Tbilisi secures control of villages in Kodori

Georgian authorities reported sporadic fighting Wednesday in a mountainous region where the government sent police forces to subdue a defiant militia leader and his supporters — the latest confrontation in a volatile former Soviet republic plagued by separatist movements. Georgy Arveladze, the chief of President Mikhail Saakashvili’s administration, claimed police had secured control over a handful of villages in the Kodori Gorge district, but skirmished with opponents in wooded areas or settlements where they faced resistance. The operation in the Kodori Gorge area began Tuesday, several days after Emzar Kvitsiani, who was an envoy to the region under Saakashvili’s predecessor, threatened to reactivate a militia of about 300 men. Arveladze asserted that the operation was being “conducted with great success,” despite difficult terrain. He claimed Kvitsiani and another man he referred to as a criminal figure were trying to escape from the region, but added, “all roads are blocked and they cannot run away.” [More]