GEORGIA-ABKHAZIA-RUSSIA-UNREST-ECONOMY-FRUIT

TO GO WITH AFP STORY „Mandarin business on rebel Georgian region’s border”
A picture taken 19 December 2006 shows mandarin merchants standing in a queue at the Russian-Abkhazian border in the town of Psou. In Communist times, the breakaway Georgian province of Abkhazia was a bountiful source of fruit for the Soviet Union and produced around 120,000 tons of citrus a year. That level was drastically reduced after the war. Since 1995, Abkhazia has also been under an official blockade by Russia and the rest of Georgia, which separatist authorities complain is unfairly impacting the poorest in this province of 300,000 people. AFP PHOTO / DENIS SINYAKOV