Second round of ethnic cleansing possible in Abkhazia

Abkhazia has witnessed a very strained situation in the month of May. The opposition forced the de-facto President Aleksander Ankvab to resign. New presidential elections are to be held in Abkhazia on August 24. Moscow, denies any participation in Abkhazian domestic issues. However, it is obvious that the complicated situation was planned by the Kremlin. The new leadership of the de-facto region will be more anti-Georgian and therefore more acceptable to Moscow.

Some naive people believed the region would become a sovereign country. They thought they would be freed from Georgian and Russian influence. They believed that they would establish bilateral relations with Turkey and various other countries. They thought that they would attract foreign investments and improve the economic conditions there. However, this was only an illusion, as Russia needed Abkhazia as a territory so it could deploy its military base and control the region. Russia also had designs on using the territory as a cheap summer resort. Short-sighted Abkhazians forgot that the region, pseudo independent state, was a puppet regime installed by Moscow.

Large-scale corruption dominated in the region, and the money sent from Moscow was misused and misappropriated by the country’s shady leaders.

Raul Khajimba has three times tried in vein to become the President of Abkhazia. Moscow and Sokhumi presumably will be looking for a scapegoat to calm the situation in the region. The Georgian population living there might perform this role. Former President Ankvab distributed Abkhazian passports to ethnic Georgian living in Abkhazia. According to Russian sources, around 250,000 people lived in Abkhazia in 2012. Out of this, 47.6% are Abkhaz nationals, Georgians are 19.3%, Armenians 17.4%, and Russians 10%. The rest are Greeks, Ukrainians and others.

Analysts do not completely trust these figures. They believe that the number of Abkhazians has increased and the number of Georgians decreased.

The situation will be calm before the elections as the votes of ethnic Georgians are needed for all. However, the situation might be changed and ethnic cleansing might be launched after the elections. What can Georgia do if the second wave of ethic cleansing of Georgians starts in the region? No doubt concern will be heard from Georgia and the international community. It is obvious that the world did not protect Ukraine…It’s unlikely that the West will bother with an extra headache from Georgia.