TIBILISI, , May. 2 (UPI) -- The crisis in the former Soviet state of Georgia with its Ajaria region has escalated with two bridges destroyed and a threat to sack the region's leader.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has said he would remove Ajaria leader Aslan Abashidze unless a series of demands were met within 10 days, the BBC reported Sunday.
The threat came within hours after Ajarian forces blew up two bridges linking the region to Georgia. Abashidze said he feared Georgian soldiers on exercises north of the region were about to invade.
Saakashvili insisted Ajaria begin disarming and comply with the Georgian constitution.
"We have decided one last time to give a deadline to Aslan Abashidze," Saakashvili said. "We will give him 10 days to return to Georgia's constitutional framework, stop violations of law and human rights, and start to disarm."
If the deadline is not met, Saakashvili said he would dissolve Ajarian local institutions, remove Abashidze and call new elections.
Ajaria is technically an autonomous region within Georgia, yet it operates beyond Tbilisi's control. Abashidze maintains paramilitary units and refuses to pay Georgian taxes.
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