SUKHUMI. April 16 (Interfax-AVN) - The Abkhaz authorities on Wednesday refuted reports that they are restoring the Sukhumi airport that has been idling since the Georgian-Abkhaz armed conflict of 1992-1993.
"The airport is being used only by UN military observers who have three helicopters for patrolling the Kodori gorge," Abkhaz presidential aide Astamur Tania told Interfax-Military News Agency on Wednesday.
According to him, "due to international legal problems with the status of Abkhazia, restoration of aerial communication with Sukhumi is out of the question."
"The airport is being protected by the Abkhaz army, there are no Russian peacekeepers at the site."
Guerillas of the White Legion and Forest Brothers gangs who call themselves Georgian rebels told Georgia's Rustavi-2 television they will hold a series of terrorist acts near the airport if it turns out that it has restarted operation.
The guerillas claimed that Russian peacekeepers with a CIS mandate are guarding the restoration of the airport's airstrip and infrastructure.