Raul Khadjimba

Infobox Vice President
name=Raul Khadjimba
Рауль Хаджимба


order=2nd Vice President of Abkhazia
term_start=February 12, 2005
president=Sergei Bagapsh
predecessor=Valery Arshba
successor=
order2=8th Prime Minister of Abkhazia
term_start2=April 22, 2003
term_end2=October 6, 2004
president2=Vladislav Ardzinba
predecessor2= Gennady Gagulia
successor2= Nodar Khashba
birth_date=1958
birth_place=Tkvarcheli, Abkhazian ASSR, Georgian SSR, USSR
party=Forum of Abkhaz People’s Unity
religion=
spouse=

Raul Khadjimba (Abkhaz: Рауль Џьумка-иUnicode|ҧа Ҳаџьымба; born 1958) is the Vice President of the Republic of Abkhazia. He was appointed to that office on February 12, 2005, as a result of power-sharing agreement with his adversary Sergei Bagapsh, to whom he lost presidential elections of 2004/5. He is committed to a close political and military cooperation with Russia and maintains a hardline stance towards diplomacy with the Georgian government and Western countries.

Career

A former KGB agent, [Wheatley, Jonathan (2005), "Georgia from National Awakening to Rose Revolution: delayed transition in the former Soviet Union". Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., ISBN 0754645037.] Khadjimba had previously served as both deputy prime minister (2001-2002) and defence minister (2002-2003), before succeeding Gennady Gagulia as Prime Minister on April 22, 2003. He remained prime minister until October 2004. He had also served as head of the Abkhaz security service from 1999 to 2001.

As then-President Vladislav Ardzinba was seriously ill and did not appear in public during his term, Khajimba acted as a de facto head of state in his absence. In this role, he met a number of political leaders, including Igor Ivanov, foreign minister of Russia. He has been a sharp opponent of reunification with Georgia, and vehemently condemned Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili's proposal for a two-state federation in May 2004.

Khadjimba was tipped as the favourite to win the October 2004 elections, and was strongly endorsed by both outgoing president Ardzinba and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Both men campaigned on his behalf and dedicated significant resources to assisting the Khadjimba campaign. However, opposition candidate Sergei Bagapsh polled more votes on election day, in what was widely attributed as a backlash against the strong Russian influence in his campaign.

After the election, both Bagapsh and Khadjimba claimed victory, with Khadjimba alleging that electoral fraud in the pro-Bagapsh Gali region had been responsible for Bagapsh's win. Ardzinba soon dismissed Khadjimba as Prime Minister, replacing him with a compromise candidate, Nodar Khashba, and two months of drawn-out disputes followed, involving public protests, court action and parliamentary proceedings.

In December 2004, Khadjimba and Bagapsh came to an agreement which would see the pair run as part of a national unity ticket in repeat elections, with Khadjimba running as Bagapsh's Vice-President. As part of this deal, the position of vice-president was given expanded powers covering defence and foreign affairs. The joint ticket easily won the repeat election, winning more than 90% of the vote.

However, in the aftermath of the election win, many analysts have suggested that Khadjimba's executive authority will be somewhat limited under the new arrangement, with Bagapsh and his Prime Minister, Alexander Ankvab, likely to maintain ultimate control over the areas of policy nominally assigned to the vice-president.

The controversy resurfaced again in June 2008, when Khadjimba attended a congress of the Aruaa organization, of which he is a member. The congress issued a statement criticizing the Bagapsh administration’s “multi-vector foreign policy”, referring to the talks with Georgian and Western diplomats, and called for greater ties with Russia. The pro-Bagapsh politicians from the Amtsakhara described Khadjimba’s criticism of the government, in which he was a vice-president, “immoral”. Later that month, Khadjimba reiterated his stance towards Bagapsh’s foreign policy, stating that Abkhazia’s only protector could be Russia and using force would be inevitable for gaining control of the upper Kodori Valley (a portion of northeastern Abkhazia). [ [http://www.civilgeorgia.ge/eng/article.php?id=18594&search=Khajimba Abkhaz VP: Force May be Needed to Regain Kodori] . Civil Georgia. 2008-06-21.] [ru icon [http://www.regnum.ru/news/1017559.html "Нам следует заручиться военно-политическим союзом с Россией": Обзор СМИ Абхазии] (“We need to secure a military-political alliance with Russia”: Review of the Abkhaz press). Regnum. 2008-06-20.] [ru icon [http://www.regnum.ru/news/fd-abroad/1014316.html Депутат парламента Абхазии считает действия вице-президента Рауля Хаджимба аморальными] (Member of the Parliament of Abkhazia considers Vice-President Raul Khadjimba’s actions immoral). Regnum. 2008-06-12.] [ru icon [http://www.regnum.ru/news/1013500.html Оппозиция во власти и власть в оппозиции: Абхазия встает на выборные рельсы] (Opposition within authorities and authorities in opposition: Abkhazia on the election track). Regnum. 2008-06-11.] The Kodori Valley was under Georgia’s control until August 2008, when it was invested by Abkhazian forces in the Battle of the Kodori Gorge. [cite news |title=Kodori Under Abkhaz Control |url=http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=19073&search=kodori |work=Civil Georgia |date=August 12 2008 |accessdate=2008-08-16]

References