Fighting Rages in Republic of Georgia; 30 Dead

Insurgents firing rockets and anti-tank guns renewed their attacks on Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia’s headquarters Monday despite the embattled leader’s public offer to share power, according to accounts from the strife-torn Caucasus Mountains republic.

At least 30 people were reported dead in the two days of fighting that has racked Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, and brought to a climax months of festering conflict between Gamsakhurdia and a growing opposition intent on his ouster.

“The (attack) on the building should be seen as a coup d’etat or putsch,” Georgian Foreign Minister Murman Omanidze told the Russian Information Agency. “But this orgy will not succeed.”

Regular phone lines were reported dead in Tbilisi’s center. The city’s airport was closed and two buildings burned down near the imposing government headquarters where Gamsakhurdia has been under siege in a bunker since the fighting began early Sunday.

Crowds were said to fill the streets nearby, with some people carrying signs calling for an end to the civil warfare.

“The view of downtown reminds me of footage from Yugoslavia,” a local journalist told state television amid scenes of blasting howitzers, wounded men being hustled off for medical aid and guardsmen rattling off automatic weapons fire.

Pyotr Chkheidze, Georgia’s emissary to Moscow, said Monday evening, soon after talking to Tbilisi on a special government telephone line, that “there has been heavy shooting which stopped only a few minutes ago.”

Tengiz Sigua, Georgia’s former prime minister and the opposition leader, announced that his troops will not be satisfied with anything less than Gamsakhurdia’s resignation. He said he has offered the president and his family safe passage out of Georgia via the Black Sea port of Batumi.

Gamsakhurdia rejected Sigua’s ultimatum, however, and complained in an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. that he is willing to share power with his rivals but, “They do not want (that.) They want me to resign simply.”

Alone among the leaders of the 12 remaining Soviet republics, Gamsakhurdia refused to sign Saturday’s agreement establishing a new Commonwealth of Independent States on the former Soviet Union’s territory. That decision appeared to have partly triggered the current attacks by reinforcing opposition complaints that Gamsakhurdia is leading Georgia on a course of isolation and extremism.

His domestic political troubles, however, began months ago. Elected president with almost 87% of the vote in May on the basis of his popularity as a former political dissident, Gamsakhurdia soon began to gain a reputation as an autocrat who closed opposition newspapers, kept criticism off the airwaves and imprisoned his political opponents.

Although some of the charges against him have not been proven, an opposition led by many of the president’s old friends began to coalesce. During the fall, Tengiz Kitovani, founder and commander of the Georgian National Guard, also turned against Gamsakhurdia, taking most of his men with him.

Tbilisi, an eclectic city normally enlivened by the Georgian love for feasting and drinking tasty native wines, was repeatedly rocked in September and October by armed standoffs and clashes between pro- and anti-Gamsakhurdia forces. But the opposition always stopped short of attempting an assault on the massive government building on central Rustaveli Avenue--until Sunday.

By Monday, according to Tass news agency dispatches, it was still impossible to tell which side had the advantage. Shooting and explosions broke out repeatedly throughout the day, particularly in the streets behind the government building. The combat apparently peaked in the evening.

“No sooner had the sun hidden itself behind the mountains that surround the capital of the republic when the heightened strafing and exchanges of fire at the Georgian Parliament building were renewed,” Tass correspondent Albert Kochetov reported.

Opposition troops, apparently fearing that government reinforcements from other cities might come to Gamsakhurdia’s aid, tried to take control of main arteries on the city’s outskirts to keep new loyalist units from entering.

The number of killed and wounded remained uncertain, but Tass said the death toll is generally believed to be between 30 and 50, with perhaps 200 wounded.

Although the battle showed no signs of abating, Gamsakhurdia appeared to be hanging on, and his press service reported that the Georgian president went on television at midnight Sunday night to declare that “the legal government elected by the people will not retreat and not betray the interests of the people.” He said he is prepared to negotiate, and “there is no question that can’t be decided peacefully.”

But attempts at talks repeatedly broke down Monday, Chkheidze said.

Gamsakhurdia told the BBC that he is unsure whether the latest battles were touched off by the commonwealth agreement; in any case, he is still considering joining the other 11 republics in the new grouping. “I am not opposed,” he said. “I am studying this question.”