Georgia: Saakashvili feels the heat

The Georgian President, Mikheil Saakashvili, is facing increasing pressure from the opposition following Georgia’s defeat over South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Independent media are calling for an end to the current censorship rules so that the truth can be established about who is responsible for the crisis. The temporary alliance between the government and the opposition, which came into being during the hostilities, has now begun to break down. Eighty members of the opposition have written an open letter demanding to know whether and why Saakashvili ignored warnings from the USA when he attacked South Ossetia. The letter attacks the government censorship and says that the “extreme propaganda” in the Georgian media blames everyone – “aggressive Russia, the ignorant West, the opposition, Russian spies, etc. etc. but never the government itself”. But, the authors go on, it is the government itself, and its “unprofessional and undemocratic attitude” which bears responsibility for the “catastrophic consequences” of the conflict. The leader of the opposition Christian Democratic party, Georgiy Targamadze, has also said, “It will be difficult to prove that Georgia did not begin this war.” Commentators say that the pressure on Saakashvili is likely to increase, as there are thousands of homeless people now in Georgia as a result of the war. [Die Welt, 5 September 2008]

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