January, 2002

Ethnic Disputes in Georgia: the Abkhazia Issue

Dr. Mohammed Rifaat Al-Emam

The roots of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict stretch back over the past century. Most Georgians believe that the autonomous region of Abkhazia has belonged to Georgia since 1918. The Abkhazians accuse Georgia of affiliating Abkhazia in 1931 when it was declared an autonomous region inside the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic. The year 1990 marked a turning point, with the Supreme Council of Abkhazia declaring its secession from Georgia, thus inciting a number of bloody skirmishes.

On 24 September 2001, armed conflict erupted in Abkhazia when 400 Georgian and Chechen militants entered Abkhazia and engaged with the local defence forces. In one of the conflicts, Chechen militants, under the leadership of Ruslan Galayev, managed to take control of two villages. On 8 October 2001, the revolutionists struck down a helicopter, killing the nine people on board, including four UN supervisors. War was announced in the Abkhaz capital, Sukhumi, and thousands of Abkhaz fighters took to the mountains to defend their republic. More violent confrontations took place around the mountains of Sakharnaya Golova resulting in the escape of the militants back to Georgia.

There are many theories as to the main benefactor behind these military initiatives. Many believe that the attackers aimed at forcing Abkhaz forces into the confrontation by occupying villages in the Kodori Gorge region. This assumption, however, seems weak considering that the Georgian economy was on the verge of collapse, that Eduard Shevardnadze's followers were already waning and that the army was in a complete state of disarray.

The Abkhaz press suggested that Shevardnadze, during his last visit to Washington, was told that the presence of Chechen separatist militias in the Pankisi Straits put Georgia in an awkward position, and hence on his return home he urged Galayev and his followers to move towards Abkhazia. By this move he believed he could get rid of the unwelcome Chechens and at the same time teaches the residents of Svaetia a lesson and warns them against any attempt at secession.

Another theory is that the military manoeuvre took place according to a prior agreement between the Russian intelligence agency and the Georgian minister of internal affairs Kakha Targamadze. The minister made use of the 400 men to disrupt the situation in Georgia and direct a harsh blow to Western interests in the Caucasus, spearheaded by the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, expected to link oil-production sources in the Caucasus with the Turkish port of Ceyhan on the Mediterranean.

In spite of these and other theories, political circles agree that Tbilisi, Moscow and Sukhumi are all involved in these operations and that Russia has the last say in Abkhazia.