----- Original Message ----- From: Chris Doss To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2004 7:59 AM Subject: [lbo-talk] Georgia: A Meltdown of Weapons, or of Responsibility?
Georgia: A Meltdown of Weapons, or of Responsibility? Scandal Hits Georgian Army by Christopher Deliso balkanalysis.com
While controversy continues to rage over how hundreds of tons of heavy weaponry went missing in Iraq, a quieter scandal of the same kind, but involving more assignable culpability, is unfolding in Georgia.
On Wednesday, it was announced that ammunition has gone missing from barracks in the southwestern district of Akhaltsikhe. But that's minor in comparison to other recent events.
One week ago, in a joint news conference with Security Minister Vano Merabishvili, Defense Minister Giorgi Baramidze, and Givi Targamadze, chair of the Parliamentary Committee of Defense and Security, it was announced that Georgian army munitions have been comprehensively "recycled," melted down and sold for scrap, allegedly by members of the Georgian military.
When a team from these ministries raided an "artillery-recycling facility" in the east Georgian Dedoplistskaro district, they discovered that "the military hardware stored there had been stolen piece-by-piece and sold as a scrap metal," reported local Tbilisi television stations, the newspaper 24 Hours, and Resonance magazine this week.
Apparently, this facility for destroying decommissioned weaponry is a cooperative venture between the military and a private firm, Delta.
While representatives of the center claimed they'd received the official OK for destroying the outdated weaponry, the government now claims that the documents were forged and that the weapons were in fact up to snuff.
According to Defense Minister Baramidze, any attempt to profit from private sales of the weapons would be tantamount to "high treason." MP Targamadze, following the same line, declared the need to eliminate the scheming of "these private firms together with some of the defense officials." Some media are even speculating that the fallout of the scandal might "reach cabinet level," and that "the resignation of Defense Minister Baramidze is only a matter of time."
Apparently, the Delta company has earned a "shady reputation for exporting the outdated weaponry" that it oversees under an OSCE-supervised project for the dismantling of "hundreds of dangerously unstable bombs and various types of artillery ammunition." [...] ===== Nu, zayats, pogodi!
============================== "...and the Georgian State Military Scientific and Technical Centre, DELTA." <http://www.osce.org/news/generate.pf.php3?news_id=3024>
Ostensibly, DELTA is a government operation, not a private company. Although a private contractor may be charged with it's operation. Martha Freeman of the OSCE mission isn't from that region, and I suspect the same is true of the organization that is responsible for the recycling program.
It would be hilarious if Georgian government "heads" were rolling and a Western contract company gets off the hook.
Leigh Meyers leighcmeyers at yahoo.com --------------------------------------------------------------
Press Release
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
Mission to Georgia
30 January 2003 http://www.osce.org/news/generate.pf.php3?news_id=3024 OSCE States will fund long-term scheme to destroy surplus weapons and explosives in Georgia
TBILISI, 30 January 2003 -- An agreement was signed today between the Georgian authorities and the OSCE, establishing a project to eliminate or recycle vast munitions dumps, which are a threat to the safety, ecology and security of the country.
The international community has recognized the acute problems posed by the stockpiles of ammunition and bombs that have been left behind on former military bases located across Georgia.
Finance for the first stage, which will last 3 months at a cost of $100,000, will come from the OSCE Voluntary Fund, established following agreements on the withdrawal of Russian forces and equipment reached by Georgia and the Russian Federation during the 1999 OSCE Istanbul Summit.
The Head of the OSCE Mission to Georgia, Ambassador Jean-Michel Lacombe, said today: "This Memorandum represents only the first stage of a process of eliminating the stockpiles of ammunition and bombs that remain on former bases throughout Georgia. The preparatory stage will lay the foundations for a process that will take many years to complete".
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed at the headquarters of the OSCE Mission to Georgia, between the OSCE Mission, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia and the Georgian State Military Scientific and Technical Centre, DELTA.
Financial support for the project has been assured by the governments of Finland, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sweden and Turkey. The entire project, which is divided into several stages of implementation, will be financed step-by-step. --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Martha Freeman
Spokesperson
Press and Public Information Office
OSCE Mission to Georgia
Krtsanisi Governmental Residence No. 5
Tbilisi
Georgia
GMT +4
Tel.: +995 32 24 42 01
Fax: +995 32 24 42 03
E-mail: po-ge at osce.org http://www.osce.org/news/generate.pf.php3?news_id=3024