OCHA Situation Report
Georgia
December 2004


Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

HIGHLIGHTS:

Situation in Abkhazia

In the beginning of December, irritated by "unconstitutional actions by 
Sergey Bagapsh," a candidate for de-facto presidency of the unrecognised 
republic, Russia announced about the closure of railway connection and 
strengthened the border protection with Abkhazia. Russia increased its 
pressure in connection with Bagapsh's intention to hold his inauguration 
ceremony on 6 December, claiming victory in a contested 3 October de-facto 
Presidential elections. Soon after the statement, the Russian side 
suspended import of agricultural products from Abkhazia. Georgian 
authorities expressed their concerns about the Russia's interference in 
the country's internal affairs and called on the attention of 
international community, warning on "alarming" situation and "potential 
destabilization" in Abkhazia.

Initially Bagapsh did not show signs of compromise, however he still 
involved himself in dialogue with his opponent, Raul Khajimba and number 
of Russian officials, who visited Sukhumi with the purpose to strike a 
deal. Late on 5 December, after long hours of talks, Sergey Bagapsh 
announced that a presidential inauguration would not take place on 6 
December as he agreed with his opponent Raul Khajimba to hold repeat 
elections in which Bagapsh will run as the presidential candidate and 
Khajimba as for Vice-President. According to contenders, the decision was 
made in favor of stabilization in the region. On 6 December opposition 
leader Sergey Bagapsh and his former presidential rival Raul Khajimba 
formalized their handshake agreement to share power by signing an accord. 
According to the agreement, repeat presidential elections, in which 
Bagapsh will run as the presidential candidate and Raul Khajimba as the 
vice-presidential candidate, will be held in breakaway Abkhazia on 12 
January 2005. After the reached agreement, Russia lifted sanctions imposed 
earlier.

Situation in South Ossetia

After Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and South Ossetian de-facto 
leader Eduard Kokoiti signed an agreement envisaging the demilitarisation 
of the South Ossetian conflict zone before 20 November in Sochi, the 
securing of free movement of the population, the implementation of joint 
economic projects and an increase in the number of OSCE observers in the 
conflict zone, the situation in the region has been relatively calm. OSCE 
hailed the progress achieved between the Georgian and Ossetian sides. 
However, both sides complain about the delay in implementation of the 
Sochi agreement over the demilitarisation, blaming each other.

The collective co-Chairmen of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) over the 
South Ossetian conflict resolution issues held a meeting with Georgian 
Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania on 23 December in Tbilisi to discuss the 
ongoing situation in the South Ossetian conflict zone. Similar talks with 
de-facto president Kokoiti was held on the next day, 24 December. The main 
topic for discussion was the fulfilment of the Sochi agreement.

Sporadic shootouts were reported overnight on 23 December near the 
Georgian village of Eredvi in the South Ossetian conflict zone.  No 
casualties were reported. The breakaway South Ossetia's Press and 
Information Committee reported sporadic shootings in the conflict zone 
overnight on December 27. No casualties have been reported. According to 
this report, the shooting was initiated from the Georgian villages of 
Achabeti, Kurta and Kheiti.

The Georgian side has made no comment regarding these reports so far.

New Plan for Conflict Resolution for Abkhazia and South Ossetia to be 
Developed

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili instructed the government on 17 
December to develop an Abkhazian and South Ossetian conflict resolution 
plan which will envisage, as Saakashvili put it, the "widest form of 
status" for these breakaway regions in the "common state" of Georgia.

The government should prepare this peace plan by February, 2005.

President Saakashvili said that the Georgian government, local and Abkhaz 
and South Ossetian non-governmental organizations, political leaders and 
"even minor political parties" should be engaged in the process of 
outlining this peace plan.

Changes in the Government

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania 
announced, late on 14 December, plans to restructure the government and 
reshuffle the cabinet in an attempt, as they put it, "to boost reforms." 
The recent cabinet reshuffle comes just six months after the government 
received a vote of confidence from the Parliament in June. As a result of 
the proposed government restructuring, the State Security Ministry will 
merge with the Interior Ministry and will form a Ministry of Police and 
Public security which will be headed by the ex-Security Minister. Interior 
Minister moved to the post of Defense Minister. Ex-Defense Minister was 
nominated for the post of Vice-Prime Minister and State Minister for 
Integration in NATO and European Structures. Economy Minister took over a 
new post of the State Minister for Economic Reforms. The Minister of 
agriculture has also been replaced. In light of these changes, a Foreign 
Intelligence Service will also be established.

The number of State Ministers was also downsized as a result of the 
structural changes of the government. There will be four State Ministers 
instead of the current six. The positions of State Minister for Regional 
Management and Self-Government and Minister for Medium and Small Business 
Issues will be abolished.

Zinaida Bestaeva, an ethnic Ossetian, will become the State Minister for 
Civil Integration Issues. Bestaeva was born in Tskhinvali, the capital of 
breakaway South Ossetia and has spent last ten years living in North 
Ossetia. The changes were approved by the Parliament on 27 December.

Georgian Parliament Approves the New Tax Code

On 21 December, the Georgian Parliament approved the new tax code during 
its third and final hearing with a 107 to 11 vote. The draft tax code 
underwent radical changes after being discussed in the Parliament and the 
MPs have greatly contributed to it. According to the new tax code, only 7 
out of 22 taxes will remain in force. The rates of some of these taxes 
will also be reduced as well. In particular, the social tax will be 
reduced to 20% from the current 33%; income tax - from 20% to 12%; value 
added tax - from 20% to 18%. The profit tax, however, will remain at 20%.

The new tax code will be enforced starting from January 1, 2005. However, 
as a result of the compromise reached between the Cabinet and the 
Parliament, a reduced 18% VAT will be enforced only from 1 July 2005, 
Taxes on gambling businesses and excise taxes on petroleum products, 
tobacco, ethyl alcohol and wine will increase, in an attempt to cover the 
backlog of 300 million GEL that will be created as a result of the 
cancellation and reduction of other taxes.


HUMANITARIAN AND DEVELOPMENT UPDATE:

Georgia Employment and Infrastructure Initiative by CHF

Established in 1952, Community Habitat Finance (initially Corporate 
Housing Foundation) International is a non-profit and non-governmental 
organisation that serves as a worldwide catalyst for long-lasting and 
positive change in the areas of community, habitat and finance. The 
organisation has worked in thousands of communities in more than 100 
countries worldwide, helping community-based organisations create jobs, 
build houses, repair or construct water and sewage systems, expand schools 
and health clinics.

CHF's Georgia Employment and Infrastructure Initiative (GEII), which was 
launched in October 2004, is a five-year programme funded by USAID. The 
goal of the GEII programme is to improve essential infrastructure services 
and generate income for a democratically, socially and economically 
empowered citizenry in Georgia. Overall, the programme will target 4,000 
communities in Tbilisi and three districts (Kutaisi, Telavi and 
Akhaltsikhe) in Georgia. The programme reflects shift in USAID strategy 
from relief to development programmes.  The organisation works in Georgia 
since 2002 and has implemented 16 projects in Samtskhe-Javakheti region.

The objectives of the GEII programme include the stimulation of 
communities to engage in participatory, community-wide planning and take 
action to improve services and infrastructure, the increase of 
communities' capacity to leverage resources and support through innovative 
partnership with the Government, the private sector and other empowered 
communities. The programme also aims to promote entrepreneurship and 
create long-and-short-term employment opportunities and to advance 
stability and reduce conflict through undertaking joint community 
initiatives. The programme is community-oriented, with an emphasis on 
community development.

Through GEII, long-term relationships are established with communities 
using proven Social Outreach Strategy (SOS) Assisted through intensive 
training, mentoring and technical assistance, and the establishment of 
democratically-elected and representative Community Development Councils 
(CDCs), communities are empowered to take ownership of their own 
development. Specifically, CHF's SOS facilitates a common long-term 
community vision, enhances community capacities and transfers skills to 
communities to manage future initiatives. Cooperating closely with 
government, the private sector, and other development partners, CDC take 
leadership roles within their communities, working to prioritise pressing 
development needs and implement demand-driven social, economic and 
environmental projects.

During the initial phase of the project GEII staff and partners will be 
visiting hundreds of communities and are interested in long-term 
relationships with those demonstrating strong initiative and commitment to 
future success and the transition from humanitarian relief to sustainable 
economic development. Interested organisations and individuals can contact 
CHF office at 3 Mtskheta Street. Tel.: 22 69 02, 25 16 72.


Income Generation Programme by CHCA

The main goal of the Income Generation Programme by Charity Humanitarian 
Centre Abkhazeti (CHCA) is to increase participatory development 
opportunities for IDPs and other vulnerable groups to assist the community 
in reaching the self-reliance.

The programme is being implemented with financial support of the Dutch 
Refugee Council (Stichting Vluchteling). Cooperation between CHCA and SV 
began in 1998, when SV partly funded CHCA's Micro Lending Programme.

The programme was launched in April 2003. The main goal of the pilot stage 
was to support IDPs and vulnerable local households by providing them with 
soft loans for income-generating activities, and then to measure the 
general impact. SV declared the first round of the project was effective 
which led to the continuation of the partnership and the beginning of the 
second phase of the programme.

In 2004-2005, CHCA intends to work with vulnerable members of IDP 
households residing in Kutaisi and Tskaltubo (Imereti region), Zugdidi 
(Samegrelo region) and Tbilisi.

CHCA offers to the heads of vulnerable households basic business skills 
training and the opportunity to start their own micro business activity 
through applying a soft loans fund operated by the programme. The Income 
Generation programme has both a core and a supplementary component.

The core component is the "Micro Business Start-up Find." Interested 
individuals who apply and participate in trainings have the opportunity to 
get soft loans (interest-free) form 100 to 500 GEL as the capital for 
beginning their own micro-business activities.

The supplementary component of the programme allows heads of vulnerable 
families to gain new skills and knowledge in the business field, as well 
free business consultations, to strengthen the management of their 
businesses and to make them more profitable.

>From long-term perspective within 2-3 years CHCA is looking for the
following impact on the macro level: increasing the self-reliance of 
unemployed vulnerable IDPs providing job opportunities; developing the 
critical self-reliance skills among IDPs and changing the passive attitude 
for rebuilding their future lives; improving living conditions of 
vulnerable IDPs; improving financing of family needs on education and 
health care services; strengthening of social security net through 
provision of participatory development tools and strengthening social 
capital in the society.

The project increases the self-reliance of unemployed IDPs providing job 
opportunities; developing the critical self-reliance skills among IDPs and 
changing the passive attitude for rebuilding their future lives for their 
eventual return.

For more information, please contact CHCA at 29 T. Tabidze Street, Kutaisi.
Tel.: (8 331) 4 16 51. E-mail: chca@chca.org.ge.


IMF Approves US$21.5 Million for PRGF

On 21 December, IMF announced that its Executive Board Completes First 
Review Under Georgia's Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) 
Arrangement and Approves US$21.5 Million Disbursement. The Executive Board 
of the IMF has completed the first review of Georgia's performance under 
the three-year PRGF arrangement. Overall, IMF evaluated performance of new 
Georgian leadership positively observing significant positive changes in 
fiscal sector and increased level of tax collection. The Government has 
also made good progress in structural reforms. It has strengthened the 
physical and financial viability of the energy sector, though further 
efforts will be needed to ensure reliable power supplies and reduce energy 
sector quasi-fiscal losses. As a first step toward creating a professional 
civil service, the government has reduced public employment by some 30,000 
positions in 2004, and used the related salary savings to improve 
remuneration of remaining personnel. The authorities have also announced 
an ambitious privatization program and supporting steps to improve the 
business climate.

Columbia, MO Sends Presents to Its Sister City, Kutaisi Residents

Officials and volunteer groups in Columbia, Missouri, USA collected new 
and "gently used" stuffed animals for shipment with other supplies to 
Columbia's sister city Kutaisi.

According to the President of the ACTS International - Missouri, Trish 
Blair, there are about 1,000 "gently used" stuffed animals collected, 
along with $63,000 in medical supplies, and several study carrels. The 
donated items were sorted, counted, and packed into a 40-foot sea 
container, leaving for the East Coast.

Once the stuffed animals arrive in Kutaisi, they will be distributed to 
IDP children, who as Blair explains, need them the most. The remaining 
toys will be given to children at a deaf school, a blind school, three 
orphanages and a children's hospital. The medical supplies, including 
gowns, intravenous tubes and needles, and surgical instruments, will be 
distributed among the sister city's hospitals. The desks will go to 
elementary schools.

Since 1992, when ACTS International center was organised in Columbia, it 
has worked closely with the ACTS-Georgia to coordinate humanitarian aid to 
Kutaisi and other parts of Georgia. In the past, the Columbia center has 
organized shipments of medicine, a toy shipment in 2000 similar to this 
year's, as well as yearly shipments of 100 tons of iodized salt in an 
effort to combat the iodine deficiency in their diets.

The aid will be handled and distributed by ACTS Georgia staff in the 
beginning of January 2005.

CRINGO Network

On 10 December Hotel Sheraton Metechi Palace hosted a presentation of the 
Caucasian Refugee and IDP network CRINGO.

CRINGO Network is a voluntary, independent, non-political network of 
organizations working on the Caucasus territory with refugees, IDPs and 
other persons with similar status. It was officially inaugurated in 
September 2002 in Sochi. Through four focal-coordination points (Baku, 
Stavropol, Tbilisi, Yerevan) CRINGO Network unites more than 60 
non-governmental organizations from the South and North Caucasus.

CRINGO aims to provide assistance in rehabilitation and integration of 
refugees, IDPs and persons with an equated status, provide assistance in 
legal and social issues to elaborate durable solutions, to secure early 
warning and early response to emergency situations in the region, and to 
ensure transparent information exchange between Caucasian NGOs on their 
work with forcedly displaced persons.

Since 2002, about 30 regional projects were implemented by the Network. 
Members have organized summer camps for Georgian and Ossetian children, 
round tables for border police and IDPs, conducted a Joint Network Action 
on the World Refugee day.

For additional information, please contact CRINGO Network Secretariat 
representatives in Tbilisi: 31, Tsinamdzgvrishvili Str., tel: 96 99 05, 
tel/fax: 96 15 14, e-mail: rfp@caucasus.net


LOCAL NGO SPOTLIGHT

Association "Tanadgoma" was established on the basis of MSF Centre ? 
Informational-counseling center established by international humanitarian 
organisation "Medecins Sans Frontieres" Greece.

As MSF Greece decided to withdraw from Georgia, in October 2000 MSF Centre 
was reformed into a local non-governmental organisation named "Tanadgoma."

General mission of Tanadgoma is to improve physical and mental health of 
Georgian population. The main target group of the association is 
population of reproductive age. It implements projects with the High Risk 
Behavior Groups (adolescents, border guards, commercial sex workers, 
injecting drug users, prison inmates, HIV positive persons). In July 2003, 
in the frames of the STI/HIV Prevention Project, a branch of Tanadgoma was 
opened in Batumi, Adjara.

Currently the organisation is implementing a Reproductive Health Programme 
with the aim to promote issues of safe sex, reproductive rights and 
gender, to prevent spreading of STIs and HIV/AIDS and to provide medical 
and psychological help for those in need. Services provided by the 
organisation include anonymous, confidential and free of charge counseling 
by hot line or face-to-face visits, fieldwork with High Risk Behavior 
Groups, training on reproductive health and rights, peer education, 
providing information on reproductive health issues, psychological 
counseling and primary screening for target groups on STIs and hepatitis 
using mobile laboratory.

For more information, please contact informational medico-psychological 
center "Tanadgoma", address: 21 Kurdiani Street, tel.: 25 18 19, 34 36 23. 
E-mail: center@tanadgoma.ge


ANNOUNCEMENT:

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) closes 
office in Georgia on 31 December 2004. The downsizing started some time in 
2003 to ensure smooth and gradual handover of some of OCHA functions to 
UNDP or others. Accordingly, discussions on transitional arrangements have 
been in place throughout last two years.

As a result, a new Transition Unit is created under the Office of the UN 
Resident Coordinator that will facilitate and coordinate the work of the 
UN Country Team agencies, as well as continue cooperation with the broader 
group of concerned entities (e.g., Government, NGOs, and donors) on the 
relevant issues.

The interagency UN Development Group has agreed to provide one year 
bridging funding for the newly established Transition Unit where the three 
current OCHA staff will be transferred. The Transition Unit will take over 
majority of OCHA's residual coordination functions.

As noted by participants of the OCHA organized Humanitarian Assistance 
Strategy 2005 conference held on 17 November 2004, there is the need to 
continue many of the coordination and information sharing the actions of 
the OCHA Unit.  While noting the continued humanitarian needs in Georgia, 
the participants understood the political imperatives for OCHA 
headquarters to close the Office, given the pressure to balance its 
expansion to cover new emergencies with a need to leave areas with 
smaller, extended emergencies.  However, there was unanimous and strong 
appreciation for the coordination work done by the OCHA Unit, in 
particular regarding the complicated field of "transition", and the need 
for the UN to continue to provide such leadership and support.

While next year the new Transition Unit will follow-up on the Strategy 
2005 conference, it will also keep its information sharing and advocacy 
functions, including publishing bi-annual contacts directory and regular 
newsletters, as well as try to assist UN country team agencies in 
programme development and coordination for transitional areas. The unit 
will also be involved in elaboration of a UN Development Assistance 
Framework (UNDAF). And lastly, the Transition Unit will continue to lead 
the Disaster Management Team in its capacity-building work, and its 
preparedness and contingency planning for international assistance. In 
case of natural disaster response, the Unit will coordinate the DMT 
operational response, under the leadership of the Humanitarian 
Coordinator. It will also take the lead in advocacy efforts for the 
Government officials to re-establish disaster management authority with 
clear mandates, structures and responsibilities.

OCHA would like to thank you all for your cooperation for last ten years. 
While OCHA formally closes down in Georgia, it remains available under the 
framework of the new Transition Unit. Hopefully, the existing cooperation 
with OCHA will be smoothly transferred to this new Unit. The following is 
contact information of the Transition Unit: Ms. Nino Antadze, Transition 
Officer, UN Resident Coordinator Office; Ms. Maka Esaiashvili, Information 
Officer, UN Resident Coordinator Office; Address: 9, Eristavi st, Vake, 
Tbilisi, UN House Tel: +995 32 943163; Tel/Fax: +995 32 959516. E-mail (as 
of 10 January 2005): nino.antadze@undp.org.ge; 
maka.esaiashvili@undp.org.ge

Let us use this opportunity to thank you for your kind attention and 
cooperation and to wish you all the best in coming year 2005.

Produced by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 
(OCHA)-Georgia

For more information or your comments and suggestions please contact Ms.
Maka Esaiashvili, Information Officer.
Address: 9 Eristavi Street, Tbilisi, Georgia.
Tel: (995 32) 95 95 16, 94 31 63.
Fax: (995 32) 95 95 16;
e-mail: maka.esaiashvili@unocha.org.ge

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