Patterns of Global Terrorism 1998 - Georgia
| Publisher | United States Department of State |
| Author | Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism |
| Publication Date | 1 April 1999 |
| Cite as | United States Department of State, Patterns of Global Terrorism 1998 - Georgia, 1 April 1999, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4681072b23.html [accessed 7 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Supporters of deceased former Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, known as "Zviadists," and ethnic Chechen mercenaries attempted to assassinate Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze on 9 February. The assailants launched a well-organized attack against Shevardnadze's motorcade late in the evening using rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons. Shevardnadze survived the attack – the second against him in three years – but it almost succeeded. Two officers of Shevardnadze's protective service and one of the attackers, an ethnic Chechen, died in the ensuing gunfight. The government arrested 11 of the assailants within days of the attack.
Subsequently, some 15 of Shevardnadze's assailants kidnapped four United Nations observers from their compound in Zugdidi, western Georgia, to ensure the assailants' escape and their colleagues' release. The hostages escaped or were released following a dialogue between the Shevardnadze government and former members of Gamsakhurdia's faction. Some of the hostage takers surrendered, but Gocha Esebua, the Zviadist leader of the assassination team, escaped. According to press reports, Georgian police killed Esebua in a shootout on 31 March after they tracked him to a house in western Georgia.
Georgian officials also apprehended former Gamsakhurdia government Finance Minister Guram Absandze, the alleged mastermind of the assassination attempt. Russian security authorities detained Absandze in Smolensk, Russia, on 16 March and extradited him to Georgia three days later, where he was formally arrested.
Violence in Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia accounted for several incidents that involved foreign personnel. In July four UN military observers were taken hostage. On 21 September three UN military observers and their Abkhaz driver were wounded in Sukhumi during an ambush on a clearly marked UN vehicle, according to press reporting. Two of the injured were military observers from Bangladesh, and the third victim was a UN employee from Nigeria.
