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Search forBristol councillor warns on Georgia crisis
Tuesday, August 26, 2008, 08:00
Councillor Derek Pickup, a member of the ruling Labour cabinet, is vice-chairman of Bristol's twinning association with Tbilisi, the Georgian capital.
He wants the Georgian ambassador in London to be invited to talk to all 70 members of the city council to highlight the conflict, which led to the Russian invasion of the neighbouring former Soviet republic earlier this month.
Russian troops are still in Georgia, despite international pressure and a partial withdrawal from areas including the city of Gori, as part of an EU ceasefire deal.
Both houses of parliament in Russia yesterday demanded that Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia have their independence formally recognised.
Mr Pickup, who has a summerhouse about an hour's drive from Tbilisi, said: "Political pressure will still be needed to get the Russians to move back to where they were before August 8. Meanwhile, there are problems of getting aid in.
"Poti, the main port, is still in Russian control. So how can you get aid into the country? I imagine, too, that the Georgians can't export their oil or the produce of their huge wine industry because they can't use Poti."
In recent years, he said, the country had started to pick itself up and invest massively in new roads and other infrastructure to boost its economy.
The conflict and the many tens of thousands of refugees were now putting enormous pressure on the country's ability to cope, said Mr Pickup.
Exchange visits between the Bristol and Tbilisi twinning associations planned for this month and October had to be postponed. Mr Pickup said it was hoped the trips could take place in November.
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