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Rioting between the two sides broke out in Sukhumi on July 16, 1989, with reports of 16 deaths over something as trivial as univeristy enrollment policies.
After several days of violence, Soviet troops stepped in and demanded order.
Georgia went on to declare independence on 9 April 1991 under a Soviet dissident called Zviad Gamsakhurdia. Zviad was actually overthrown in a rebellion in the same year.
The Georgian National Guard had laid siege under command of Tengiz Kitovani. The siege lasted roughly two months until Zviad resigned and was succeeded by Eduard Shevardnadze, who in his past had been a Soviet foreign minister.
On July 23, 1992, however, Abkhazia filed for independence, though it was not foreignly recognized. Fighting between the two paramilitaries recommenced after accusations that Gamsakhurdia kidnapped Georgia's interior minister and holding him captive in Abkhazia. So, 3,000 Georgian troops went to Sukhumi, to restore order, but ended up in a conflict with the Abkhazian separatists.
After one week, and many deaths, the Georgian Government Forces closed the regional parliament of Abkhazia down.
This defeat was frowned upon by other Georgian and Russian groups. They include; the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus. They were joined by hundreds of volunteer paramilitaries from Russia. Together they joined the Separatists and fought against the Georgian Government Forces.In September, the Abkhazians and Russian paramilitaries mounted a major offensive after breaking a cease-fire, which drove the Georgian forces out of large swathes of the republic.
Shevardnadze and his government made accusations that Russia were giving covert military assistance to the rebels with an aim of "detaching from Georgia its native territory and the Georgia-Russian frontier land."
Segregation occured with Abkhazians leaving Georgia and vice versa.
The toll of death stands at that point at 3,000 people.
The conflict was the equivalent of World War II's Phoney war until 1993. Separatists broke the stalemate by launching an attack on Georgian territory in Sukhumi. This was a problem as Shevardnadze, was himself trapped in the city. There was a truce at the end of July, but was collapsed after a new Abkhaz attack in September.
Another 10 days of fighting, and Sukhumi fell on the 27th of the same month. Shevardnadze scarcely evaded death due to his vow NEVER to leave the city. Despite the vow, he fleed when separatist snipers had his residing hotel ON target. Only the Russian Navy, helped him escape Sukhumi.
The Georgian government faced a second threat, there was an unbelievable uprising by Zviad Gamsakhurdia's supporters in the Mingrelia (Samegrelo) region.
In the aftermath of Georgian defeat, almost all non-Abkhazanian inhabitant fled the region by sea or over the mountains.
Many thousands die, reports say 10,000 ceased to live after these wars. 250,000- 300,000 are believed to be in exile.
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