Georgian troops land inside rebel region: source

BATUMI, Georgia (AFP) May 05, 2004
Elite government troops have been dropped off by helicopter inside the renegade Georgian region of Adjara, which is locked in an armed standoff with Tbilisi, a security source in Adjara's rebel administration told AFP late Wednesday.

The source said interior ministry troops had landed at the settlement of Chakvi, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Adjara's capital, Batumi, but they were being hemmed in by troops loyal to Adjaran leader Aslan Abashidze.

"They are trying to get through to Batumi but their path has been blocked by 200 of our people," the source said, adding that no shots had been fired.

"The situation there is very tense. For now they have taken a time-out to agree on their next action," the source told AFP in Batumi.

The source added that a contingent of special forces had also landed at Kobuleti, about 40 kilometres from Batumi. He said they had been met with no resistance.

The military operation came hours after the former Soviet republic's President Mikhail Saakashvili announced that he was imposing direct presidential rule in Adjara, a semi-autonmous republic on Georgia's Black Sea coast.

Abashidze has been left desperately clinging to power after thousands of his opponents took to the streets to demand his resignation.

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