2006 Kodori Crisis - Background

Background

The Kodori Gorge, with its forested landscapes and rocky hills, lies in the Greater Caucasus mountains, in the northeastern corner of Abkhazia. In spite of several Abkhaz attempts to gain hold of this strategic gorge inhabited by the Svans, a local subgroup of the Georgian people, the upper part of the gorge has never been under the control of the secessionists since the Abkhazian war. It has remained under precarious control of the central Georgian government, but the government of the area has effectively been run, until the recent crisis, by a local authority and warlord Emzar Kvitsiani, who previously led the defense of the gorge against the Abkhaz separatist forces in the capacity of the commander of the local Monadire (literally: "Hunter") militia force and an envoy of the former President of Georgia named Eduard Shevardnadze. After the ouster of Shevardnadze in the bloodless Rose Revolution in 2003, the new Georgian government disbanded the Monadire force and abolished Kvitsiani's post. There have also been strong suspicions about Kvitsiani's involvement in smuggling and other criminal activities like providing shelter to several criminal authorities, wanted by Georgian police.