Georgian mutiny defused

MUKHROVANI, Georgia -- Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze has defused a mutiny by hundreds of soldiers on the republic's 10th anniversary of post-Soviet independence.

Up to 400 armed troops from Georgia's national guard had left their posts and seized a military base, sparking fears of a coup.

Shevardnadze, 73, who has led the country since 1992, personally negotiated the return of the rebels to their barracks.

The protest related to the conditions of their service, Shevardnadze said. The men claimed months of back pay, new uniforms and decent meals, according to Reuters.

"The state is no less guilty than they are in what has happened. In normal conditions this would not have happened," he said.

Shevardnadze, a former Soviet foreign minister, said he promised the soldiers immunity from prosecution and they had agreed to return the base.

The troops from a base in Norio, near Tbilisi, used three tanks, two armoured personnel carriers and submachine guns to overpower the Mukhrovani military base.

The Mukhrovani base holds Interior Ministry soldiers and is situated 25 kilometres (15 miles) east of Tbilisi, an adviser to the defence minister said.

Georgian Security Minister Vakhtang Kutateladze was reported by the Associated Press as having told a meeting of the president's security council that it had been a coup attempt.

He told independent television Rustavi-2 that the group had shown "armed resistance" firing at a car, but not inflicting any injuries, Reuters said.

It is believed the soldiers have not been paid for more than 12 months.

A member of parliament, deputy Irakly Batiashvili, told Russia's RIA news agency that "it was no secret for anyone that social conditions for Georgian soldiers are very tough," Reuters quoted.

The 400 had been joined by about 600 of the interior ministry troops in the demonstration, while about 40 who did not want to take part were bussed out, Chumburidze said.

But Georgy Shervashidze, head of the interior ministry troops, said none of his soldiers had agreed to take part.

Roads around the base were closed off and authorities had stepped up security around the parliament building and the main state administration building in the capital, Tbilisi, Georgian parliamentary speaker Zurab Zhvania told AP.

President Eduard Shevardnadze has been kept up to date with events.

The Caucus republic has seen repeated internal tension since it gained independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991.

Troops marched on the second city of Kutaisi in 1998 before returning to base after clashing with government forces.

Two civil wars involving separatists in South Ossetia and Abkhazia have racked the country, killing tens of thousands of people.

Shevardnadze, who came to power on the back of a coup in 1992, has faced an attempt to overthrow him by supporters of his predecessor Zviad Gamsakhurdia as well as two assassination attempts in 1995 and 1998.