Elene* was just five years old when her family fled their home in Gali, a district in breakaway Abkhazia, in May 1998. She remembers the smoke. And fear. 

“I didn't fully understand what was going on, but my parents were very worried and I automatically felt it too,” says Elene, who now works and lives in the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

Rarely thought of today, the consequences of six days of fighting in May 1998 have had a long-last impact on the Abkhaz-Georgian conflict, according to analysts.

Most media coverage presents the conflict as a war fought between 1992 and 1993 that ended with the fall of the Abkhaz capital Sukhumi and the expulsion of an estimated 250,000 ethnic Georgians. 

But for many, including tens of thousands of ethnic Georgians who lived in the Gali district, the violence and instability continued for years, culminating in days of fighting in 1998, locally known as the six-day war.  

By 1994, a year after fighting between the Georgian army and the Abkhaz and its allies had ended, almost half of the displaced population of the Gali district, between 30,000 and 40,000 people, returned under the supervision of the United Nations. 

Their lives were far from peaceful, however. As high-level talks between Georgia, Abkhazia, Russia, and the UN continued, Georgian partisan groups continued guerilla warfare in the district. The leaders of the groups asserted that they were trying to safeguard political and social rights, as well as the physical security of the Georgian population in Gali district.

Their efforts seemed to be bearing fruit: By the spring of 1998, the Georgian population in the Gali region numbered approximately 60,000, and schools were slowly restarting. Due to the Georgian partisan movement, the Abkhazians no longer controlled Gali villages near Georgian-controlled territory, leading to regular visits of Georgian politicians to the villages in that area.

On May 9, 1998, Georgians decided to celebrate the anniversary of the end of World War II in the Gali village of Pichori. Members of the Abkhaz government also attended. Guerrilla detachments stationed in Pichori and nearby Otobaia were supposed to ensure the safety of both guests and residents during the event.

But fighting resumed on May 20, triggered by the death of two Georgian partisans the previous day. The Abkhaz maintained that 300 Georgian guerrillas invaded the Gali district and advised the local population, mostly women and children, to leave the region because of the threat of a full-scale war. Georgian fighters recall a small partisan group fortified near the village of Upper Barghebi facing a 400-strong Abkhazian group.

Davit Gvinjilia, commander of the third operational brigade of Tkibuli of the internal army, states that the May war occurred spontaneously and the Georgian government was not involved. He says that when his brigade received the order from the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs to engage, fighting was already underway in three Gali villages: Sida, Otobaya, and Kvemo Barghebi.

“We were told that we would assist a group, and it turned out that our small group was supporting another small group against a larger Abkhazian force. The government of Georgia could not reach a decision to become actively involved. Although our unit was substantial, we were limited to assisting only about 40 people because there was no order for full-scale intervention. Five of my people died in the final days. On 25 May we withdrew from the Gali," recalls Gvinjilia.

The movements and motivations of the soldiers did not matter to Gali native Elene.

“I was sleeping soundly when my mother woke me up and asked me to help her pack things. It must have been midnight. We walked with other people. We passed a part of the road in the village of Gali on foot, in silence. No noise was allowed,” Elene recalls about the family’s escape to Georgian-controlled territory.

By May 26, the fighting was over. The damage was extensive: schools and approximately 1,731 houses were burned, according to the UN. The clashes primarily occurred in the villages of the lower zone of Gali - Sida, Tagiloni, Zemo and Kvemo Barghebi, Nabakevi, Khumushkuri, and the village of Saberio in the upper zone, where houses and a school were also set ablaze.

Paata Zakareishvili, a conflict expert and former State Minister of Reconciliation and Civil Equality of Georgia, believes the fighting had long-reaching implications for the conflict.  

"We are still experiencing the consequences,” analyst Zakareishvili says. 

Conflict analyst Zurab Bendianishvili agrees, noting that there was a “belief that we could regain control.”

"The clashes in May exacerbated the situation…This had repercussions on the situation of the Gali populations in Abkhazia and had lasting effects.”

As a direct result of the six days of fighting, the role of the Russian peacekeepers—which had been limited—was expanded. The war also shattered relations between the Abkhazians and the Georgians living in Gali, leading to the isolation of Gali and the Gali district from the rest of Abkhazia for many years. 

“We had to communicate only with the Abkhaz border guards, and when children saw armed people dressed in military uniforms, they cried. Not only children, but we adults were also afraid,” recalls Manana*, a resident of Gali who decided to return with her family. “In recent years, the situation has changed. We started going to Sukhumi and other cities. Many residents of the Gali district got jobs in different cities of Abkhazia, and they say they have normal relations with Abkhazians.”

Still, some residents of Gali question whether the decision to return was the right one, as it did not lead to a peaceful life for them. 

“Although the children grew up under stress and tension due to living in a conflict zone, this had the advantage that we were at home. We returned because we hardly had food in exile; otherwise, nobody was happy to live under bullets,” explains Gali resident Nona.* “After the war, our lives were changed by fear; we did not know when we would have to be displaced again. Maybe exile was better than living in fear, but the fact is that in exile, I didn't know what to feed my children.”

Today, the issue of integrating residents of Gali and the Gali district into Abkhazian society remains acute. There is mutual distrust between the Georgian population and Abkhaz security authorities, and there are increased limits on Georgian language classes at schools and free movement across the administrative boundary to Georgian-controlled territory.

“Was the decision to return the right move? I probably would not have gone back because I spent my entire childhood and teenage years in fear and limitations,” Elene says. “My home is in Gali, and all my family members still live there, but as a young person, I know that there are no prospects for me in Gali. Finding employment in Gali is nearly impossible. We lack basic rights, and I refuse to accept feeling like a second-class citizen. As a student, I experienced numerous occasions when the administrative boundary line was closed, and we couldn’t even cross into Georgian-controlled territory to visit the doctor. We were confined to Gali like prisoners."

*The name of the respondents have been changed for their safety