TBILISI. Nov 20 (Interfax-AVN) - Chairman of the Georgian parliament Nino Burdzhanadze demanded on Tuesday that the country's law-enforcement agencies took emergency measures to maintain peace and stability in the Pankisi gorge.
The situation in the Akhmeta district of Georgia, where some 7,000 Chechen refugees are staying, started getting tough Monday. Reports from various sources confirmed that four Georgian solitary monks who went missing in the Tushetian mountains several days earlier were captured by a Chechen rebel group and taken to the Pankisi gorge. After that residents of Georgian villages in the Akhmeta district expressed their readiness to take up arms again like it happened in summer this year, to block all paths to the gorge and get even with guerrillas on their own.
Residents of those villages started getting together on Tuesday morning near the Matani village where a Georgian Interior Ministry troops strongpoint blocks the way to Chechen villages. The situation was also aggravated by an attempt to blast the bridge leading to the Khadory hydroelectric plant which is being constructed with the help of Chinese investors.
Being worried about the situation Burdzhanadze demanded that the law-enforcement agencies did their best to detain the criminals as soon as possible.
During the parliamentary session lawmaker Revaz Arveladze, representative of the Akhmeta district, said that Chinese investors were concerned about the situation too. According to him, continuation of works at the plant is in jeopardy.
The plant having the capacity of 18mW is supposed to provide electric power to villages of the Pankisi gorge and a part of the Kakheti district as well.