Gali residents in occupied Abkhazia have not received IDP benefits, pensions for 4 months
Gamakharia noted that the residents of Gali are in a more difficult situation than before, they have no income, they are hungry and there is a deficit of medicines in the region. Photo: Erik Hoeg/Twitter.
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Residents of Gali in occupied Abkhazia have not received IDP benefits and pensions for four months, said Chairman of the Supreme Council of Abkhazia Jemal Gamakharia.
The reason is that these people used to receive this money in Zugdidi or elsewhere on Georgia-controlled territory but now the borders are closed at the Enguri Bridge by the Sokhumi de-facto government amid the coronavirus.
Gamakharia noted that the residents of Gali are in a more difficult situation than before, they have no income, they are hungry and there is a deficit of medicines in the region.
In Gali district we are dealing with a terrible humanitarian catastrophe,” said Gamakharia.
He noted that people who are starving, as well as university applicants and students, are trying to enter Georgia-controlled territory using backroads and even try crossing the Enguri River.
We must assume that [entering Georgia by crossing Enguri river] will continue in the future. If this situation is not improved, people who are in this hopeless situation will definitely continue to cross the Enguri River and try to enter Zugdidi. It is not impossible many could drown”, said Gamakharia.
He noted that the legitimate government of Abkhazia, within its competence and capabilities, will make every effort to solve at least some of the vital problems created by the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gali district.
A new hospital has opened in the village of Rukhi located about a kilometre from Enguri Bridge, which connects Russia-occupied Abkhazia with the rest of Georgia. Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia said the new hospital will offer qualitative care to people living on both sides of the occupation line.
The Georgian State Security Service says that there are groups of people and individuals who are trying to incite national rivalry between ethnic Georgians and Azerbaijanis in Kvemo Kartli and Kakheti regions in the central and eastern parts of Georgia respectively.
All four checkpoints between Georgia and Azerbaijan will remain closed until April 20 per measures taken by Azerbaijan to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus, the Georgian Foreign Ministry reported earlier today.
Forty-three students from Georgia’s currently Russian-occupied Gali district have crossed the currently closed Enguri ‘checkpoint’ to participate in a summer school on Tbilisi-administered territory.
A 65-year-old man from Russian-occupied Abkhazia has been found dead by locals in the Enguri River. Municipal head Elguja Bokuchava said the man was trying to cross to Tbilisi-controlled territory to receive his pension.
A man from Georgia’s Russia-occupied Abkhazia has died after crossing the Enguri River to enter Tbilisi-controlled territory to meet with a family member, reports RFE/RL.
Irakli Bebua, a young ethnic Georgian man from the Gali district of Russia-occupied Abkhazia, has been detained after setting an Abkhaz flag on fire, while the region was celebrating the day of victory and independence on September 30.
The de facto police of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region have summoned a 19-year-old Aliona Tania living in the region and her parents for interrogation after the girl said on her TikTok account that ‘Abkhazia is Georgia.’
Police have detained six individuals during clashes which occurred between activists and law enforcers in front of the ‘Supreme Council of Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia’ earlier today.
The de facto government of Georgia’s Russian-occupied Tskhinvali region says that they detained 42 individuals at the occupation line last month, while the figure stood at 23 in March.