Reuters. 25 May 2001. Georgia Troops' Poverty Protest Sparks Coup Fear. MUKHROVANI — President Eduard Shevardnadze tried on Friday to defuse a mutiny by hundreds of soldiers which emphasized the Georgian republic's fragility on the eve of its 10th anniversary of post-Soviet independence. The revolt sparked fears of renewed strife in a country that has suffered coups, two civil wars and attempted assassinations since the 1991 collapse of communism. Shevardnadze, the former Soviet foreign minister who played a key role in 1980s East-West detente, decided to meet the rebel soldiers personally. His motorcade was seen entering a police base outside Tbilisi occupied by the mutineers. Before going to the base, Shevardnadze condemned the uprising but avoided talk of an attempted coup, the term used by one senior minister. He said he was opposed to prosecuting the soldiers, who said they had mutinied because of their poverty. "They have committed a grave crime," Shevardnadze told state television. "This should be ended today. I'm not in favor of launching criminal proceedings against them." The security alert began when 300-400 men of a national guard battalion quit their garrison, fully armed and driving armored cars, and seized the nearby base of a division of Interior Ministry troops, some 25 km (16 miles) from Tbilisi. The troops refused to obey orders and fired once at negotiators but there were no casualties, officials said. Security was tightened at key sites such as parliament and the president's office and the base was surrounded. Soldiers, refusing to give their names, told Georgian television that poverty had triggered their protest. "They (the authorities) have stuffed their pockets on the blood of the people...They do not pay attention to us. This is the only way we can draw attention to ourselves," said one soldier, who was wearing a mask. Another said the troops would fire back if "a single bullet from the government side goes into the leg of a soldier." Some officials saw sinister motives. "We are dealing with military adventurism...They have shown armed resistance,"State Security Minister Vakhtang Kutateladze said on independent Rustavi-2 television. "We are dealing with an attempted coup." But the wife of one of the soldiers rejected such talk. "This is not politics, politics is excluded," Russian television showed her shouting excitedly at journalists. "They have no shoes, they have no food, they have nothing." A parliamentarian who traveled to the base also said the soldiers' actions were linked to economic problems. "There is no threat from their side. They have concrete demands," said Irakly Batiashvili after talking to some of the soldiers. "We all know very well what the social conditions are in the army. Talks can be held, they have no political demands." Georgia, like many former Soviet nations, has fallen on hard economic times [thanks to capitalist restoration]. The average monthly wage is just $35 and half the population of 5.5 million live below the poverty line. * * * * _______________________________________________ Leninist-International mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international
