Kvitsiani says he is still in the gorge and has "declared war" on Georgian forces there. The Georgian authorities say that Kvitsiani fled the gorge at the end of July, first to Sukhumi, in separatist-controlled Abkhazia, and then to Russia.

Kvitsiani is shown wearing camouflage and a large crucifix, lit by a single candle, and flanked by armed men. Imedi says Georgian security services refused to comment on the new video, which was delivered anonymously to their offices.

"I would like to warn pilots and officers, I would like to warn those to whom I am close and I know, to leave the Kodori Gorge. I have already declared a hunt for helicopters and police officers.

"I wanted to stop all this but to no avail, because you were bloodthirsty. I think there will soon be oceans of blood in your own families which you will not be able to mop up. Therefore it would be better for women and children to leave the gorge.

"We have declared a war and we are prepared for war. Many volunteers have already contacted us, including from the North Caucasus where the Karachay say they have a 300-year debt to us Svans.

"Free our captives immediately. They are not prisoners, they are captives. Moreover, those lads who were captured were the ones who did not agree with me about the revolt."

The video also included a message for Kvitsiani's sister, Nora, who is currently in custody: "I would like to apologize to my sister, Norachka, for the situation she is currently in. However, I am proud of you Nora. You are the one Georgian heroine. Just wait a little while and I will certainly free you. The only reason I feel sorry for you is that you think I am on the run, but know this: You will soon be freed."

Kvitsiani also defended Irakli Batiashvili, the leader of the Forward Georgia movement who is currently in prison awaiting trial on treason charges. Batiashvili was arrested shortly after the Interior Ministry released recordings of a telephone conversation with Kvitsiani in which he apparently supported his revolt.

"I spoke again to Irakli Batiashvili later on. He phoned me and asked me to reconsider, not do it. Batiashvili begged me not to do it. However, the recording of that conversation seems not to have appeared," Kvitsiani said.

Zurab Samushia, the former leader of the White Eagle pro-Georgian militia, which fought in Abkhazia, told "Droeba" that it would be very difficult for Georgia to fight a partisan war in Kodori. Samushia, who once fought alongside Kvitsiani in the early 1990s, says Kvitsiani's actions are "wrong, but he is not a traitor".

Levan Berdzenishvili, a leading member of the opposition Republican Party, told Imedi that he believes Kvitsiani is being backed by the Russian intelligence services.

"If it were not for the talk about Orthodox Christianity, the crucifix and his other accessories, this would look just like an Al-Qa'idah video. Emzar Kvitsiani seems to be intent on proving that the Georgian government was right when it labelled him a traitor. When he threatens to bring in foreigners from the North Caucasus to fight, is that not treachery? There is no longer any doubt that he is linked to and controlled by Russia," he said.

Berdzenishvili liked Kvitsiani's activities to those of exiled pro-Russian opposition leader Igor Giorgadze, some of whose supporters were arrested on 6 September accused of conspiring to overthrow the government

"It is possible that one of them is run by an FSB major, while the other is run by an FSB colonel - their offices are probably next to each other and they are competing," Berdzenishvili said, referring to Kvitsiani and Giorgadze."



[Description of Source: Tbilisi Imedi TV in Georgian -- Commercial TV station owned by a group of investors led by Georgian-born fugitive Russian businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili. The company's website (www.imedi.ge) claims that their broadcasts reach "about 75 percent" of the country's population.]