Abashidze "wants peace in the whole world," said Mzia Tsetskhladze, 40, who operates a rundown cafe in a trailer at the Adzharian border serving the security officers and soldiers there. She said she'd prefer Shevardnadze or Abashidze to Mikhail Saakashvili, the united opposition's presidential candidate widely expected to win the Jan. 4 vote.
If Saakashvili is president, "then there will be a revolution," Tsetskhladze said.
Conflict between the central government and Adzharia is nothing new. The region receives healthy customs revenues from its border with neighboring Turkey and deep-water port, and is routinely hassled by Tbilisi to forward money to national coffers -- to no avail.
Adzharia is home to the largest Russian military base in Georgia, giving it extra leverage over Tbilisi. Abashidze recently spent a week in Moscow with the leaders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, fueling suspicion that Russia was pushing Adzharia to also break away from the country.
Still, Adzharia's leaders -- and residents -- insist they don't want independence. Unlike the other two separatist regions, people in Adzharia are mostly ethnic Georgians and speak Georgian.
"If Adzharia doesn't participate in the vote, why does it mean that Adzharia isn't part of Georgia?" Gogitidze asked.
Back at the border with the rest of Georgia, there's nothing to be seen on the opposing side of the defensive buildup, and traffic seems to flow freely despite identification checks.
Army Sergeant Guram Surmanidze dismissed the state of emergency. "No war will happen," he said, joking with his cadets digging a trench in the moist, black earth, their Kalashnikovs stacked like firewood nearby.
His commanding officer, who declined to give his name, also discounted talk of conflict. Still, he said his men were prepared for battle.
"If they shoot from there," he said, pointing across the border, "we are ready to fight."
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