Press Scanner
Complied by Liana Bezhanishvili
Thursday, October 8
Where is the action plan?
Alia reports that in spite of taking a three month time out to compile it the opposition have still not produced an action plan.
According to the newspaper Nino Burjanadze, Eka Beselia, Koba Davitashvili and Kakha Kukava’s parties will hold protest rallies. So far Levan Gachechiladze’s public movement Defend Georgia, formed since the last rallies, has been ineffective.
Nino Burjanadze of the Democratic Movement –United Georgia has said: “We have used these three months to analyse what sort of mistakes we made and address them. We are working on concrete plans which do not exclude protest rallies.” Leader of the United Georgia Eka Beselia has stated that discussions are still going on and she will not make any comment until details are cleared up. Conservative party leader Kakha Kukava stated that Conservatives have their own plan action, though it’s evident they are working jointly, and when the final version is agreed they will make a statement.
You have to be a hero to live in Akhalgori
Versia reports that more than a year has passed since the August war, but the situation has not changed and Russian occupiers still control the lost territories.
A resident of Akhalgori says that: “First I was afraid but then I adapted to this. My children and grandchild live in Tserovani [the IDP settlement] in a house given them by the Government. I can’t leave the house because I am afraid that all my life and labour will be destroyed.
“Sometimes it’s very difficult for me to live in this emptiness. Only one other woman has remained in my district, the same thing has happened in others. This year there was a big crop of fruit, the yards are full of plums, and it is a great pity because they are rotting. If young men arrive to pick them they leave the same day because they are afraid of the Russians. They don’t hurt us, but if they drink they can do anything.
“There are a lot of problems here. For the whole of September we had no water, because the motor of the pump was damaged and we could not take it to Tbilisi to be fixed because the Georgian border guards wouldn’t accept it. It was taken to Tskhinvali and from there to Ordjonikidze. Now somehow it is repaired but when I saw water in the taps I didn’t trust my eyes. We haven’t much light either, just one hour a day before the Georgian side switches it off. How could young men live here? For a long time I haven’t seen the news either.
“You have to be a hero to live here. At present there is talk that the Russians will give us electricity on October 20 via Tskhinvali. For more than a year we have had no natural gas, since the day the Russians came. First we got gas from Tskhinvali at preferential prices, but they have raised this price. People can only get here from the mountains, namely, from Karchokhi and Largvisi, and they bring milk products from there.
“The doctors here are local residents. The Ossetians pay salaries to all organisations that depend on the local budget; as do the Georgians, but they have not been paid since May. I hope everything changes soon and people will be able to return to their own abodes.”
Alia reports that in spite of taking a three month time out to compile it the opposition have still not produced an action plan.
According to the newspaper Nino Burjanadze, Eka Beselia, Koba Davitashvili and Kakha Kukava’s parties will hold protest rallies. So far Levan Gachechiladze’s public movement Defend Georgia, formed since the last rallies, has been ineffective.
Nino Burjanadze of the Democratic Movement –United Georgia has said: “We have used these three months to analyse what sort of mistakes we made and address them. We are working on concrete plans which do not exclude protest rallies.” Leader of the United Georgia Eka Beselia has stated that discussions are still going on and she will not make any comment until details are cleared up. Conservative party leader Kakha Kukava stated that Conservatives have their own plan action, though it’s evident they are working jointly, and when the final version is agreed they will make a statement.
You have to be a hero to live in Akhalgori
Versia reports that more than a year has passed since the August war, but the situation has not changed and Russian occupiers still control the lost territories.
A resident of Akhalgori says that: “First I was afraid but then I adapted to this. My children and grandchild live in Tserovani [the IDP settlement] in a house given them by the Government. I can’t leave the house because I am afraid that all my life and labour will be destroyed.
“Sometimes it’s very difficult for me to live in this emptiness. Only one other woman has remained in my district, the same thing has happened in others. This year there was a big crop of fruit, the yards are full of plums, and it is a great pity because they are rotting. If young men arrive to pick them they leave the same day because they are afraid of the Russians. They don’t hurt us, but if they drink they can do anything.
“There are a lot of problems here. For the whole of September we had no water, because the motor of the pump was damaged and we could not take it to Tbilisi to be fixed because the Georgian border guards wouldn’t accept it. It was taken to Tskhinvali and from there to Ordjonikidze. Now somehow it is repaired but when I saw water in the taps I didn’t trust my eyes. We haven’t much light either, just one hour a day before the Georgian side switches it off. How could young men live here? For a long time I haven’t seen the news either.
“You have to be a hero to live here. At present there is talk that the Russians will give us electricity on October 20 via Tskhinvali. For more than a year we have had no natural gas, since the day the Russians came. First we got gas from Tskhinvali at preferential prices, but they have raised this price. People can only get here from the mountains, namely, from Karchokhi and Largvisi, and they bring milk products from there.
“The doctors here are local residents. The Ossetians pay salaries to all organisations that depend on the local budget; as do the Georgians, but they have not been paid since May. I hope everything changes soon and people will be able to return to their own abodes.”