"President [Sergei] Bagapsh has ordered to partially put Abkhazian troops on alert following the worsening of the situation in the Gali district [bordering on Georgia]," Sergei Shamba told RIA Novosti by phone.
He said the so-called Abkhazian government in exile installed by Georgia had asked Tbilisi earlier Thursday to protect the Georgian population in the Gali district from Abkhazia's alleged persecutions.
"This reminds us of the situation before the war in 1992, when these people asked Tbilisi to deploy troops in Abkhazia," Shamba said. "Those events led to the Georgian-Abkhazian war."
He said Abkhazia's police are facing an emergency following the death of several policemen in recent terrorist attacks.
Tbilisi claims that Abkhazian police searched the homes of Georgians in the Gali district and arrested 48 people.
But the Abkhazian side denied the reports, saying the police were checking documents.
The bloody conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia erupted in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was suspended by a ceasefire agreement that introduced peacekeeping troops of the former Soviet republics, including Russia, into the separatist area.
