Abkhazian police defy government

Bagapsh claims to have won the October election

Police in the breakaway Abkhazia region of Georgia have refused to obey government orders, as a crisis over controversial elections continues.

Almost all leading officers of the region's interior ministry signed a statement to this effect.

Local observers say police are trying to distance themselves from the conflict that arose after the election.

Uncertainty over the results has kept the situation in the republic extremely volatile for over a month.

In the statement, quoted by the Russian Gazeta newspaper website, police officers say that they are "not going to tolerate the chaos and disorder in the country created by prime minister Nodar Khashba and other members of the government".

Independent Abkhaz journalist Inal Khashig told the BBC that Mr Khashba is widely believed to be considering a Russian military intervention in the republic, and police do not wish to have anything to do with these plans.

Unfinished poll

Russia has repeatedly stated that it respects Georgia's territorial integrity, but Abkhazia, where most residents hold Russian passports, is often referred to as Russian protectorate.

Abkhazia vice-president Valery Arshba, in a public rebellion against outgoing president Vladislav Ardzinba, said the interior ministry would continue to maintain order but would not obey the government.

Interior minister Abessalom Deya did not sign the statement, but, according to Khashig, "silently supports it".

Opposition candidate Sergey Bagapsh is thought to have defeated his rival Raul Khadzhimba, supported by Mr Ardzinba and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the October election.

Mr Khadzhimba and Mr Ardzinba did not recognize the results and demanded a revote.

However, many of President Ardzinba's supporters have since joined the opposition camp, and Mr Bagapsh has said he may hold his inauguration ceremony whether or not the current leadership considers it legitimate.

The events in Abkhazia are being closely watched by the Georgian authorities, who consider re-establishing control in Abkazia their key priority.

Abkhazia has been de facto independent since a bloody inter-ethnic conflict in the early 1990s.