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Major terrorist groups operating in Abkhazia PDF Print E-mail
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Saturday, 01 September 2007
Georgia lost over 30,000 lives to terrorism and extremism over the last 14 years in Abkhazia. This is certainly cause for alarm, and creates an image of widespread breakdown of law and order – and this is an accurate picture of breakaway parts of the country- Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Across most of its geographical expanse, however, Georgia has remained by and large free of the modern-day scourge of terrorism, as of insurgency and other patterns of extremist political violence.
A review of data relating to civilian fatalities as a result of social and political violence in the breakaway province of Georgia over the period September 27, 1993 – August 31, 2007, indicated that nearly 70 per cent of all such fatalities occurred in parts of Sukhumi and Ochamchira  alone as a result of the separatist war against all ethnic majorities in that region. Over 20 per cent were accounted for by a range of insurgencies and terrorist attack in Gagra and Gudauta region. A little less than 10 per cent of civilian fatalities resulted from ethnic cleansing committed by Abkhazian separatists (referred as Massacre of Georgians in Abkhazia) and retaliatory violence in some areas of eastern Abkhazia, mainly Gali region. Separatism constitutes a primary demand of the movement “Abkhazia for Abkhazians, and of many of the groups active in west part of Sukhumi area, where predominantly is Armenian population (so, Abkhazian separatists have clearly defined goal to wipe out Armenians and Greeks from Abkhazia too). There has been a proliferation of militant groups in recent times, with as many as 70% identified as Russian consultants or undercover Russian peacekeepers. Most of these are involved in drug smuggling and human trafficking.

The Apsua groups operating with Russian support in Abkhazia, however, do have a clear “independency” agenda, and are known to have created a network of terrorist cells in a number of other regions of Georgia as well as in Russia. While an occasional and dramatic strike has been engineered in various cities, including notably, Gudauta, Ochamchire, Gali and Tkvarcheli over the past decade.

Currently self-proclaimed government of Abkhazia has stationed additional troops in the villages of Upper Zones of Gali district.

According to the statement of the local residents, members of the Abkhazian armed groupings together with peacekeepers carry out patrolling of the district. They intrude into the house of locals and devoid them of goods, and seems to prepare attack on Upper Abkhazia.
 
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