ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by diving into the post-partition environment along the Georgia–Abkhaz border between 1994 and 1998, sharing stories from rebels and displaced civilians and revealing spatial differences in the violence that ultimately recurred. It moves to the final days of Moldova’s position within the Soviet Union when Transnistria secured de facto independence, which created conditions very different to Abkhazia, especially when the Moldovan civil war lasted much shorter and caused much less destruction. The chapter returns to Georgia–Abkhazia, fast-forwarding to the post-1998 period when ethnic Georgians once again return to Gali, but this time integrating peacefully. Then the chapter draws on multiple cases and temporal comparisons to explore the validity of comprehensive partition and understand what conditions are necessary for peace. Although the invasion of Gali targeted only territory inhabited by ethnic Georgians, it did not target all territories inhabited by ethnic Georgians, despite that territory being contiguous. The invasion, instead, targeted only Lower Gali.
