A sudden increase of long-distance phone price triggered an unexpected and important event - the first time in a postwar history of Abkhazia citizens united not for political purposes, but to protect their economic interests.  This active group of young lawyers joined those who sensed a taste for their civil rights assertion. In general, judging by the comments in the Internet 300-350 people set up on the same wave. Yesterday, activists of the group issued a letter to the president, urging him to act as guarantor of citizens’ economic rights. Any person desiring to sign this letter can do it and some respectable people have already done so.

         The situation is really extraordinary - if you do not know the events’ background, the Abkhaz   mobile operators look like full idiots who can’t count money. For some reason they raise the price of long - distanced calls almost three times, only 25 percent of our population use, but they keep the old cost for internal communication used almost by everyone, including senior group of kindergarten. It was cheaper then the state one and withstood the competition easily with Vakhtang Khagba’s firm, whose   satellite connection is even cheaper, but often works poorly.  By a sharp increase in price the mobile operators have given carte blanche to their rivals. Just the one out of his mind can make such thing, or being under vigorous pressure from outside.  A government structure, supervising communications services, gave a public explanation which doesn’t hold water.
              
         In fact, as well-informed people said, the government is trying to save a dying state telephone communication, shifting some of the problems on mobile companies, and apparently on taxpayers. And here, as usual, one wonders the contempt state agencies so often demonstrate towards us, their citizens.
 
         But they could bring the issue to a public discussion and honestly say that the state telephone service dies. For the  past ten years it has  been  robbed  in various ways, including the fact that state  telephone authorities   created  special  interurban  points in which one could make calls cheaper than in the state one, and  quietly  put money into their  pocket. Let's discuss together what can be done? It is likely that citizens would not have given birth to a brilliant rescue plan for  a state telephone service, but at least imbued with the significance of the problem and did not feel like  oafs   been easily  duped. Maybe somebody would offer a real plan for modernization, privatization, etc. By the way, there are rumors that a few years ago, "Aquafon "wanted to buy the  state phone service, but  was refused. And who knows if this was allowed, it is possible that now, many would not sit at the domestic phone out of work - mine does not work again because of the cable punched out.

         Our state does not launch the mechanism of public discussion of important issues and operates on the principle of “we were not born yesterday” which often does go off. Of course, it was for dishonest officials hand who under the state cover may sham as they want, but me as a naive person, yet I am enticed.  It seems to me that the authorities are trying to do something to start a stable development of the country. But without a conscious help of the public nothing will be achieved!

         In any case, an outstanding event took place in the public life of Abkhazia,   citizens united to protect their interests, and this is just the first swallow with an energetic beeting of the wing.

                                                                                                      Nadezhda Venediktova