Kodori Valley

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The Kodori Valley (also known as the Kodori Gorge; Georgian: კოდორის ხეობა) is a river valley in Abkhazia, Georgia's breakaway autonomous republic which serves as the de facto boundary between the Georgian government and the secessionist-controlled territories. The valley's upper part, populated by the Svans, a subgroup of the Georgian people, is the only corner of the pre-1993 Abkhazia directly controlled by the central Georgian government which officially styles the area as Upper Abkhazia (Geo. ზემო აფხაზეთი, Zemo Abkhazeti).

[edit] Description

Map of Abkhazia showing the location of the Kodori Gorge

The Kodori Valley, the principal part of Upper Abkhazia, lies in the upper reaches of the Kodori River in northeastern portion of Abkhazia, about 40 miles inside an official administrative boundary of the region with the rest of Georgia. It is about 20 miles down the coast from Abkhazia's capital Sukhumi. At an elevation of c. 1,300 to 3,984 meters, the area covers a range of landscapes, from coniferous mountain forest to intermittent snow cover.

The climate is alpine–like, humid. Winters are snowy. Annual precipitation 1,600 to over 2,000 mm (120 mm in January, 160 mm in April, 180 mm in July, 160 mm in October). Over 30 days with heavy rains per year. Around 180 days with snow cover. Mean temperature: January: -3, April: 3, July: 14, October: 5. Mean maximum temperature (July): 28 C.

The valley is populated by several upland villages, chief of which are Shkhara, Omarishara, Zemo Azhara, Kvemo Azhara, Lata, etc. Administratively, they fall into the Gulripshi district of Abkhazia. According to the last Georgian census (2002), the population of the Georgian-controlled part of the valley is 1,956 of which 1,912 are ethnic Georgians (Svans).

[edit] Recent history

The Kodori and Enguri rivers were established as an Abkhaz-Georgian ceasefire line according to the 1994 agreements. Together with the Gali sector, it is one of the two areas that remain populated by ethnic Georgians who constituted the majority ethnic group in the pre-war Abkhazia.

Under UMOMIG's (United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia) Expanded Mandate laid out in United Nations Resolution 937 (1994), the Mission was given two tasks in the Kodori Valley: 1. To monitor the withdrawal of troops of Georgia from the Kodori Valley to places beyond the boundaries of Abkhazia, Georgia; 2. To patrol the Kodori Valley regularly.

Despite no subsequent real military activity in the Kodori corridor, several dangerous incidents occurred:

Hostages: Three hostage-taking incidents involving UNMOs have occurred in the Kodori Valley – in October 1999, June 2000 and December 2000. In each case, the hostages were released.

Kodori Valley helicopter attack: On October 8, 2001, a UNOMIG helicopter was shot down by unknown attackers, killing all nine aboard.

In the fall of 2001, the Kodori Gorge was the scene of provoked armed clashes, Abkhaz raids, and Russian air incursions. In October 2001, Georgia's army sent 350 crack soldiers to guard the villages in the upper Kodori Gorge
Russian military incident: On April 2, 2002 Georgian and Abkhazian sides signed a demilitarization agreement for Kodori Gorge. UNOMIG-monitored withdrawal of 350 Georgian troops ended on April 10. However, Russian 100 ground forces entered the Kodori Gorge without having any peacekeeping mandate on the morning of April 12. They were soon surrounded by the Georgian Defence Ministry forces. A likely armed conflict was prevented by President Eduard Shevardnadze going to Kodori to bring the situation under control. The UN representatives in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict theater also condemned the Russian action. On April 14, a Russian military unit left the gorge.

2006 Kodori crisis: In July 2006, Georgia sent the Interior Ministry special forces to disarm local defiant paramilitary leader Emzar Kvitsiani. With the restoration of the Georgian jurisdiction in the area, the President of Georgia ordered the Tbilisi-based Government of Abkhazia-in-exile to relocate to the gorge which would function as a temporary administrative center of breakaway Abkhazia. For this purpose, a major rehabilitation project was lauched by the Georgian government to adjust the valley's infrastructure to its new political function. Recently, Georgia has offered the UNOMIG to monitor the upper part of the gorge simultaneously with the separatist-controlled lower Kodori valley but refused to allow the Russian peacekeeping forces to participate in the monitoring operation. Later Georgia allowed Russian peacekeepers to take part in the process.

A joint patrol of the UN observers and Russian peacekeepers found the presence of 550 personnel from the upper Kodori Gorge as a result of monitoring carried out on October 12 2006. They agreed that the presence of police forces in upper Kodori Gorge is technically not a violation of the 1994 Moscow cease-fire agreement, which bans the deployment of army troops in the area. The UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) said on October 13 that monitoring has also revealed the presence of mortars and an anti-aircraft gun in the gorge, which, according to the Georgian side, was seized from the local militia group in an operation carried out in late July.[1]