The 1994 U.S. State Department Country Reports also describes scenes of massive human rights abuse : Eduard Shevardnadze fled the city only just before the arrival of separatist forces , having earlier committed to try to remain there as long as possible . Soon the forces overran the whole territory of Abkhazia , except a small region of the Kodori Gorge ( which remained under the control of the Georgian warlord Emzar Kvitsiani until July 2006 and later the Tbilisi government until August 2008 ) . The total defeat of the Georgian government forces was followed by ethnic cleansing of Georgian population . 200,000 - 250,000 refugees ( mainly Georgians ) were forced out of Abkhazia . Violence continued in 1994 despite an agreement between the Georgian and Abkhazian governments for the deployment of a peacekeeping force from the Commonwealth of Independent States . Chechen militants who had fought on the side of Abkhazia later took part in the First Chechen War
ethnic cleansing of Georgian population
Ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia
Sukhumi massacre