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[edit] Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia

Main article: Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia

The Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, formerly known as The Council of Ministers of the Abkhazian Autonomous Republic, is the only government that Georgia recognizes as the legal government of Abkhazia, which has been largely out of Georgia's control since 1993 due to the War in Abkhazia.^[1]After the Kodori crisis of 2006, the Government of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia, along with its ministers, relocated to the north-eastern part of Abkhazia (known as Upper Abkhazia) in Chkhalta.^[2]

The Council of Ministers of the autonomous republic was created during the Soviet period which included the Presidium where representatives (elected) from all regions in Abkhazia governed the affairs of the republic. The members of the Cabinet of Ministers and the Presidium included ethnic Georgians, Abkhaz and Armenians.

Zhiuli Shartava was elected as the Chairman of the Council of Ministers just before the outbreak of the war. When the hostilities reached their climax in 1992, the separatist wing of the government left the Presidium and moved to Gudauta. From Gudauta they started to arm militia groups (allegedly supplied by the Russian military base in Gudauta) which were used during the conflict. ^[3]

The Council of Ministers remaining in Sukhumi still maintained its ethnic Abkhaz representatives, who rejected the separatist call for secession. ^[4] Two of them, leading Abkhaz politician Raul Eshba and Sumbat Saakian, a representative of the ethnic Armenian Diaspora, refused to leave Sukhumi and stayed along with Zhiuli Shartava, Guram Gabiskiria and other members of the government in Sukhumi until the tragic events of September 27th 1993, when Shartava, Eshba, Gabiskiria, Saakian and other members of the government were tortured and killed by the separatists and their allies (see Sukhumi massacre). The remaining survivors of the government fled to the capital Tbilisi where they organized the headquarters of the Abkhaz government in exile headed by Tamaz Nadareishvili (great grandson of Abkhaz Prince Shervashidze). ^[5] In 1998, Georgians in the Gali district (populated mainly by ethnic Georgians) of Abkhazia launched partisan activities against the de facto authorities in Sukhumi. The Abkhaz government in exile allegedly supported the rebel movement known as The White Legion. However, as a result of this insurrection, the Abkhaz separatist authorities launched a full scale attack on the Gali region, killing and expelling its ethnic Georgian inhabitants. ^[6] In 2004, Nadareishvili died leaving the government in a disorganized state. After the Rose Revolution and Kodori events of 2006, the de jure Abkhaz government was revived and reorganized. Malkhaz Akishbaia, a Western-educated Abkhaz politician was elected in April 2006 and is the current head of the de jure Government of Abkhazia. Akishbaia appointed ethnic Abkhaz ministers Temur Mzhavia and Ada Marshania to key positions and included former members of Council of Ministers in his government. The government moved to Upper Abkhazia (within the administrative borders of the autonomous republic) with its headquarters in Chkhalta.

On September 27, 2006 President Mikheil Saakashvili, Nino Burjanadze, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II and others members of the central government visited Kodori Valley and officially changed the name and designated the area as "Upper Abkhazia". President Saakashvili addressed the nation during the opening of de jure Government headquarters in Chkhalta, Upper Abkhazia:

"We are here – Upper Abkhazia, very close to Sokhumi - and we are not going to leave this place. We will return to Abkhazia very soon, but only through peaceful means...We have told every foreign ambassador in Georgia that Abkhazia and Tbilisi are not separate entities...From now on the protocol of each foreign diplomat [visiting Abkhazia], apart from trips to Sokhumi, will also include the route to Abkhazia’s administrative center in the village of Chkhalta where the chairman of the Abkhaz government is Malkhaz Akishbaia."^[7]