DeFacto Agency, Armenia
March 10 2006

ARMENIANS ATTACKED IN TSALKA

March 9 an attack was launched against citizens of Armenian
nationality in the city of Tsalka (regional center of Tsalka Region,
Georgia). As a result of the onslaught one person was killed and two
injured.
23-year-old Gevorg Gevorgyan died; 25-year-old V. Sahakyan and K.
Baloyan were taken to hospital with severe injuries. 7 hours after
the incident Baloyan was delivered to a city hospital in Tbilisi.
According to eye-witnesses, a group of Armenians was attacked by
about 15 people. The victims do not know the reasons for the assault,
however, in their opinion, they were assaulted by Adjarian or Swani
settlers.
Georgian Ministry of Home Affairs special subdivisions dislocated in
the Tsalka region did not make arrangements to prevent from the
bloodshed.
In connection with the incident the Tsalka region police instituted
proceedings. Besides, the roads connecting the regional center with
the Tsalka region villages inhabited by Armenians have been closed.

Prime News Agency, Georgia
March 10 2006

Georgian Ombudsman To Study Accident In Tsalka

Tbilisi. March 10 (Prime-News) – Sozar Subari, Ombudsman of Georgia
is to inquire the Friday accident in the town of Tsalka.

The representative of the Ombudsman’s Office arrived in the region to
meet the head of the local governmental unit, local police chief and
local residents.

24 years old man died and several were wounded in the drunken clash
in a local restaurant between the residents of Georgian and Armenian
origin on Friday.

400 local residents have been staging a protest rally at the local
governmental unit and demanded to be given the suspected detainees
for lynch.

The representative of the Ombudsman’s Office is to inquire the
situation at spot and find out whether there were ethnical grounds
for the clash.

ISN, Switzerland
March 10 2006

Minsk Group fails in Nagorno-Karabakh talks

The co-chairs of the OSCE’s Minsk Group — France, Russia, and the
United States – have issued a statement after two days of meetings in
Washington D.C. on March 7 and 8 expressing their regret that the
Minsk process “has not moved forward in recent weeks” despite “ample
opportunity to do so.” There was no announcement of a date for
another high-level presidential summit between Armenia and
Azerbaijan. The tensions between Yerevan and Baku has been escalating
lately, with an increasingly testy exchange of words between the two
countries’ presidents, since they met in the Paris suburb of
Rambouillet in February but failed to reach agreement over the
disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh and other issues.

By Julie A. Corwin for RFE/RL (10/3/06)

In their statement, the co-chairs called “upon the government of each
country to take steps with their publics to prepare them for peace
and not for war.” The co-chairs’ next meeting is scheduled for March
20 in Istanbul.

The Minsk group, which consists of 13 OSCE countries, has provided a
forum for negotiations to settle the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh
since 1992.

As part of that effort, the co-chairs of the group — France, Russia,
and the United States — held two days of meetings in Washington this
week to press for a new meeting between the Armenian and Azerbaijani
presidents.

In the runup to this week’s sessions, the U.S. co-chair expressed
optimism that progress could be made.

U.S. Ambassador Steven Mann said this year could bring a breakthrough
in the impasse over Nagorno-Karabakh because neither Armenia nor
Azerbaijan are holding an election in 2006.

A Window Of Opportunity, Closing
But some other observers were less hopeful.

Corey Welt, deputy director of the Russian and Eurasian Program at
the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies,
told RFE/RL that Ambassador Mann’s emphasis on achieving an agreement
this year stems “more from desperation than optimism.”

“He’s trying to emphasize that it’s important that an agreement be
reached this year because if not the fear is that the window of
opportunity will be closed because domestic politics will then take
over in both countries in the lead up to election periods in 2007 and
2008,” Welt said. “So what they’re trying to do is, in a sense, put
pressure on the parties almost to convince them that now is the time
to reach an agreement. If they do not, it is unlikely they will be
able to get their houses in order and they will be unlikely to really
be able to get full outside support.”

Welt suggests that it might be wiser to keep expectations from this
week’s meeting low.

“It’s a troubling road to take when you put that kind of pressure and
that [many] expectations on a process within one year. It’s going to
be a tough battle and if they don’t accomplish what they set out to
accomplish this year then there is a danger of a self-fulfilling
prophecy, making further efforts at reconciliation impossible.”

Political Will Needed For Settlement
The Minsk Group talks follow an exchange of heated words between
Armenian President Robert Kocharian and Azerbaijani President Ilham
Aliyev. Aliyev said on March 1 that talks with Armenia were at a
“dead end” and called for freeing Nagorno-Karabakh “no matter what it
takes.” The next day, Kocharian declared that if Azerbaijan drops out
of further negotiations then Armenia will formally recognize
Nagorno-Karabakh.

Liz Fuller, RFE/RL Caucasus analyst, suggests that Aliyev’s words
were “nothing new” but said some of the realities on the ground may
have changed.

“There is also the question of whether the Azerbaijani Armed Forces
have improved over the past decade to the point that they could
defeat the Armenian army. Armenia’s Defense Minister Serge Sarkisyan
said that he considers Azerbaijani statements as being more in the
realm of pressure or blackmail than a real threat. And he made the
point that if you are going to launch a surprise attack on your
adversary then you don’t go round beforehand saying that we’re going
to do it.”

Fuller suggests that the failure of the Rambouillet talks to produce
an agreement represents a “minor setback,” not a “major disaster.”
She characterizes the Minsk process overall as a positive one, which
almost produced a peace agreement in 2001.

“The current progress dates back just about two years to when Elmar
Mammadyarov replaced Vilayet Guliev as Azerbaijani foreign minister
and the two foreign ministers began meeting regularly first in Prague
and then in other European capitals,” Fuller explained. “And it’s
primarily thanks to them with some input from the three co-chairmen
that they have gradually reached agreement on the [seven out of nine]
basic points that would form the sort of skeleton of a future formal
peace agreement.”

Given the political will, Fuller suggests, that it might still be
possible to reach agreement on the basic points of a peace settlement
this year.

Regnum, Russia
March 10 2006

Georgian Interior ministry: events in Tsalka are a common bar fight

Deputy Head of the Georgian criminal police department Irakli
Pirtskhalava told a REGNUM correspondent that events in Tsalka have
nothing to do with ethnic conflict, as earlier informed Russian and
Armenian mass media can be regarded as attempts of ethnic discord
kindling.

According to investigation information, it was a common bar fight
between drunken people, that started with usual nonsense and caused
knife-fight, resulting in one dead and several wounded, informed
Pirtskhilava. He said that this is a usual criminal case, and added,
that wife of one of the arrested Georgians is Armenian. He also said
that if it was an ethnic conflict, results would be much serious.

Speaking about protests in Tsalka, Pirtskhalava said that about 150
persons participated in it. They demanded that police give the
arrested to lynch them. Several people started to throw stones in the
building of the local administration, because they could not meet the
head of the administration. It caused police to disperse the crowd.
According to Pirtskhalava, there was no serious clash between police
and protesters. He also said that this case is currently
investigated.

As REGNUM already informed, on March 9, at about 06:00 p.m. local
time, in the city of Tsalka (regional center of Kvemo-Kartli Region,
Georgia) near a restaurant 24-year-old Gevork Gevorkyan was killed
and 25-year-old Karen Baloyan wounded as a result of a clash between
two groups of people. The Georgian police arrested 5 suspects in
murder, the investigation continues.

DeFacto Agency, Armenia
March 10 2006

ARAM G. SARGSYAN: ARMENIA SHOULD RECOGNIZE LEGITIMACY OF KARABAKH’S
WITHDRAWAL FROM AZERBAIJAN

Nagorno Karabakh’s participation in the negotiation process is one of
the principal issues in the context of the Karabakh conflict
settlement, RA Democratic Party leader, National Assembly deputy,
Justice Faction member Aram G. Sargsyan believes.
In the course of a press conference that was held today Democratic
Party leader stated to involve Nagorno Karabakh in the talks Armenia
should first recognize the process of the Nagorno Karabakh’s
withdrawal from Azerbaijan legal, corresponding to all the
international standards. That is the essence of a draft referring to
the ways of the Karabakh conflict settlement Democratic Party
presented to the Parliament. According to A. Sargsyan, it will enable
the Armenian party to present the Nagorno Karabakh as a subject at
the Karabakh talks. The deputy noted at present Karabakh turned into
the negotiations’ object, which made the Armenian party’s stand very
vulnerable. He stressed recognition of legitimacy of the Karabakh’s
withdrawal from Azerbaijan did not imply recognition of independence
of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic. In his words, the issue of
recognition of the NKR by Armenia should be submitted to a
nation-wide referendum. In the course of the referendum the people
must resolve the following issue: to recognize the NKR as an
independent state or as Armenia’s integral part. Aram Sargsyan added
the referendum should be held in not only in Armenia, but in the
Nagorno Karabakh as well.
In the politician’s words, the policy Armenia pursues in the Karabakh
issue is unacceptable for Karabakh as well. It is disagreement with
Armenia’s position that made the NKR President Arkady Ghoukasyan
state that the Karabakh party should be immediately involved in the
negotiation process.
As for Robert Kocharyan’s statement, according to which Armenia may
recognize the NKR, Aram Sargsyan believes it was made late. `Late
statements often result in negative consequences’, he remarked.
Touching upon Azerbaijan’s bellicose statements, the deputy stated
they were rather rhetorical. In his opinion, nowadays the word `war’
is just inadmissible for the South Caucasus countries. He noted
everyone was aware of the fact that in case a war was resumed the
hostilities would be much more large-scale than in early nineties, as
not only Armenia and Azerbaijan, but other states would be dragged in
the conflict. He added not Armenia or Azerbaijan, but superpowers
that are interested in the region determined the issues of the war’s
resumption. Aram Sargsyan is sure the interest of the external
powers, which put pressure both on Armenia and Azerbaijan, is a
principal factor in the Karabakh settlement.

RIA Novosti, Russia
March 10 2006

U.S. warns citizens against visiting Armenian conflict zone
16:19 | 10/ 03/ 2006

YEREVAN, March 10 (RIA Novosti) – The United States Embassy in
Armenia warned U.S. citizens Friday against visiting areas that have
seen renewed violence recently in a conflict with neighboring
Azerbaijan.

In particular, the embassy advised against using the
Kirants-Baganis-Voskevan stretch of the Ijevan-Noyemberyan highway in
Armenia, which is near the dividing line of troops from the two
countries.

On Thursday, Azerbaijan and Armenia accused each other of numerous
ceasefire violations near the disputed territory of Nagorny-Karabakh,
which has been at the center of a bitter dispute since the early
1990s.

The Armenian Defense Ministry has reported that Azerbaijani troops
have been daily violating the ceasefire regime in this area.

Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Seiran Shakhsuvaryan said
Azerbaijani troops continued shooting at Armenian positions in the
Ijevan, Baik and Noyemberyan regions through March 7-8.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry, said
Armenian troops had fired at Azerbaijani positions 500 kilometers
from the capital, Baku, and 250 kilometers from the zone of the
Nagorny-Karabakh conflict.

The conflict between the two former Soviet republics over
Nagorny-Karabakh, an Azerbaijani region with a largely Armenian
population, first erupted in 1988, when the region claimed
independence from Azerbaijan to join Armenia.

Over 30,000 people were reported dead on both sides between 1988 and
1994, and over 100 others died after a ceasefire was concluded in
1994, leaving Nagorny-Karabakh in Armenian hands, but tensions
between Azerbaijan and Armenia have persisted.

93X.COM, MN
March 10 2006

SOAD CANCEL BENEFIT CONCERT

Just three days after announcing their annual Souls benefit concert
to help raise awareness and pay tribute to the Armenian Genocide,
SYSTEM OF A DOWN have cancelled the event, which was to be held on
April 23 at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, CA. A message on the
band’s official web site reads as follows:

“The recognition of the Armenian Genocide has always been a first and
foremost priority in the minds of SYSTEM OF A DOWN, so it’s
unfortunate for us to announce that Souls 2006 has been cancelled.
Despite the cancellation, SYSTEM will always continue to fight for
this truly important cause, and encourages all of our friends and
fans to help educate the world about a forgotten genocide and the
importance of recognizing this atrocity. We thank you always for your
undying support…”

EurasiaNet, NY
March 10 2006

NEW ALTERNATIVE SERVICE FALLS FLAT IN ARMENIA
Emil Danielyan 3/10/06

Young men refusing to serve in the armed forces for religious reasons
are again being prosecuted in Armenia, despite the introduction
nearly two years ago of a legal alternative to compulsory military
service. Conscientious objectors, mainly Jehovah’s Witnesses, are
refusing to enlist for alternative civilian service on the grounds
that it is controlled by the Armenian military. About 50 of them are
currently in jail or are awaiting trial.

Local and international human rights organizations have long
criticized the authorities in Yerevan for jailing conscientious
objectors. In 2001, the Council of Europe made elimination of the
practice a key condition for admitting Armenia as a member. However,
an Armenian law on alternative service, which came into force in July
2004, has so far failed to address the problem. Council of Europe
officials say it does not fully meet European standards and should be
amended.

The law gave male citizens who refuse mandatory military service two
options: to perform non-combat duties inside army bases for three
years or to spend three and a half years at civilian institutions.
After the law came into force, 22 Jehovah’s Witnesses opted for the
latter option and were assigned to special civilian hospitals,
including Armenia’s largest psychiatric clinic. But they soon
discovered that these facilities are essentially under military
control – regularly checked on by military police officers, confined
to the medical institutions for 24 hours a day and even fed by the
army.

“For young Jehovah’s Witnesses, to be attached to the military in any
form is impossible because that means cooperating with the military,”
said Andre Carbonneau, a Canadian lawyer representing the Jehovah’s
Witnesses in Armenia. That, he added, would run counter to one of the
main tenets of the US-based Christian sect.

That also explains why all 22 men abandoned their places of service
before being arrested in August of last year. Thirteen of the
objectors were tried and controversially sentenced to between two and
three years’ imprisonment under articles of the Armenian Criminal
Code that deal with desertion from military units. The court
sentences occurred before the authorities enacted a legal clause in
January 2006 that declared abandonment of civilian service a crime
punishable by imprisonment.

According to Carbonneau, this constitutes a retroactive enforcement
of the law, illegal under Armenia’s constitution. Acting on the
attorney’s complaint, an Armenian appeals court recently overturned
virtually all of the Jehovah’s Witness convictions by lower courts.
However, it stopped short of ordering the release of the
conscientious objectors, only sending their cases back to
prosecutors. The latter are refusing to set the men free, pending
another trial.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses have responded by lodging an appeal to the
European Court of Human Rights which they hope will order the release
of the men, the only Armenians to date to perform alternative
service. But Carbonneau admitted that there is little they can do
about nearly 30 other Jehovah’s Witnesses, who refused outright to
perform military-controlled civilian duty after the alternative
service law came into force. They are now being kept in pre-trial
detention. “The law on alternative service is not an option for any
conscientious objector,” he said.

Council of Europe bodies monitoring Armenia’s compliance with the
country’s membership obligations appear to share this view. “The
Council of Europe and its monitoring mechanisms consider that the
commitments in this area have not fully been met with the current
legislation,” the head of the Strasbourg-based organization’s Yerevan
office, Bojana Urumova, told EurasiaNet. Urumova said it should be
amended “in a way which will meet European standards and resolve this
issue definitely.” Armenian authorities have to come up with a
“genuine civilian alternative to military service,” she added.

The Armenian government, meanwhile, has drafted amendments to the law
on alternative service that will be debated by parliament later this
year. With government officials refusing to disclose the amendments’
content for the moment, it is not clear whether they will satisfy the
Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Armenian military has always feared that
alternative service could serve as a legal loophole for mass draft
evasion; hence, its desire to strictly regulate the process. In a
December 2004 directive, the chief of the Armenian army staff,
Col.-Gen. Mikael Harutiunian, ordered military officials to regularly
report to him about civilian compliance with regulations that, among
other things, require them to stay in their place of service 24 hours
a day and take leaves of absence only with official permission.

Jehovah’s Witnesses have long been viewed with suspicion by the
authorities and a large part of Armenia’s population, primarily due
to their strong opposition to military service. Many Armenian
politicians and ordinary people alike consider their pacifist
doctrine a serious threat to the national security of a country
locked in a bitter territorial conflict with one of its neighbors,
Azerbaijan. The sect had for years been denied official registration
for that reason.

The government formally legalized it only in October 2004, in a move
that was condemned by the Armenian Apostolic Church. “The activities
of totalitarian religious organizations, including Jehovah’s
Witnesses, run counter to our national and state interests and
aspirations,” the church, to which over 90 percent of Armenians
around the world nominally belong, said in a statement issued at the
time.

In the words of Tigran Harutiunian, a Jehovah’s Witness spokesman in
Armenia, apart from the renewed prosecution of its young male
members, the religious group has faced no government restrictions
since then and currently boasts more than 20,000 Armenian adherents.
“We are happy to be able to freely talk about our faith,” he said.

Editor’s Note: Emil Danielyan is a Yerevan-based journalist and
political analyst.

Kenya Times, Kenya
March 10 2006

Raila names hitmen

By BENSON AMOLO

LANGATA MP Raila Odinga yesterday identified alleged mercenaries on
government hire holed up in an upmarket estate of Nairobi. The MP
said the alleged hitmen had now been moved from Runda Estate to a
house in Lavington.

Raila has accused the foreigners of leading the March 2, raids on the
Standard and KTN newsrooms.

Yesterday he said two of the foreigners were Armenian nationals who
were sneaked into the country as investors by a son of a prominent
real estate valuer in Nairobi early this year.

Initially Raila had identified the alleged mercenaries as Russians.
Yesterday he said that nationals from other countries had also been
hired to do unspecified work for the state..

He told pressmen attending an MPs’ workshop in Nairobi that the
alleged mercenaries were moved to a safe house frequented by
Tanzanians in Lavington estate on Thursday night.

According to Raila the Armenians were allegedly recruited by two
Kenyans in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last October and later
introduced to a businessman named in the Goldenberg report when they
visited Kenya in January this year.

The businessman later introduced them to a Narc activist, with whom
they agreed to do business and other unspecified political work. They
later travelled with the activist to the UAE capital, Dubai, where
they were introduced to her seniors for future business deals. She
has also allegedly introduced them to senior officials in government
to discuss unknown business, according to a diplomatic source..

Copies of passports supplied to the Kenya Times indicate the two men
born on May 14, 1970 and January 15, 1973 respectively entered Kenya
for the first time on January 23, this year, and were issued
residence visas for two years. Their passports bear stamps indicating
they travelled to Dubai between 2005 and this year.

Their presence, however, has introduced a new scandal within the
police force following unconfirmed reports that the Armenians and
their Kenyan handlers attacked and wounded a CID officer attached to
them on Wednesday accusing him of leaking information on their
activities to journalists and diplomats.

Earlier Odinga had claimed the alleged mercenaries were moved from
Runda Estate to a protected house in the Lavington suburb of Nairobi
to camouflage their stay and mission.

He said neighbours were scared of divulging information on the said
mercenaries and added that media publicity had now occasioned their
frequent movement. Odinga claims the Runda house has been leased to a
company involved in export/import business from January 31, this
year. He says that a Swede employed by a packaging company lived
there until June last year.

Odinga first made the allegations early this month and claimed hired
killers initially thought to be from the Russian Federation led the
March 2 assault on The Standard and KTN that widened the split
between Police Commissioner Hussein Ali, who was abroad during the
raids, unaware of the plots on the media and CID Director Joseph
Kamau, believed to have sanctioned them.

The mystery escalated yesterday when Odinga linked a senior CID
officer with the mercenaries and accused the officer of visiting the
hitmen at their Runda abode. He accused the press of allowing Kamau
and the government to misinform the public on this matter and for
failing to follow up his first reports. A morning to evening vigil by
pressmen at the Runda property yielded nothing on Thursday but Odinga
was not finished yet.

`Had you cared to keep vigil at the Runda premises yesterday you
would have seen the mercenaries leave last night,’ he said and
claimed that the unspecified number of men were snatched away in the
dead of the night on Thursday. `A truck came at 9.30 pm yesterday and
took away the mercenaries and equipment. We know where they are now,’
he said and claimed the men are now hidden at Woodmere Apartments on
Nairobi’s Lenana Road. He claimed that the a KPLC electrician who
went to the Runda abode to read the electricity meter at the time of
the foreigners’ movement was denied entry to the property.

`We know where they slept last night and we know they will be moved
as soon as the government hears these reports.’

Odinga claimed the truck registered as KAU 967 W off-loaded a
container with unknown material at the Runda abode, owned by a real
estate investor who acquired it in 1999, before driving away with the
foreigners.

On Wednesday, Ali ordered investigations into Odinga’s allegations as
Kamau denounced them and accused the Lang’ata lawmaker of inflaming
the country with lies and propaganda. Odinga stuck to the story and
provided names of the said gunmen and the people he believes brought
them into the country and provided a map of the property in Runda
where they lived after being spirited from a hotel in the centre of
Nairobi.

And the Russian embassy in Nairobi on Thursday denied knowledge of
its nationals on a killing mission and demanded investigations as the
Shadow minister for Defence Joseph Nkaissery demanded an inquest.

Odinga asked reporters neither to trust the government’s explanations
on this matter nor accept Russia’s denial at face value saying: `The
government itself is a suspect in the matter. Its word cannot be
taken seriously.’

He argued that the Russian embassy should not be dragged into the
matter because no one has suggested Moscow brought the killers.

`The Russian embassy should not be involved in this. Mercenaries are
private people, on hire. They are not coming on the authority of
their governments.’

Nkaissery accused the Kibaki regime of trivialising the mercenary
allegations by issuing conflicting statements and deploying a
layman-government spokesman Alfred Mutua- to discuss complex security
issues. The retired general said the conflicting statements from Ali
and Kamau on the mercenaries’ issue is cause for concern.

`Raila’s statement should not be taken for granted. It is the duty of
the government to neutralise any threats to national security. It is
incumbent upon the government to investigate this matter. Everybody
wants to know who those hooded people were (those who raided the
Standard and KTN).’

He said the country expects the Internal Security minister or senior
officials of police, military and intelligence to reassure the
republic on this matter and not Mutua’s denials.

`Alfred Mutua is a layman in this matter.’ If the government proves
there are no mercenaries, Odinga should be brought to account for his
allegations.

Meanwhile the Langata MP and Leader of the Official Opposition Uhuru
Kenyatta denounced President Mwai Kibaki for standing with his
ministers accused of orchestrating the March 2 raids. On Thursday
Kibaki said Internal Security minister John Michuki and Information
counterpart Mutahi Kagwe will not be sacked which Kenyatta and Odinga
disagreed with yesterday. They talked on the sidelines of an MPs’
workshop in Nairobi. Kenyatta said Kanu demands accountability over
what he called an attack on democracy but Odinga was more pointed
declaring the president’s Thursday statement in Eldoret as
provocative and contemptuous.
`The president is trying to show contempt for the people. We expect
the president to realise the public is not happy with what took place
on the March 2 raids.’

Odinga said Kibaki was mistaken to stand by disgraced ministers and
insisting they will not be sacked.LANGATA MP Raila Odinga yesterday
identified alleged mercenaries on government hire holed up in an
upmarket estate of Nairobi. The MP said the alleged hitmen had now
been moved from Runda Estate to elsewhere in Lavington.

Raila has accused the foreigners of leading the March 2, raids on the
Standard and KTN newsrooms.

Yesterday he said two of the foreigners were Armenian nationals who
were sneaked into the country as investors by a son of a prominent
real estate valuer in Nairobi early this year.

Initially Raila had identified the alleged mercenaries as Russians.
Yesterday he said that nationals from other countries had also been
hired to do unspecified work for the state..

He told pressmen attending an MPs’ workshop in Nairobi that the
alleged mercenaries were moved to a safe house frequented by
Tanzanians in Lavington estate on Thursday night.

According to Raila the Armenians were allegedly recruited by two
Kenyans in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) last October and later
introduced to a businessman named in the Goldenberg report when they
visited Kenya in January this year.

The businessman later introduced them to a Narc activist, with whom
they agreed to do business and other unspecified political work. They
later travelled with the activist to the UAE capital, Dubai, where
they were introduced to her seniors for future business deals. She
has also allegedly introduced them to senior officials in government
to discuss unknown business, according to a diplomatic source..

Copies of passports supplied to the Kenya Times indicate the two men
born on May 14, 1970 and January 15, 1973 respectively entered Kenya
for the first time on January 23, this year, and were issued
residence visas for two years. Their passports bear stamps indicating
they travelled to Dubai between 2005 and this year.

Their presence, however, has introduced a new scandal within the
police force following unconfirmed reports that the Armenians and
their Kenyan handlers attacked and wounded a CID officer attached to
them on Wednesday accusing him of leaking information on their
activities to journalists and diplomats.

Earlier Odinga had claimed the alleged mercenaries were moved from
Runda Estate to a protected house in the Lavington suburb of Nairobi
to camouflage their stay and mission.

He said neighbours were scared of divulging information on the said
mercenaries and added that media publicity had now occasioned their
frequent movement. Odinga claims the Runda house has been leased to a
company involved in export/import business from January 31, this
year. He says that a Swede employed by a packaging company lived
there until June last year.

Odinga first made the allegations early this month and claimed hired
killers initially thought to be from the Russian Federation led the
March 2 assault on The Standard and KTN that widened the split
between Police Commissioner Hussein Ali, who was abroad during the
raids, unaware of the plots on the media and CID Director Joseph
Kamau, believed to have sanctioned them.

The mystery escalated yesterday when Odinga linked a senior CID
officer with the mercenaries and accused the officer of visiting the
hitmen at their Runda abode. He accused the press of allowing Kamau
and the government to misinform the public on this matter and for
failing to follow up his first reports. A morning to evening vigil by
pressmen at the Runda property yielded nothing on Thursday but Odinga
was not finished yet.

`Had you cared to keep vigil at the Runda premises yesterday you
would have seen the mercenaries leave last night,’ he said and
claimed that the unspecified number of men were snatched away in the
dead of the night on Thursday. `A truck came at 9.30 pm yesterday and
took away the mercenaries and equipment. We know where they are now,’
he said and claimed the men are now hidden at Woodmere Apartments on
Nairobi’s Lenana Road. He claimed that the a KPLC electrician who
went to the Runda abode to read the electricity meter at the time of
the foreigners’ movement was denied entry to the property.

`We know where they slept last night and we know they will be moved
as soon as the government hears these reports.’

Odinga claimed the truck registered as KAU 967 W off-loaded a
container with unknown material at the Runda abode, owned by a real
estate investor who acquired it in 1999, before driving away with the
foreigners.

On Wednesday, Ali ordered investigations into Odinga’s allegations as
Kamau denounced them and accused the Lang’ata lawmaker of inflaming
the country with lies and propaganda. Odinga stuck to the story and
provided names of the said gunmen and the people he believes brought
them into the country and provided a map of the property in Runda
where they lived after being spirited from a hotel in the centre of
Nairobi.

And the Russian embassy in Nairobi on Thursday denied knowledge of
its nationals on a killing mission and demanded investigations as the
Shadow minister for Defence Joseph Nkaissery demanded an inquest.

Odinga asked reporters neither to trust the government’s explanations
on this matter nor accept Russia’s denial at face value saying: `The
government itself is a suspect in the matter. Its word cannot be
taken seriously.’

He argued that the Russian embassy should not be dragged into the
matter because no one has suggested Moscow brought the killers.

`The Russian embassy should not be involved in this. Mercenaries are
private people, on hire. They are not coming on the authority of
their governments.’

Nkaissery accused the Kibaki regime of trivialising the mercenary
allegations by issuing conflicting statements and deploying a
layman-government spokesman Alfred Mutua- to discuss complex security
issues. The retired general said the conflicting statements from Ali
and Kamau on the mercenaries’ issue is cause for concern.

`Raila’s statement should not be taken for granted. It is the duty of
the government to neutralise any threats to national security. It is
incumbent upon the government to investigate this matter. Everybody
wants to know who those hooded people were (those who raided the
Standard and KTN).’

He said the country expects the Internal Security minister or senior
officials of police, military and intelligence to reassure the
republic on this matter and not Mutua’s denials.

`Alfred Mutua is a layman in this matter.’ If the government proves
there are no mercenaries, Odinga should be brought to account for his
allegations.

Meanwhile the Langata MP and Leader of the Official Opposition Uhuru
Kenyatta denounced President Mwai Kibaki for standing with his
ministers accused of orchestrating the March 2 raids. On Thursday
Kibaki said Internal Security minister John Michuki and Information
counterpart Mutahi Kagwe will not be sacked which Kenyatta and Odinga
disagreed with yesterday. They talked on the sidelines of an MPs’
workshop in Nairobi. Kenyatta said Kanu demands accountability over
what he called an attack on democracy but Odinga was more pointed
declaring the president’s Thursday statement in Eldoret as
provocative and contemptuous.
`The president is trying to show contempt for the people. We expect
the president to realise the public is not happy with what took place
on the March 2 raids.’

Odinga said Kibaki was mistaken to stand by disgraced ministers and
insisting they will not be sacked.

try.html

Regnum, Russia
March 10 2006

Ethnic clashes in Tsalka (Georgia): police used force

As REGNUM already informed, on March 9, at about 06:00 p.m. local
time, in the city of Tsalka (regional center of Kvemo-Kartli Region,
Georgia) an armed attack was held against a group of young ethnic
Armenians. The attack was committed in the city’s center, when the
company departed from a restaurant. When they were getting into a
car, unidentified people suddenly attacked them, dragged out of the
car and started beating them. As witnesses and one of the victims
said, there were about 15 attackers, some of them armed with cold
steel. As a result of the attack, 23-year-old Gevorg Gevorkyan was
injured with a knife and died at the scene. V. Saakyan, 25, was
wounded in the leg, K. Baloyan, 25, seven hours later was delivered
to hospital in Tbilisi with a severe wound. After the attack the
criminals escaped.

As Javakh news agency `A-Info’ informs, police arrested three
suspects that are currently interrogated. About 300 Armenians
gathered near the police building, who demand fair punishment to the
murderers. The protesters have broke several windows in the police
building. As a response, the Georgian SWAT that arrived from Tbilisi
drove the protesters back, brutally beating them with machine guns
and batons. Currently, police building is surrounded by SWAT.

According to Armenian MP of Tsalka region Hayk Militinyan, 150 people
were hurt during the clash between police and the protesters.

The victims say, they do know the reasons of the attack. As they
think, a group of Adjarian or Svani settlers attacked them. All
victims are from the same village, Kushi (Tsalka region). According
to eye-witnesses, some time later, all the entrances to the city of
Tsalka from the side of Armenian villages were blocked by units of
special forces deployed in the region. Other ways, including the road
leading to the capital were open.

Conflicts in Tsalka region are often because of Armenian and Greek
communities that live there along with Georgians, who moved there
from Ajaria and Svanetia after ecological catastrophes, and occupied
empty houses of local citizens, who emigrated or were temporarily
abroad. Such illegal intrusion into private property along with
increase of crime level in the area because of immigration cause
indignation of local residents.

Similar conflict existed earlier. Largest confrontation took place on
May 9, 2005 when in conflict between Armenians and Georgians around
30 people were wounded. Such incident cause Georgian authorities to
deploy the national guard in the region, but positive effect of this
action is highly questioned by local population.