Loyalty Battle Paralyses Georgian Port

A month-long political dispute in which the two sides are vying to blacken each other's names through association with the former regime of President Eduard Shevardnadze has left Georgia's main port without a functioning administration

In a sign that new Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili's "democratic revolution" is not always working to plan in the regions, the mayor's office and the "sakrebulo" or town assembly are competing to express their total loyalty to the new administration, by suggesting that the other side cannot be trusted because of links to the now discredited "Shevardnadze clan".

On March 20, the Poti city court declared that the sakrebulo's attempt to impeach mayor Vakhtang Alania was illegal. On April 25, the sakrebulo will try again, alleging that Alania has exceeded his powers by appointing people linked to the Shevardnadze family to top jobs in the city.

"We won't give up the fight and if we have to, we will impeach him every month," Temur Tsurtsumia, who is head of the assembly and the leader of the opposition to the mayor, told IWPR.

Alania is the founder of Sofmar, a transport company, one of whose main clients is Nugzar Shevardnadze, nephew of the former president. And he has made Irakli Motserelia, a friend of Nugzar Shevardnadze, his deputy.

The mayor has hit back by alleging that a number of members of the sakrebulo are close to the "Shevardnadze clan." He pointed out that Tsurtsumia was for many years the local head of the pro-Shevardnadze party, the Citizens' Union of Georgia.

Alania, formerly a member of the assembly himself, was appointed mayor of the town last November by Georgia's then acting leader Nino Burjanadze, just days after the "Rose Revolution" that ousted Shevardnadze.

Several members of the sakrebulo, who asked not to be quoted by name, alleged that Burjanadze's party, "Burjanadze-Democrats" was still backing Alania and had put pressure on the local court to wind up the court case against him.

Poti is one of two ports in Georgia, handles most of the country's cargo traffic, imports for landlocked Armenia and international transit trade. It is now in a state of administrative breakdown, with no one properly in charge of the day-to-day running of the city. The sakebrulo has refused to approve the 2004 budget for the town.

The mayor's opponents say he has made the town ungovernable. "The mayor of Poti is appointing non-professionals to important posts, thinking only of clan interests and connections with the previous regime," said Tsurtsumia. "In Poti, we now have no electricity and a bad situation with water."

A citizens committee has been formed - its members ranging from officials to ordinary residents - and has appealed to President Saakashvili to break the deadlock by removing Alania. Saakashvili supporters from the Kmara youth movement have held rallies in Poti demanding the mayor be sacked.

But so far the authorities in Tbilisi have not responded.

Alania rejects the charges against him. "It's true that over several years, our company was responsible for sending freight belonging to Nugzar Shevardnadze from Poti to Tbilisi, but that does not mean I am promoting the interests of the Shevardnadze family," he said. "I was never a member of any party.

"And when I was in the Poti sakrebulo I frequently criticised Shevardnadze's policies - in contrast to the current head of the sakrebulo."

The mayor answered the charge of incompetence by saying that "It's simply impossible to resolve any of the town's accumulated problems in such a short time."

The dispute is highlighting divisions between the leaders of last year's peaceful revolution, in particular between Saakashvili and Burjanadze, who has remained speaker of parliament after last month's parliamentary elections. Each has tried to place his or her appointees - Saakashvili's "nationalists" and Burjanadze's "democrats" - in top positions throughout Georgia.

While quite civilised in Tbilisi, the dispute between the two sides is frequently much more intense in the regions. The power struggle was suspended for a while because of the crisis in Ajaria, but is now being revived again.

"Personnel conflicts in the regions are a part of the transitional period in Georgia's political life and that is quite natural," said Giorgy Khutsishvili, political analyst and head of the International Centre for Conflicts and Negotiations in Tbilisi. "Loyalty to the line declared by the new leaders often turns out to be more important than professional competence. At this stage we can call it growing pains. The leaders of Georgia ought to understand that we cannot change horses in mid-stream. Now is not the time to quarrel."

Ordinary people in Poti are growing ever more furious at the failure of their local leaders to resolve their differences. Mogeli, a taxi-driver, said because of the upheavals he was unable to get an official document on his change of address, which he needed to receive a pension.

"The whole town is living in a state of war," Mogeli said. "Both sides are simply competing as to who can curse Shevardnadze more and prove his devotion to the new leaders. Alania got rich by being friends with Nugzar Shevardnadze, and Tsurtsumia got into the sakrebulo on the party list of Shevardnadze. And if the times hadn't changed, they would still both be praising him to the skies."

Irakly Lagvilava is a journalist with IWPR's Caucasus newspaper Panorama, based in western Georgia.