GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT SENDS WARNING SIGNAL TO MOSCOW.

At an extraordinary sitting yesterday, the Georgian parliament unanimously resolved to set up four special commissions. They are mandated, respectively, to report on: whether it is appropriate for Georgia to remain a member of the CIS; whether Georgia should continue hosting Russian military bases on its territory; the country’s progress in creating a national army and its own border troops with a view to replacing the Russian border troops stationed in Georgia; and the merits of the CIS (meaning Russia), the UN, and the OSCE, respectively, in mediating a settlement of the Abkhazia conflict.

Initiated by the opposition, the extraordinary sitting and the resolutions were accepted by the governing majority with the added proviso that the commissions would be given four months to present their conclusions and proposals. (Russian agencies, December 16) The parliament acted against a background of a Russian-engineered deadlock on Abkhazia and a series of incidents involving the Russian military in Georgia. (See Monitor, December 5, 10, 12) The parliament’s reaction and the consensus behind it, in effect, signals to Moscow that it has four months to improve its conduct toward Georgia or it will face both a loss of its military facilities in the country and some political embarrassment in the CIS and internationally.

Budget but One Issue in Current Political Struggle in Tajikistan.