The Abkhazia Conflict

The Abkhazia Conflict



Abkhazia is a region of northwestern Georgia on the Black Sea coast. During the Soviet era, Abkhazia was an independent Soviet Socialist Republic until February 1931, when it became an autonomous republic of the Georgian S.S.R. As the Soviet Union began to unravel, tension developed between Georgia and Abkhazia as the Abkhaz began demanding the restoration of the region’s pre-1931 status and the Georgian independence movement became increasingly nationalistic.

Following Georgia’s declaration of independence, armed conflict began in August 1992 when Georgian troops were deployed to Abkhazia. Large-scale hostilities ended after the Abkhaz side broke the ceasefire agreement of July 27, 1993 and captured the Abkhaz capital city of Sukhumi on September 27. Most of the Georgian population of Abkhazia fled or was forcibly expelled as a result of the conflict. 

On April 4, 1994 in Moscow, the sides signed a Declaration on Measures for a Political Settlement of the Georgian/Abkhaz Conflict. In this agreement, the parties committed themselves to the strict observance of a cease-fire and to cooperate to ensure the safe, secure and dignified return of people who had fled the area of the conflict. On May 14, 1994 an Agreement on a Cease-Fire and Separation of Forces was signed, also in Moscow. Under this agreement, a demilitarized security zone was created on either side of the Inguri River. A peacekeeping force of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was deployed to this zone to monitor compliance with the ceasefire agreement. The United National Observer Mission in Georgia was established to monitor compliance with the ceasefire. 

In May 1998, fighting broke out between Georgians and Abkhaz in Gali district of Abkhazia, when Georgian partisans attempted to take back part of that district By 1998, several tens of thousands of Georgian internally displaced persons (IDPs) had returned to their former homes in Abkhazia’s Gali district. After days of escalating hostilities culminated in a large-scale Abkhaz sweep operation, upwards of 40,000 Georgians were expelled and some 1,500 houses burned. Since that time, the security situation has remained precarious. 

During the conflict, Russia played a leading role as mediator. Since December 1993, the UN has chaired negotiations toward a settlement. The UN mediator is the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG), currently Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini of Switzerland. A "Group of Friends" of the UN Secretary General (consisting of the United States, France, Germany, Russian Federation, United Kingdom,) supports the UN-led peace process. Russia continues to play a special role as facilitator. Under the auspices of the UN, the two sides met in Geneva in November 1997, where they agreed to establish a Coordination Council to resolve practical issues between them. Within the framework of the Council, three working groups were established to deal with security issues, refugees and IDPs, and economic and social problems. 

In early 2000, then-UN Special Representative of the Secretary General Dieter Boden and the Group of Friends drafted and informally presented a document to the parties outlining a possible distribution of competencies between the Abkhaz and Georgian representatives, based on a core respect for Georgian territorial integrity. The Abkhaz side, however, has never accepted the paper as a basis for negotiations. 

In 2003, a meeting of the Group of Friends in Geneva began what would become a series of talks with the purpose of defining principles for the political settlement of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict. In early 2004, these UN-sponsored talks between Abkhaz authorities and the Georgian government broke off amid growing tensions between the sides. The standstill continued through the end of the year as the Abkhaz carried out protracted elections for a de facto president. In April 2005, meetings between the parties, represented by the new Georgian government of Mikheil Saakashvili and the new Abkhaz leadership, resumed in Geneva with the Group of Friends. 

U.S. Policy 

The United States supports the strengthening of Georgia’s territorial integrity through peaceful means. Unilaterally and as a member of the Group of Friends, the U.S. seeks to advance negotiations toward a comprehensive settlement of the conflict, including on Abkhazia’s future status within Georgia and the safe and dignified return of refugees and internally-displaced persons.

The United States and the South Ossetian Conflict

The United States and the South Ossetian Conflict



[This fact sheet was updated on March 31, 2008]

Background 

Though territorial disputes between the Ossetians of the South Caucasus and Georgians can be dated back as far as the seventeenth century, the contemporary armed conflict between South Ossetia and Georgia can be traced to 1920, when a South Ossetian attempt to declare independence from Georgia as a Soviet Republic ended in several thousand deaths. Following the 1921 Red Army invasion of Georgia, the Soviet government declared South Ossetia to be an Autonomous Oblast within Georgia in April of 1922. 

During the Soviet period, South Ossetians were granted a certain degree of autonomy over matters of language and education in their territory. At the same time, however, nationalist groups in Georgia were beginning to accumulate support, leading to renewed South Ossetian-Georgian tensions which would come to a head in the late nineteen-eighties. 

The South Ossetian Popular Front was created in 1988 as a response to increasing nationalist sentiments in Georgia. By 1989, the Popular Front came to power in South Ossetia and on November 10, 1989 demanded that the "oblast" be made an autonomous "republic." The Georgian government immediately rejected this decision, leading to protests and demonstrations on both sides. 

A South Ossetian declaration of independence (within the U.S.S.R.) in September of 1990 was met with a firm negation from the Georgian government, and in December Georgia abolished South Ossetia’s status as an autonomous oblast and declared a state of emergency in the region. 

Armed conflict began in January of 1991 and continued until June of 1992. At that point, a ceasefire (the Sochi Agreement) was agreed upon by Russian, Georgian, and South Ossetian representatives, Georgia having declared independence in April of 1991. 

The June 24, 1992 Sochi Agreement established a cease-fire between the Georgian and South Ossetian forces and defined both a zone of conflict around the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali and a security corridor along the border of South Ossetian territories. The Agreement also created the Joint Control Commission (JCC), and a peacekeeping body, the Joint Peacekeeping Forces group (JPKF). The JPKF is under Russian command and is comprised of peacekeepers from Georgia, Russia, and Russia’s North Ossetian autonomous republic (as the separatist South Ossetian government remained unrecognized). South Ossetian peacekeepers, however, serve in the North Ossetian contingent. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) agreed to monitor the ceasefire and facilitate negotiations. 

Recent Developments 

The cessation of hostilities brought on by the Sochi Agreement held fast into 2004. At that point, Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze had been replaced by Mikheil Saakashvili, who expressed a renewed interest in reintegrating Georgia’s separatist regions. In keeping with this policy, the Georgian government placed a special emphasis on the regulation and monitoring of trade within and through South Ossetia, bringing to a close a particularly large South Ossetian market which had been used for unregulated trade. South Ossetian forces retaliated by closing highways and detaining Georgian troops within South Ossetian borders. Tensions between the sides escalated, and exchanges of mortar fire in late July and August 2004 killed dozens. 

A ceasefire signed by the parties in August of 2004 ended the violence and led to some demobilization, but the situation remains unsettled. 

South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity met in November of 2004 with Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania. During the meeting, both sides expressed concern at the violence, and reaffirmed their interest in a peaceful resolution, before reaching a series of agreements designed to strengthen relations between the two sides and to demilitarize the zone of conflict. Each side has been slow to implement the agreement, and the death of Prime Minister Zhvania in February of 2005 was a setback to the reconciliation process. 

In January of 2005, Georgian President Saakashvili put forth a proposal for an autonomous status for South Ossetia within Georgia. The United States welcomed President Saakashvili’s initiative to resolve the conflict through peaceful means and continues to look for ways to support the sides in developing a lasting resolution of the conflict. 

OSCE Involvement 

The Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) maintains a presence in South Ossetia with a mandate to promote negotiations between the conflicting parties, monitor the activities of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces (JPKF), assist the Georgian government in fulfilling its OSCE commitments on human rights, rule of law, and democratization, and provide regular analyses and reports on developments in the region. 

U.S. Policy and Role 

The United States supports the territorial integrity of Georgia and supports only a peaceful resolution of the separatist conflict in South Ossetia. The United States views Georgia’s proposal for peace as an important first step in a peace process that should be marked by direct and frequent negotiations between the two sides. The U.S. encourages the sides, with the help of the international community, to intensify their efforts to find a sustainable and peaceful solution to the conflict.

Putin assails US over conflict with Georgia

Putin assails US over conflict with Georgia 

43 minutes ago

MOSCOW - Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is criticizing the United States for airlifting Georgian troops from Iraq. ADVERTISEMENT



Putin said Monday that the U.S. move will hamper efforts to solve Russia's conflict with Georgia over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. The U.S. military has begun flying 2,000 Georgian troops home from Iraq after Georgia recalled them.

The Russian-Georgian conflict blew up after a Georgian offensive to regain control of the breakaway province of South Ossetia.

Georgian troops fled South Ossetia on Sunday, yielding to superior Russian firepower, and Georgian leaders pleaded for a cease-fire. Moscow responded that Georgia was not observing its cease-fire pledge.