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ABKHAZIA
General Overview:
While Shevardnadze is not prepared to accept the loss of this strategically important region, many Georgians may not consider further bloodshed to be justified. Georgia's efforts to develop larger, more capable armed forces have so far not been effectively realised, largely due to the population's apathy. However, this does not mean the dispute will be laid to rest. While Abkhazia remains an independent republic, Georgians are not likely to feel happy about the situation, especially with some 300,000 resentful Georgian refugees from the area in Tbilisi and other Georgian towns.
Meanwhile, the Abkhaz regime is tightly controlled by President Vladislav Ardzinba.
On 3 October 1999, in a presidential poll and referendum unrecognised by Georgia and the international community, Ardzinba was re-elected for a third five-year term. Arzinba, who garnered 99 per cent of the vote, ran unopposed. He was officially sworn in on 6 December 1999. Also overwhelmingly endorsed by the voters was a referendum on Abkhazia's 1994 constitution, which re-affirmed Abkhazia's independence.
Meeting in a session of the UN's co-ordinating council for settling the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict on 18-19 January 2000, Abkhaz Prime Minister Vyacheslav Tsugaba, cited the referendum in his refusal to discuss the issue of Abkhazia's political status vis-à-vis Georgia, which was the rationale for the meeting.
Violence flared on the Georgian-Abkhaz border in early February 2000. Following a preliminary round of shootings and hostage taking on 2 February, a confrontation on the Inguri river threatened to escalate into violence. A mutual exchange of hostages negotiated by Georgian Minister of State Vazha Lortkipanidze, UN Representative Dieter Boden, and Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba defused the immediate crisis.
In the spring of 2001, Abkhaz and Russian officials rejected a draft division of power between Sukhum and Tbilisi drafted by UN Special Representative Dieter Boden. Meanwhile, escalating violence in the Gali region threatened to unravel the few tenuous co-operative agreements that the two sides had managed to reach over 2000.
Geography:
Area: 8,600 km²
Elevation: Sea level to 3,000 m
Location: 42.5-43.50 North
Land Borders: Georgia, Russian Federation
General Overview:
Abkhazia is a small strip of land lying in the western Caucasus region, with its western border on the shore of the Black Sea. The coast features a chain of health resorts, in the lee of thickly forested mountains. The regional capital is Sukhumi.
A high proportion of inhabited areas are farmlands. The coastline is famous
for its health resorts, where visitors used to bask in the sub-tropical climate
of the region.
The main rivers which flow down from the Caucasus mountains into the Black Sea
are the Bzyb and the Kodori, as well as the Inguri, which marks the border between
the Gali region of Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia. Abkhazia has a coastline
on the eastern shore of the Black Sea.
The climate of Abkhazia is sub-tropical along the coast, although the weather is different up in the mountainous hinterland.
Demography:
Population: 250,000 (estimate)
Race: Abkhaz, Russian, Armenian, Greek
Population:
The population as of January 1990 was 538,000. The expulsion of almost the entire Georgian population, together with other non-Abkhaz, has much reduced this total, which could be as low as 250,000.
Language:
Abkhaz is of the northwest Caucasian group of languages. It was written in the Latin script from 1928, in Georgian script from 1938 and in Cyrillic from 1954. For most Abkhaz, Russian has become their native language. Other minorities generally use Russian.
The 1994 constitution specified Abkhaz as the official language, with both Abkhaz and Russian as the languages of the government, public and other institutions.
Religion:
The Abkhaz are by tradition Sunni Muslims or Orthodox Christians. Both groups were persecuted during the Soviet era. However, neither religion has a particularly strong hold on the population. Since the relaxation on religion at the end of the Soviet period a number of churches have re-opened, although no mosques have yet done so. The Georgians and the Russian minority are also traditionally of the Orthodox Christian faith, although all but a handful have now left Abkhazia. There is also an Armenian community, which is of Christian background.
Population Density:
There were approximately 62.6 people per square km before the conflict began, but the conflict significantly depopulated certain areas.
Infrastructure:
The most important road is the coastal highway that leads from Sochi in Russia through the Abkhaz towns of Gagra, Gudauta, Sukhumi and Ochamchira and on into Georgia. However, war and blockades have prevented through traffic from using the road.
The main railway line follows the route of the coastal road and was an important link between Sochi in southern Russia, Abkhazia and the Georgian town of Zugdidi, giving access to the rest of the Transcaucasus. This line has been all but closed because of the war, although in 1996 Russia succeeded in bringing a couple of military trains down the line from Russia.
Abkhazia has traditionally depended upon its access to the Black Sea. The port of Sukhumi is Abkhazia's only maritime port, although there are smaller ports along the Black Sea coast.
Sukhumi Airport:
Reference point N42º 51' E41º 07'
Maximum runway length 3,640 m (11,942 ft)
Runway surface Paved
Elevation 12.5 m
Nearest town/city Sukhumi, 20 km south
Sukhumi Port:
The Sukhumi port lies on the eastern shore of the Black Sea at the head of Sukhumi Bay, 43º 10' North, 41º 02' E. Accommodation consisted of a cargo and two passenger piers. Depths of water at the passenger piers range from 2.4 m, 6 m and 7.8 m at the main pier. Enclosed warehouses were available for use, while mobile electric portal cranes and a 12-tonne capacity caterpillar crane were also available. Cruise ships used to visit Sukhumi and facilities existed for tankers. War has seriously damaged the port's facilities.
Telecommunications:
Much of the telecommunications infrastructure has been destroyed by war. Telephone links between Abkhazia and the outside world are strictly limited. There are some links with the Russian telephone network and some with Georgia.
Internal Affairs:
The campaign in favour of secession from Georgia revived in the late 1980s, spurred by rising nationalism within Georgia. Leading party and cultural figures wrote a letter in the summer of 1988 to Soviet institutions in Moscow, calling for Abkhaz sovereignty. There were public meetings in March 1989 (provoking counter-protests in the Georgian capital Tbilisi in April) and in July, as tension increased, there were violent clashes in Sukhumi involving local Georgians and Abkhaz; resulting in the death of two dozen people. A state of emergency enforced by Soviet troops was declared in the town and violent expressions of unrest were suppressed.
Despite the latent tensions, the regime of President Zviad Gamsakhurdia in Tbilisi managed to create a modus vivendi with Abkhazia and the situation remained calm. In 1991, Gamsakhurdia put forward legislation effectively ensuring ethnically based voting in Abkhazia, allowing the Abkhaz and other national groups a veto on constitutional change. The Georgian and Abkhaz sides found little common ground and the parliament effectively ceased to function.
In January 1992, following the ousting of Gamsakhurdia, the new Georgian regime of Eduard Shevardnadze took a less conciliatory line. Talks began, but they were inconclusive, with neither side prepared to make concessions. Georgia was determined the country should not become a federal state, while Abkhazia was not prepared to countenance reincorporation into Georgia.
Several moves in early 1992 transferred state bodies from the jurisdiction of Tbilisi to that of Sukhumi. In January, the Abkhaz took over the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the procuracy. In March, the KGB in Abkhazia was placed under the authority of the Abkhaz Supreme Soviet. Ardzinba had already established his own guards loyal to himself and the Abkhaz cause.
In August 1992, the Georgian Army moved against the region, ostensibly to crush resistance from Gamsakhurdia loyalists in Abkhazia, seizing the capital Sukhumi. This triggered direct Russian involvement. In September 1992, a ceasefire was reached in Moscow between the two sides and representatives of the Russian Federation, to come into effect on 5 September. By the end of the month the ceasefire had all but collapsed. Abkhaz forces, backed by North Caucasian volunteers (many of them Chechens), seized up to 80 per cent of the region, including the town of Gagra and the outskirts of Sukhumi, driving some 30,000 refugees from the area.
By the end of 1992 the region was quiet, but fighting flared again in 1993 as the Abkhaz received renewed Russian and Cossack backing.
In July 1993, Abkhazia, Georgia and Russia signed a further ceasefire agreement. For the first time, UN observers arrived on former Soviet soil, formalised in August as the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG). However, the ceasefire soon broke down, with Abkhazia claiming Georgia was not abiding by its provisions. Many believe the Russians were determined to keep a UN presence out of the former Soviet Union.
Abkhaz forces launched a new offensive in September 1993, taking the port of Ochamchira and beginning a 10-day assault on Sukhumi, which had been in Georgian hands for a year. Georgian President Shevardnadze travelled to Sukhumi, vowing not to leave the town until the threat had passed, but as Georgian resistance crumbled, he was forced to make a humiliating withdrawal just days later. Abkhaz forces seized the capital and succeeded in ousting the last Georgian troops from the region. Hundreds of thousands of refugees were displaced by the renewed fighting, effectively clearing Abkhazia of almost the entire Georgian population, and many died in the long trek through the mountains into Georgia proper and Russia. Many Armenians, Greeks and other minorities had likewise fled.
United Nations mediation eventually produced some results, with an agreement signed in Geneva in December 1993 calling for further talks on Abkhazia's political status, the release of prisoners of war and the return of refugees.
The UN Security Council agreed to supply peacekeeping forces, but then changed its mind in view of lack of progress in political negotiations. In April 1994, a four-party agreement with Georgian, Abkhaz, Russian and UN representatives was signed, setting out the procedure for the return of the 200,000, mostly Georgian refugees, from the territory and the deployment of UN or CIS peacekeepers. A ceasefire was signed in Moscow in May 1994.
The UN backed out of supplying troops, and this fell to Russia, which, in June 1994, sent some 3,000 troops to separate the two sides along the Inguri River which marks the border. However, only a handful of Georgians were returned to their homes in Abkhazia as a result, causing much resentment in Georgia.
The November 1994 nomination by the Abkhaz Supreme Soviet chairman, Vladislav Ardzinba, as president and the adoption of an Abkhaz constitution declaring Abkhazia an independent, sovereign state, raised the stakes. Two Georgian politicians, Tengiz Kitovani and Tengiz Sigua, announced they were forming a force to take back Abkhazia although, when they finally launched the promised attack, it turned out to be a shambles. Shevardnadze hoped that by backing Russia publicly in the Chechen war and allowing Russia to use military bases in Georgia, Russia would for its part force the reintegration of Abkhazia into Georgia. Since December 1994, Russia has scaled down its support for Abkhazia, closing the joint border, and the regime in Sukhumi has found it increasingly difficult to survive.
Meanwhile, the organised repatriation of refugees envisaged by the agreements and overseen by UNOMIG observers and CIS peacekeeping forces, had virtually ceased by November 1994. However, several thousand refugees decided unilaterally to return home (mostly to the Gali region), despite the dangers.
Summer 1999 saw continued instability and violence in Abkhazia, including bombs outside the Abkhaz parliament in Sukhumi in May 1999 and guerrilla actions in the Gali district. Almasbey Kchach, the Abkhaz interior minister, claimed in July 1999 that Georgian terrorists had intensified their operations in Abkhazia. "They claim to be partisans but in fact they are controlled by the Georgian security services." He warned that if captured they would be executed on the spot.
An Abkhaz-Georgian meeting was held in Istanbul in June 1999 to discuss and find ways of political, economic, and humanitarian settlement of the Abkhaz crisis. The meeting, which was opened by Turkey's Foreign Minister, Ismail Cem, was attended by representatives of the UN, OSCE, the US, Germany, France, Great Britain and Russia. However, the Georgian and Abkhaz delegations failed to make notable headway towards reconciling the two sides' diverging positions.
In September 2000 Georgian officials arrested Dato Shengelaia, the leader of the `Forest Brothers' guerrilla group active in smuggling operations across the Abkhaz border. Officials touted the arrest as evidence of the success of co-operative efforts in law enforcement between Tbilisi and Sukhumi, although other developments suggested that such optimism was premature at best. Shengelaia was later released.
During the same month Bondo Djikia, the governor of Mingrelia and Upper Svaneti, leveled fresh accusations that Russian peacekeepers were complicit in organised crime and smuggling in the region. The Kodori Gorge also continues to suffer from abject lawlessness, and was the scene of repeated hostage dramas involving the abduction of several UN personnel over the course of 2000. The shooting and kidnapping of ordinary residents of the region continues to be a commonplace occurrence.
On 26 October 2000 Major-General Nikolai Sidorychev replaced Lieutenant-General Sergei Korobko as the commander of Russian peacekeeping forces deployed along the Abkhaz-Georgian border. Sidorychev has roughly 1700, mostly Russian, peacekeepers under his command.
Peace Negotiations:
The UN has been involved in trying to mediate between the Abkhaz and the Georgians. UNOMIG, consisting of some 136 observers, has been able to do little to address the causes of the conflict. A buffer zone along the Inguri River was created, some exchanges of POWs took place, a ceasefire was agreed and CIS peacekeepers were deployed. The CIS peacekeepers were all Russians, and observers have noted that the UN is powerless to make any significant moves without the approval of Russia (the UN declined in May 1994 to send its own peacekeeping force).
Georgia remains unhappy at the UN's lack of success in reintegrating Abkhazia into Georgia. It believes that because UNOMIG is based in the Abkhaz capital Sukhumi it is biased. The Abkhaz complain that they are excluded from UN decision-making and do not receive UN reports. In June 1995, former US president Jimmy Carter offered to mediate in the conflict.
During the 1995 Georgian presidential election, the winning candidate Eduard Shevardnadze campaigned on a ticket of restoring Georgian `territorial integrity'. However, the new Georgian constitution approved in 1995 did not spell out fully what autonomous rights Georgia was prepared to give Abkhazia.
In August 1996, at the renewal of the CIS peacekeeping mandate, the Russians proposed raising the number of peacekeepers from 1500 to 3000 troops and slightly increasing the area of operation in Gali district (the area of Abkhazia that borders Georgia proper).
After more negotiations in July 1997, talks were resumed between Georgia and
Abkhazia in November in order to improve relations, but they were quickly overshadowed
by Georgian accusations of Russia breaking sanctions against Abkhazia. In the
spring of 1998, Abkhazia appealed directly to the CIS to lift sanctions.
In December 1998, there were a series of attacks by Abkhaz armed groups and
mercenaries on Georgians living in the Gali District. Georgian police and security
forces were alerted and ordered to respond appropriately if provoked while trying
to defend the civilian population in the district.
Also in December, three-party talks were held on the withdrawal of Russian forces (border guards) from Abkhazia.
Developments in 1999:
On 30 July 1999, the United Nations Security Council extended the mandate of UN military observers in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone until 31 January 2000. Due to Russian opposition, the resolution failed to include an Georgian-backed article indicting Abkhazia for engaging in ethnic cleansing.
Georgian Minister of State Vazha Lortkipanidze and Abkhaz leader Vladislav Ardzinba met in Moscow in early August 1999 in the presence of (then) Russian Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin to discuss the repatriation to Abkhazia of the ethnic Georgians. Little progress was achieved. The two sides agreed that the mandate of the CIS peacekeeping force deployed along the border between Abkhazia and the rest of Georgia should be renewed. That mandate expired on 31 July 1999.
Addressing the UN General Assembly in September 1999, President Shevardnadze attacked the world community's ``gross indifference'' to the plight of displaced persons forced to flee Abkhazia during the 1992-3 war. Stressing his support for the NATO intervention in Kosovo, Shevardnadze suggested that the UN should back a similar peace enforcement operation in Abkhazia.
Abkhaz Prime Minister Sergei Bagapsh and Security Minister Astamur Tarba met Georgian officials in Tbilisi on 21 September 1999. The talks were held at the initiative of President Ardzinba, who had expressed concern at the prospect of Georgian guerrillas committing terrorist acts in Abkhazia in the period preceding October's Abkhaz presidential election. Georgian Minister of State Vazha Lortkipanidze said after the talks that no such threat existed. He admitted that ``certain forces'' were interested in destabilising the region prior to the Abkhaz poll and the 31 October Georgian parliamentary elections, but pledged that Georgian authorities would do everything possible to preserve stability.
Liviu Bota, who was appointed Romania's representative to the OSCE in summer 1999, extended his term in Georgia after Russia vetoed all other candidates proposed to succeed him as the UN Secretary-General's special representative and head of the UNOMIG mission.
Developments in 2000:
Negotiations between Tbilisi and Abkhazia stalled in early 2000, largely due to the intensity of Russia's Second Chechen War and the animosity in Russian-Georgian relations generated by the conflict. Furthermore, national elections and a subsequent governmental reshuffle provided Tbilisi with an ongoing distraction.
Momentum was regained in mid 2000 when UN Special Representative Dieter Boden advocated a high degree of autonomy for Abkhazia (albeit under the titular sovereignty of Georgia). A UN working group consisting of representatives from Russia, US, Germany, France and Britain (``Friends of the UN Secretary-General for Georgia'') was formed to draft an agreement on a final constitutional status that would knit the two sides together in some kind of agreeable legal framework. However, disagreements over the content of such an agreement surfaced even within this loose body of negotiators.
Under the auspices of the UN, on 11 July 2000 Abkhaz Prime Minister Vyacheslav Tsugba, Georgian Minister of State Gia Arsenishvili, CIS peacekeeping commander Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Korobko and UN Special Representative Dieter Boden signed a protocol that sought to enact a number of modest confidence building measures between Tbilisi and Sukhumi.
The protocol provided for increased co-ordination between the two jurisdictions in law enforcement and border control, placed a cap on the number of police or military personal in and around the border region, and included a clause disavowing the use of violence as a means to settle the dispute. The protocol also set a timetable for the settlement of larger issues, such as the repatriation of residents of the Gali region. Additionally, Georgian officials held out the carrot of reinstating economic ties between Tbilisi and Sukhumi.
Implementation of this protocol was slow. While Abkhaz parliament in exile chairman Tamaz Nadareishvili rejected the agreement out of hand, the protocol stalled in the UN Security Council due to a lack of Russian endorsement. Georgia's Foreign Minister, Irakli Menagharishvili, criticised the UN's failure to ratify the agreement and called for more intense participation in the peace process by other European organs such as the OSCE.
In September 2000, Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba and Premier Vyacheslav Tsugba stated that in principle, and under the aegis of the UN Coordinating Council for Refugees, they had no objection to the repatriation of displaced Georgians. The Abkhaz officials stated that the major hurdle to such an outcome was an inability to purge a lawless southern Abkhaz of criminal and paramilitary elements.
In autumn 2000 the Georgian government faced intensifying political pressure from organisations such as the Union of Internally Displaced Persons and the Party for the Liberation of Abkhazia. These groups, who draw their political constituency from the 200,000 exiled Georgians that fled Abkhazia during the 1992-1993 war, have become more boisterous. The Party for the Liberation of Abkhazia threatened mass protests to spur a final settlement and co-ordinated repatriation effort with Abkhazia.
Officials from Georgia, Abkhazia, the CIS peacekeeping force and the UN Observer Mission in Georgia met twice in October to discuss the implementation of the July stabilisation protocol. The fight against crime and terrorism in Abkhazia was also discussed, specifically events within the Kodori gorge where two UN personnel were abducted in separate incidents.
Developments in 2001:
Further confidence building measures between Georgia and Abkhazia were signed in Yalta at the close of a March 2001 meeting between Georgian State Minister Gia Arsenishvili and Abkhaz Prime Minister Vyacheslav Tsugba. The accords reinforced a prior agreement to abjure the use of force in settling Abkhazia's final status, pledged to expedite the return of displaced Georgians, and strengthened the mandate of Russian peacekeepers deployed along the border of Abkhazia and Georgia. Following the meetings, UN Special Representative Dieter Boden stated that while the issue of Abkhazia's final status vis-à-vis Georgia was purposely left off the table, the continuation of confidence building measures was essential to gain stability in Georgia and the entire South Caucasus. By way of highlighting this sense of urgency, Dieter pointed to the fact that a steady stream of displaced Georgian had already begun to return to the Gali region over the course of 2000.
Despite these intense efforts at mediation, the spring of 2001 saw a rising
tensions in the Gali region, where Georgian guerrilla groups such as the Forest
Brothers and White Legion waged a systematic campaign of violence against Abkhaz
police officers and Russian peacekeepers. Abkhaz officials, for their part,
have responded with a wave of arrests and detention of suspected guerrillas.
Despite a round of shuttle diplomacy by UN officials in mid-April, prospects
for an accord have grown dimmer.
Citing the Georgian government's inability to stem guerilla activity in the
Gali Raion, in early May 2001, the Abkhazian leadership suspended its participation
in the UN Coordinating Council. In his annual address in late May, President
Vladislav Ardzinba rejected the Coordinating Council's draft measures for a
settlement between Tbilisi and Sukhum. Ardzinba also spoke of Abkhazia's desire
to strengthen ties with Russia, with the intent of eventually gaining accession
to the Russian-Belarus Union.
In late May 2001, President Vladislav Ardzinba dissolved the Abkhaz government following the resignation of Prime Minister Vyacheslav Tsugba. Tsugba had held the position of prime minister since December of 1999. In his farewell address, Tsugba expressed his full support for President Ardzinba, and stated that his decision to resign was based on a his desire to strengthen the president's hand in dealing with Abkhazia's economic problems. Tsugba was replaced by Prosecutor-General Anri Djergenia, a 60-year old lawyer and graduate of Leningrad University. Djergenia served as a representative in ongoing talks with Tbilisi over Abkhazia's status since 1995.
Significant Dates:
1950s Soviet anti-Abkhaz campaign.
1970s Calls for secession from Georgia.
1988 Letter to Moscow calling for sovereignty.
1989 Public meetings favouring secession (March). Abkhaz-Georgian clashes
in Sukhumi left two dozen dead (July).
1990 Supreme Soviet declared independence as full Union republic (August).
Vladislav Ardzinba became chairman of Supreme Soviet (December).
1991 Gamsakhurdia approved ethnic voting.
1992 Abkhaz-Georgian talks inconclusive. Abkhazia readopted 1925 constitution
(July). Georgian forces attacked Abkhazia, seizing Sukhumi (August). Russia
backed Abkhaz side.
1993 Conflict erupted once again. Ceasefire signed, UN peacekeeping monitors
arrived (July). Abkhazia broke ceasefire, ousted last Georgian troops (September).
Refugee crisis as Georgians fled from Abkhazia. Agreement in Geneva towards
new peace deal (December).
1994 Abkhaz suspended peace negotiations (March). Formal ceasefire signed
in Moscow (May). Russia sent peacekeeping force (June). Ardzinba nominated president,
Abkhazia declared independence(November).
1995 Russian support for Abkhaz regime scaled down.
1998 Vazha Lordkipanidze, the Georgian minister of state, visited Sukhumi
for preliminary peace talks (September). Abkhas armed groups and mercenaries
attempted to push Georgians out of the Gali District; three-party talks held
on the withdrawal of Russian forces from Abkhazia (December).
1999 The Abkhaz parliament extended the state of emergency for another
three months.(July).
2000 UN protocol signed (July).
2001 Prime Minister Vyacheslav Tsugba resigns (May).
Politics:
Type of Government: Presidential republic (unrecognised)
Head of State: President Vladislav Ardzinba
The Abkhaz Autonomous Republic's chief executive is the Council of Ministers. The government is responsible to the legislature, the Supreme Soviet. The latter institution was dissolved by order of the Georgian parliament in the early months of 1994, a decision the local Abkhaz authorities ignored.
President Vladislav Ardzinba:
President Vladislav Ardzinba was born in 1945 in the village of Eshera near the Abkhaz capital, Sukhumi. In December 1990, he became chairman of the Abkhaz Supreme Soviet. During the Abkhaz-Georgian war of 1992-93 he headed the Abkhaz administration which was temporarily based in Gudauta after Georgian forces seized Sukhumi. He and his administration returned to Sukhumi with the Abkhaz victory. In November 1994, the Council of Ministers appointed Ardzinba first president of Abkhazia.
1996 Parliamentary elections:
Abkhazia held elections to parliament on 23 November 1996. In the first round,
26 candidates won more than 50 per cent of the votes in their districts. Run-off
elections were held for the remaining nine seats in the 35-member parliament;
four more deputies were elected. Five seats remain unfilled. Of the 30 deputies,
19 are Abkhaz, four are Russian, three are Armenian, two are Georgian (although
there is some dispute whether they are in fact Georgian), one is Greek and one
Kabardinian.
The Abkhaz Central Election Commission claimed that 81 per cent of the separatist
area's 216,000 eligible voters took part in the vote. Absent were some 300,000
ethnic Georgians, who fled the region after the outbreak of fighting in 1992.
Georgia condemned the ballot as illegal, stating that voting should only be
allowed after refugees return to the region. However, the Abkhaz leader Vladislav
Ardzinba, said he believed the elections would not harm peace negotiations with
Georgia.
When the election was announced in Abkhazia, a rival referendum was organised in protest by the Georgian authorities among those displaced from Abkhazia and living as IDPs or refugees in Georgia, Russia, Armenia and Israel. The Georgian authorities claimed that some 224,800 people took part, representing 93.8 per cent of all the refugees aged 18 or over. These reportedly voted 99 per cent against the holding of the election by the Abkhaz authorities.
October 1999 presidential election and referendum:
On 3 October 1999 Abkhazia held a presidential election and referendum on changes to the 1994 constitution (that defines Abkhazia as an independent, democratic republic). Abkhaz Central Electoral Commission Chairman Vladimir Tsugba declared that some 69.7 per cent of Abkhazia's estimated 209,000 voters participated in a poll that the international community declared illegal.
Incumbent president Vladislav Ardzinba ran unopposed and was re-elected for a second five-year term, gaining 99 per cent of the vote, according to the Central Electoral Commission. The referendum saw 97 per cent endorse the breakaway republic's 1994 constitution and approved several amendments to it.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry lodged an official protest with the Russian State Duma, whose Council sent seven observers to monitor the poll. Speaking in Tbilisi on 4 October, Georgian President Shevardnadze said that the international community ``was not impressed'' by the Abkhaz elections. He warned that although Georgia would make every effort to resolve the Abkhaz conflict peacefully, it could still resort to military means to achieve that goal.
President: Vladislav Ardzinba
Vice President: Valery Arshba
Prime Minister: Sergei Bagapsh
First Deputy: Konstantin Ozgan
Deputy Prime Minister (Culture and Education): Nuri Gezerdava
Deputy Prime Minister: Albert Topolyan
Minister of Defence, Deputy Prime Minister: Vladimir Mikanba
Deputy Defence Minister: Major General Givi Agrba
Foreign Minister: Sergei Shamba
Interior Minister: Almasbey Kchach
Minister of the Economy: Besik Kuprava
Education Minister: Beslan Dbar
Finance Minister: Lili Bganba
Justice Minister: Batal Tabagua
Culture Minister: Kesou Khagba
Parliamentary Speaker: Sokrat Djindjolia
Head, State Security Service: Astamur Tarba
Head of Customs Service: Aslan Kobakhia
Sergei Bagapsh, a former first secretary of the Abkhaz Komsomol and a permanent representative of the Abkhaz leadership in Moscow, was appointed Abkhaz prime minister on 29 April 1997. Bagapsh replaced Gennady Gagulia, who resigned for health reasons on 24 April. Bagapsh is a native of Ochamchire district, where support for President Ardzinba is plummeting.
November 1997 moves to begin privatisation in Abkhazia were prompted by the dire state of the economy, which remains blockaded from Georgia and Russia.
A nationalist movement, Apsny (the Abkhaz name for Abkhazia), led by the deputy defence minister Givi Agrba, was established in May 1999. Although not explicitly an opposition party, the movement is set to try to capitalise on any perceived government failings.
Political Parties:
The Communist Party is the biggest party in Abkhazia in terms of popular support. The main Abkhaz nationalist movement, Aidgylara, formed in 1988, still has some support, although the perilous economic and military situation has reduced this support greatly. There is also a pro-Turkish movement and a group focused around an opposition activist Zurab Achba.
Human Rights:
The 1994 Abkhaz constitution specifically declares that Abkhazia recognises the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and other international instruments (although as an unrecognised entity, Abkhazia cannot formally accede to them).
There were mass violations of human rights in the course of the 1992-93 war, conducted by both sides, including the indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets, murder, rape, torture and ethnic cleansing. Violations of human rights have continued in the aftermath of the war. The Abkhaz authorities regularly use the death penalty, especially for crimes associated with the ongoing conflict.
Georgians who have returned to the disputed Gali region have suffered attacks by Abkhaz militia and paramilitary groups, and there are reports of extra-judicial executions by such Abkhaz forces there. Some of the victims have been tortured before being executed.
Interest Groups:
Most Abkhaz bodies are under the direct or indirect control of the authorities. However, there are a number of more independent bodies, including a charity, the Centre for Humanitarian Programmes, and the Citizens' Initiative and the Future fund.
International Affairs:
The clash with Georgia dominates international affairs, as indeed it does domestic affairs. President Shevardnadze has vowed to retake Sukhumi. Indeed, there are signs that Georgian forces are planning to attempt a major crossing of the border in the near future. Relations between the two intensely nationalist peoples are likely to remain exceedingly strained in the foreseeable future.
Of immense importance to Abkhazia, is the stance that Russia adopts toward the republic (Abkhazia maintains a representation in Moscow). So far, the federation has provided logistic and military support to the separatists, though only one retaliatory air strike by the Russian air force has been officially admitted. Russia has an interest in restoring peace in the region, and if this means the maintenance of current circumstances the major beneficiary will be Abkhazia. Conversely, however, Russia will not wish to antagonise Georgia, their Treaty of Friendship is illustrative of this.
Abkhazia is a member of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) based in The Hague in the Netherlands.
In early September 1999, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed a resolution lifting restrictions imposed in 1994, 1995 and 1997 on crossing Russia's border with Georgia, a move that affected Abkhazia. Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba termed that step ``the lifting of the economic blockade'' against Abkhazia. The Georgian State Frontier Department issued a statement condemning the resolution as an infringement of Georgia's sovereignty.
In June 2000 Russian military officials and Abkhaz representatives discussed the fate of the Russian military base at Gudauta. In accordance with the November 1999 OSCE summit in Istanbul, Russia agreed to close the base (one of four in Georgia) by July 2001. Abkhaz officials stated that they planned to lay claim to Russian military hardware should troops pull out of the territory prior to a comprehensive settlement between Abkhazia and Tbilisi.
Russia planned to convert the base into a training area for Russian peacekeepers deployed in Abkhazia. Georgian officials agreed to such an arrangement, but insisted that Russian military hardware be removed under the supervision of the OSCE.
Defence:
Total Strength: 5,000
Defence Assessment:
Abkhazia could not defeat a large, concerted attack from Georgia, despite the fact that the Georgian Army has suffered a real setback on Abkhaz territory. To Abkhazia's advantage, like the other republics of the Caucasus, Georgia does not have the trained men or material to create a strong army, and as a has struggled to match determined separatist guerrillas. The fate of Abkhazia largely lies in the level of Russian support and the development of the Georgian Armed Forces.
Defence Overview:
The defence minister is Vladimir Mikanba, the commander in chief is Vladislav Ardzinba and the chief of staff is Vladimir Arshba.
Conscription is compulsory for all residents between the ages of 18 and 27, with compulsory reserve service for all residents between the ages of 16 and 60.
The total strength of the Abkhaz air force is thought to be no more than about 8-10 aircraft. In October 1992, Abkhaz separatists seized a small number of ex-Soviet aircraft, mainly comprising two Sukhoi Su-25 strike-fighters and two Aero L-39C jet trainers, plus more second-line types and quantities of infantry SAMs in northern Georgia. Several of these aircraft, including a two-seat Yak-52 and at least two Mi-8 helicopters, operating in reconnaissance and assault roles, were shot down in mid-1993 conflicts with Georgian forces in the Sukhumi, Shroma and Tkvarcheli areas. Similar successes were recorded in July 1993 by missile-armed Abkhaz forces against Georgian Mi-8 and Su-25 aircraft. Further limited Abkhaz procurement of surplus ex-Soviet military equipment can be expected if conflict begins again. The Abkhazian armed forces are understood to have the following aircraft: Su-25, L-39, An-2, Yak-52, Mi-8, Mi-24 and a number of Strela-2/2M surface-to-air missiles.
Paramilitary:
Organisation:
Numerous paramilitary groups were set up in the wake of the outbreak of hostilities, most based on ethnic lines. Most numerous were Georgian self-defence groups and armed bands. The Armenians were reported to have had a self-defence group named after the late Marshal Ivan Bagramyan, which was alleged by the Georgians to have committed atrocities against Georgians in the region.
In June 1995, Vladislav Ardzinba denied that two pro-Chechen groups, Hajarat and the Chechen Salvation Committee, had been set up in Abkhazia to pursue the Chechen campaign in southern Russia.
Various unofficial, irregular bands of Georgian fighters operate in the mainly Georgian-populated Gali district on the border between Abkhazia and Georgia proper. These have often clashed with Abkhaz police and military forces.
Security Forces:
Organisation:
The Abkhaz Government maintains its own internal security organisation, which is based on the model of the old Soviet-era KGB (although that body was controlled by the Georgians until 1992).
Police functions are undertaken by the militia, a division of the Interior Ministry which, because of the continued insurgency, fulfils as much of a paramilitary as a police function.
The Presidential Guards are an elite unit whose job is to protect members of the Abkhaz government, which has also recently ordered them to replace the militia as the protectors of UNOMIG headquarters in Sukhumi. The Presidential Guards are more disciplined than the militia formerly deployed.
Foreign Forces: 3,000 Russian, 136 UN observers
Organisation:
The Russian Army has a significant presence in the region (some 3,000 personnel), ostensibly to keep the peace, although their commanders' motives may be more complex. The Russian forces have a major base at Gudauta and the airfield at Bombora (both of which remained in Abkhaz-controlled territory throughout the war). There is also an installation at Eshera, just outside Sukhumi, which appears to be an underground listening facility. Although the above-ground buildings have suffered damage, Russian defences at Eshera are reportedly tight.
The Russian military maintains its own network of sanatoria in Abkhazia, which it does not intend to give up, despite the conflict.
According to the May 1994 agreement brokered by Russia, the Gali district on the Abkhaz-Georgia border is demilitarised and patrolled by Russian forces.
In August 1993, the first significant contingent of UN observers to work in the former Soviet Union arrived in Georgia on their way to Abkhazia. Though their initial number was small (88 military observers), it was later increased to 136 military observers. The mission is based in Sukhumi.
The commander of the Russian peacekeeping forces in Abkhazia is Major-General Dory Babenkov.
Economy:
Sector Analysis:
Agriculture provides for the largest part of economic activity, major crops including tobacco, tea, oranges, lemons and grapes. Cattle, pigs and sheep are raised, while there is some light industry in more urban areas. By the standards of the Transcaucasus, it is not a poor region and it was certainly Georgia's richest province, even if war interrupted production. Coal is the most important of Abkhazia's minerals; the main mine is at Tkvarcheli.
Economic Assessment:
The economy has suffered badly from the effects of the bitter war, the expulsion of nearly half the population and, most recently, the imposition of a blockade not just by Georgia but by Russia too. This has cut trade with Russia and also the links by sea with Turkey (where there is an Abkhaz Diaspora that had begun to build trade links with the homeland). Industry is all but at a standstill. Agriculture has continued wherever possible. With living standards at subsistence level, crime has risen sharply. Without an improvement of relations with the outside world and substantial assistance from Russia or elsewhere, there is little hope for an improvement in economic performance. There are some signs that Russia is beginning to modify its support for the Abkhaz regime, anxious not to encourage separatism within the Russian Federation.
