SUMMARY
The dissolution of the Soviet Union gave rise to an armed conflict over the region of Abkhazia, where the self-proclaimed Republic of Abkhazia strived for independence from newly independent Georgia. After 1993, the conflict remained "frozen" for a long time, seeing sporadic violence and little progress in negotiations. Tensions heightened in August 2008, when Russia militarily intervened against the Georgian government. However, very few people died in Abkhazia, while there was intense fighting in the other breakaway region of South Ossetia.
IN DEPTH
Background
Abkhazia is located in western Georgia on an area that constitutes about one-tenth of the country. A long history of tensions marks Georgian-Abkhaz relations. Throughout the 20th century, Abkhazia had different statuses within Georgia and the former Soviet Union. As Georgia was integrated into the Soviet Union in 1921, Abkhazia was granted equal status with Georgia. However, after a decade, the region was reintegrated, as it had been before 1921, into Georgia. The question of Abkhazia's status is thus not new, although it was kept under control during the Soviet era.
As the Soviet political and economic reform program “perestroika” fed Georgian nationalism at the end of the 1980s, minorities in Georgia saw a growing threat. All ethnic groups in Georgia, including the Abkhazians, did not welcome the Georgian independence declaration from the Soviet Union in April 1991. As the region became part of a newly independent state where nationalists were in charge, a new Abkhaz drive for secession was fuelled. The ousting of President Gamsakhurdia at the beginning of 1992 failed to ease the mounting tensions, and on 23 July 1992, the Supreme Soviet of the autonomous Republic of Abkhazia proclaimed the region’s sovereignty.
Conflict after the Dissolution of the Soviet Union (1992-1994)
The Georgian State Council declared Abkhazia's independence declaration invalid on 25 July and sent 3000 armed members from the Georgian National Guard to Abkhazia in mid-August 1992. As the Georgian troops entered Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia, Abkhazian troops responded with a series of attacks, but the Georgian forces succeeded in capturing Sukhumi.
A ceasefire agreement was reached only after a couple of days of fighting following the meetings between representatives of conflict parties. However, sporadic fighting continued, and gunfire could be heard from Sukhumi, despite the attempt to separate the forces. Negotiations and attempts of ceasefires continued throughout the year, and in September, the first of three ceasefires brokered by Russia were signed in Moscow. The first, which recognized Abkhazia within the internationally recognized borders of Georgia, was broken almost immediately. The second, signed on 14 May 1993, stipulated the withdrawal by Georgia of heavy weaponry. However, Abkhazia claimed that Georgia failed to pull back in accordance with the agreement, and an Abkhaz offensive followed in Sukhumi that summer. The third ceasefire went into effect on 27 July 1993 and provided for the establishment of the Joint Commission for the Settlement of the Conflict and the withdrawal of Georgian troops. Abkhazia criticized Georgia for not complying with the agreement and captured Sukhumi on 27 September.
Despite many attempts to regulate the incompatibility through peaceful means and negotiate an end to the disputed questions, the conflict escalated during 1993. The UN sent a small team of observers to Georgia in August 1993, and this event marked the start of a long process of international peacemaking efforts in the country. The key issues were to find a political solution to the conflict, facilitate the return of approximately 250 000 Georgian refugees to their homes in Abkhazia and provide peacekeepers. At the end of 1993, the fighting ceased. Once the fighting had ended, the UN-sponsored talks began. Following two days of negotiations, an eight-point memorandum was agreed on 1 December 1993. The memorandum stipulated a ceasefire and further negotiations, among other things.
A partial solution to the incompatibility was reached in April 1994 after the third round of UN-sponsored negotiations. The agreements made included a ceasefire and the establishment of two committees, one to supervise the return of refugees and one to oversee future relations between Abkhazia and Georgia. It was also agreed that a settlement to the conflict should include the creation of an Abkhaz Republic with its own constitution, flag, and national anthem, although that would nevertheless not be formally independent from Georgia. Both sides also agreed to request UN peacekeeping forces, but the UN Secretary-General stressed that further political progress had to be made before such a force could be deployed. Instead, 2500 Russian peacekeeping troops under the auspices of the Commonwealth of Independent States were deployed in May. The UN adopted a resolution on 21 July in which the presence of Russian troops as peacekeepers was approved, and it was decided that the number of UN observers in the area should be increased.
Russia’s role in the conflict was widely perceived as inconsistent. Divisions between factions within the Russian government resulted in a situation, where at some points, both sides to the conflict received substantial help.
The August 2008 crisis
The relationship between Georgia and Abkhazia continued to be tense in the 2000s, and sporadic gunfire exchanges occurred. International efforts to mediate between the warring parties continued, particularly by the UN and supported by the Group of Friends of Georgia, comprising France, Germany, Russia, the UK, and the USA. No tangible results concerning the incompatibility, the status of Abkhazia, were obtained, though.
After a period of relative calm, in August 2008, the Georgian army launched a large-scale attack on South Ossetia, another region in Georgia that was striving for independence. However, the Georgian army was quickly repelled by Russia that had sided with South Ossetia. In this context, with Russian help, Abkhazia attempted to re-establish control over the upper Kodori Valley, which was the only area in Abkhazia that remained under Georgian control.
Shortly after the outbreak of hostilities in South Ossetia on 7-8 August, Abkhazia bombed the Kodori Valley. Abkhazia was supported by Russian forces that carried out aerial attacks and advanced into undisputed western Georgian territory targeting Georgia's military bases. On 12 August, Abkhaz troops established control over the upper Kodori Valley. Shortly before the arrival of the Abkhaz forces, the Georgian forces had withdrawn, and the ethnic Georgian population living in the valley had fled. The same day Russia and Georgia approved a six-point peace plan resulting from mediation by the European Union. Two days later, Abkhazia signed the document, which established a ceasefire.
Two weeks after the end of the fighting in August 2008, Russia recognized the independence of Abkhazia. Only very few states followed Russia, but the open support by the powerful neighboring state nevertheless strengthened the position of Abkhazia. Claiming that Abkhazia was independent, Russia signed bilateral agreements on military support with the region. These agreements allowed Russian troops to control the Abkhaz borders. On 24 November 2014, a "Treaty of Alliance and Strategic Partnership" was signed between Abkhazia and Russia, furthering the military ties between the two.
Return to "frozen" conflict
The relations between the Georgia on the one side and Russia and the two break-away regions on the other side continued to be tense in the years following the August 2008 fighting. Russia continued to keep several thousand troops in South Ossetia and installed permanent military bases there, violating the ceasefire brokered by the EU presidency in 2008.
A few shootings at the border took place in 2009. The number of incidents at the administrative borderline further decreased during 2010 and 2011, making the conflict return to a state of more or less a "frozen" conflict, at least in military terms, monitored by a European Monitoring Mission (EUMM) stationed in Georgia.
As stipulated by the ceasefire agreement concluding the August 2008 crisis, regular rounds of negotiations were held in Geneva under the joint auspices of the EU, OSCE, and UN. However, the political status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia was not on the agenda. Instead, the talks dealt with security and humanitarian issues. Few tangible results were achieved, and the negotiations, going into their 31st round in March 2015, several times became deadlocked.
