Word: abkhazia
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...consummate diplomat with a series of crippling crises: economic collapse, political chicanery, ethnic rebellion and even a guerrilla-style insurgency waged by the country's former President, Zviad Gamsakhurdia, whose lust for power remains undampened by the popular coup that deposed him nearly two years ago. The revolt in Abkhazia, where a small minority of ethnic separatists want an independent state, has put the fate of Georgia on the line. In Sukhumi, where he has set up headquarters, Shevardnadze has vowed to keep his nation whole or die trying...
...tiny enclave of Abkhazia, whose historical roots stretch back to more than a thousand years before Christ, has emerged as the keystone to Georgia's future as an independent state. Under pressure from Moscow, the insurgents suspended their drive for autonomy and endorsed a cease-fire in July. But when Shevardnadze's forces turned to the task of breaking a blockade imposed on the Georgian capital of Tbilisi by Gamsakhurdia's rebels, the Abkhazians struck again. Two weeks ago, fighters launched a ferocious attack on Sukhumi. Within 48 hours, surprise had enabled them to seize the heights overlooking the city...
Georgia was certainly the jaws of peril. State Department officials regard the current tensions there as "chaotic to the point of anarchy." Eduard Shevardnadze's government is threatened not only by a war in the breakaway region of Abkhazia but also by violence from supporters of ousted communist President Zviad Gamsakhurdia. Says a Western diplomat: "Georgia is a country full of people with guns who shoot them all the time...
...elsewhere in the former Soviet Union, Georgia faces a separatist conflict in the region of Abkhazia. Do you fear it may turn into a quagmire...
...embarked on the riskiest mission of his career: bringing peace and stability to his homeland. There he daily faces more violence than he did as a major player in the cold war, as Georgia is beset by ethnic rebellions in the independence-minded regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and by a campaign of terrorist attacks by loyalists of deposed President Zviad Gamsakhurdia...