Abkhazia: Georgians Complain of Harvest Thefts

Residents of Abkhazia’s Gali region say they live in permanent fear of criminals stealing the hazel crop that they rely on for their earnings and that the authorities do nothing to protect them.

When Abkhazia broke away from Georgia in a 1992-3 war, most of its ethnic Georgians fled with the retreating army. Around 60,000 ethnic Georgians remained in the Gali region, which ethnic Abkhaz call the Gal region and which borders Georgian-controlled territory, and make up most of its population today.

“Neither the Abkhazian policemen, nor the Russian [peacekeeping] troops put themselves out to defend Georgians. For them we have always just been a source of income. They either take our nuts, or they take money for crossing the so-called border. They are only concerned about their financial interests, and don’t need to enforce the law,” said a resident of the village of Nabakevi in the Gali region who asked not to be named.

According to the Georgia-backed Abkhazian authorities in exile, every year Gali region farmers are unable to profit from their crop because of the lawless situation. This year, said Tornike Kilanava, head of the regional representative office in Samegrelo, which borders with the Gali region, there has been one murder, two kidnappings, and more than a dozen robberies.

He called on the Abkhazian authorities to allow observers from the European Union, who are patrolling the ceasefire between Georgia and Russia agreed in 2008, to check the situation within Abkhazia itself.

“Sadly, in the Gali region, where the situation is unstable anyway, the harvest season is accompanied by significant difficulties,” he said.

“According to our information, Abkhazian policemen often are themselves connected to the criminals and receive financial rewards from them. And, feeling their immunity, the criminals arrogantly break into local residents’ homes, drive up in trucks and make the farmers load up with their own hands their whole harvest, and then calmly leave.”

The Georgian authorities say the situation became worse after the Russian-Georgian war of 2008. Local residents say that Russian soldiers last year kept order to a small degree, but have stopped doing so this summer and now rarely leave their bases.

The Abkhazian authorities deny such allegations. According to Beslan Arshba, head of the Gali region administration, there has been no deterioration in the situation at all.

“If you compare the criminal situation with past years, then there are no grounds to talk about a deterioration. Of course, there are cases of individual crimes. In accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Abkhazia, we conduct operational-investigative operations, and identify the individuals connected to these crimes,” he said.

“As for the security regime in the Gali region, I can announce that no enhanced regime is planned and there are no grounds for this.”

Local residents, however, do not agree with him - many of them saying that every night is a time of fear when they expect to be raided.

“We go to sleep fearing that someone could burst into our home. It is very hard to live in such conditions, but we have no other way out, our family survives from its agriculture and the sale of its nuts,” said Manana Akobia, a resident of the village of Tagiloni in the Gali region.

On the night of September 7, a farmer called Tamaz Khasaia was killed in his own home in the village of Mukhuri. Five armed men in masks burst into his house and began to take the nuts, shooting Khasaia when he tried to stop them.

There is no firm information on how many people have died in such attacks, but Georgians in the Gali region speculate that it might be as many as a few dozen.

“The worst thing is that nothing changes for the better. On the contrary, every year it gets harder and harder,” said Anzor Baramia, a resident of the vilage of Pichori.

Kilanava, of the Georgian-backed Abkhazian government-in-exile, said the problem was caused by the absence of international organisations in Abkhazia. The United Nations pulled out of Abkhazia last year, and currently, only the Red Cross and the Danish and Norwegian Refugee Councils operate in the Gali region, and they are not set up to protect local residents from attack.

“For many years the United Nations mission worked in the conflict zone, and the population of the Gali region probably suffered most from their departure. The UN observers did not have police functions, but they patrolled every day and got acquainted with the problems of the population. At the moment, not a single organisation is doing this. Attempts by the European Union to persuade the de facto Abkhazian authorities to allow their observers into the zone of conflict have not been successful,” he said.

“Of course, no one is under any illusion that the arrival of observers from the European Union would change the situation radically, but at least the population could have the possibility of appealing to an organisation with some minimal levers of influence on the local leadership.”

The average family harvests between 1.5 and three tonnes of nuts, which sell for between five and 10,000 lari (2700 – 5400 US dollars) a tonne on the Georgian market, which is more profitable for the farmers than selling their nuts in Abkhazia.

Before 2008, they were able to cross the Inguri river into Georgia’s Zugdidi region with ease but then Russian forces took over control of the river that marks Abkhazia’s eastern border, and now farmers have to pay a 25 tetri a kilogramme tax to get their harvest out of Abkhazia.

Nonetheless, they do not intend to leave their homes and join the small army of refugees from Abkhazia and South Ossetia already present in Georgia.

“How long could I live in someone else’s house? I have two grandsons who are students and I have to pay for their education. It’s true that I’m scared, but if I am destined to die at least let me die in my own home,” said Mzia Gulua, a resident of the village of Chuburkhinji.

Irakli Lagvilava works for the Imedi TV and Radio station. Mira Kekelidze is a freelance journalist.