Georgia troops spark coup fears

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

The troops from a base in Norio, near Tbilisi, used three tanks, two armoured personnel carriers and submachine guns to overpower the Mukhrovani 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 is quoted as saying: "I assess this is an attempt of a state coup and a military adventure."

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

But Major General Dzhemal Chumburidze, a national guard commander, said the soldiers had mutinied over demands for prompt payment of wages and other economic improvements.

Chumburidze, who was allowed into the base to negotiate with those mutinying, is quoted by AP as saying: "Their demands are of a social nature. They want to be paid on time, to have normal conditions of service and normal food."

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 wife of one of the mutineer commanders, Tamuna Shanidze, was allowed into talk to the troops and was reported by AP as saying the troops wanted to speak to the press.

Chumburidze said he was optimistic the protest would soon be over. Defence minister David Tevzadze also took part in the negotiations.

But Reuters quoted Kutateladze as saying the government was not holding negotiations with the mutineers because of the earlier firing.

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 have been closed off and authorities have 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.