1991–1992 South Ossetia War
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| 1991–1992 South Ossetia War (Georgian-Ossetian conflict) |
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| Part of the Georgian Civil War[citation needed] | |||||||||
 Location of South Ossetia within Georgia |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
.svg){kind=small} The National Guard of Georgia[1] Georgian irregulars[1] |
 South Ossetian Republican Guard[1] South Ossetian irregulars[1] North Ossetian Volunteers |
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| Strength | |||||||||
| Republican Guards: unknown Irregulars: At least 6,000[2] |
Republican Guards: About 2400 [1] Irregulars: unknown |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 600 dead | 2,000 dead | ||||||||
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The 1991–1992 South Ossetian War was fought as part of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict from 1991 to 1992 between Georgian government forces and ethnic Georgian militias on one side and the forces of South Ossetia and ethnic Ossetian militias on the other. The war ended through a Russian-brokered ceasefire that established a joint peacekeeping force and left South Ossetia divided between the rivaling authorities.
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[edit] Background
Following the breakdown of the czarist regime in Russia, South Ossetians allied with the Russian bolsheviks fought a war against the newly independent menshevik Georgia. Initially Georgia was successful, but in 1921, the Red Army conquered the country. South Ossetia became an autonomous oblast in the soviet republic of Georgia. During soviet times, the relations between ethnic Ossetes and Georgians were peaceful, with a high rate of interaction and intermarriages.[1][3]
In 1989, around 98,000 people lived in South Ossetia. Of these, 66.61% were Ossetian and 29.44% Georgian. Another 99,000 Ossetians lived in other parts of Georgia.[1]
At the end of the Soviet Union, Georgia became independent again under the leadership of Zviad Gamsakhurdia, who pursued a nationalistic agenda. This was mainly directed at Soviet rule, but also at the expense of minority groups in Georgia. South Ossetians organised as well and expressed national aspirations: the Supreme Council of South Ossetia demanded a change of status to autonomous republic, a move declared illegal by the Supreme Council of Georgia. On November 23, 1989, Gamsakhurdia organised a demonstration of Georgians that was to happen in Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia. South Ossetians prevented this by blocking the road and several people were wounded on clashes. In the following months, the South Ossetians started arming themselves.[1]
The 1990 election to the Georgian Supreme Council, boycotted by South Ossetians, was won by Gamsakhurdia. In response, South Ossetians organised a vote for a South Ossetian parliament. Reacting to this, the Georgian Supreme Council voted to abolish the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast as a separate administrative unit. In December 1990, troops of the Georgian and Russian Interior Ministry (MVD) were dispated to South Ossetia. The war was immediately ahead.[1]
[edit] Combatants
South Ossetian forces consisted of militia, volunteers from North Ossetia, Russian troops, and former Soviet soldiers. The Soviets had been stationed in Georgia when it was part of the Soviet Union. When the fighting started, these soldiers chose to fight for South Ossetia.[4] There were some incidents of overt help from military units of the newly formed Russian Federation as well.[1]
Georgia's forces were in much poorer shape. The ragtag Georgian army[clarification needed] and militias composed of ethnic Georgians were not as well trained and equipped as their opponents.[5] The Georgian national guard was formed only days before the conflict started.[1]
[edit] The War
On the night of 5 January 1991, 6,000 armed Georgians entered Tskhinvali. According to Sergei Markedonov, they caused destruction and killed civilians.[2] The Ossetians responded by firing at Georgian schools and houses in the city[citation needed], while Georgians attacked Ossetian villages[citation needed]. The fighting in Tskhinvali first resulted in a divided town: An Ossetian-controlled western part and a Georgian-controlled eastern part. Towards the end of January, the Georgians withdrew to the hills around the city according to the Russian-mediated ceasefire.[1]
On 29 January 1991, Georgian authorities invited the Speaker of the South Ossetian Supreme Soviet, Torez Kulumbegov to the negotiations in Tbilisi, then immediately arrested him and charged with inciting ethnic hatred. His trial had been postponed several times before he was released in December 1991.[citation needed]
Three assaults were made on Tskhinvali, in February and March of 1991 and in June, 1992.[2] The most intense period of war was in March and April 1991. After a period of relative calm in July and August, violence resumed in mid-September. Georgia imposing a blockade on South Ossetia by disconnected electricity blockading the road to Tskhinvali, while the Ossetians blockaded Georgian villages. Several atrocities occurred on both sides. The fighting left hundreds killed and wounded, with South Ossetian villages as well as Georgian houses and schools in Tskhinvali attacked and burned down. Georgian forces sat in the hills around Tskhinvali and besieged the city. Other fighting took place around the city in the nearby villages and along the road to North Ossetia.[1]
In Spring of 1992, the fighting escalated again, with sporadic Russian involvement[1]. However, in March 1992, Gamsakhurdia was ousted and replaced by Edward Shevardnadze. Soon after, Gamsakhurdia loyalists staged an armed rebellion. Furthermore, the conflict with Georgia's other, bigger, separatist region Abkhasia, escalated into a war in 1992. As a result, Shevardnadze had an interest to end the conflict in South Ossetia and signed the Russian-brokered Sochi agreement.[1]
The peacefire agreement left South Ossetia divided into areas controlled by Georiga and areas controlled by the unrecognised government of South Ossetia. It also created the Joint Control Comission (including Georgia, Russia, North Ossetia and South Ossetia) and, under JCC mandate, introduced the joint peacekeeping forces (JPKF), made up from Georgian, Russian and Ossetian soldiers.[6] A small number of OSCE monitors was also deployed in the area.[7]
The military action of the conflict was "confused and anarchic".[1] Neither side has disciplined armed formations and commanders and soldiers were often acting in their own interests. Military groups were controlled by political factions and not accountable to the respective governments. This led to the violation of ceasefires, taking of hostages and bombardment of civilian targets.[1]
During the war, approximately 1,000 people died.[6] It also led to large refugee flows: About 100,000 ethnic Ossetians fled from South Ossetia and Georgia proper, mainly into North Ossetia (part of Russia). A further 23,000 ethnic Georgians fled from South Ossetia and settled in other Georgian areas.[8] The flow of refugees into Northern Ossetia aggravated the tense ethnic situation there and played a significant role in the Ossetian–Ingush conflict.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q http://www.caucasus.dk/chapter4.htm
- ^ a b c Russia in Global Affairs, Vol.6 No.4, October-December 2008, http://www.globalaffairs.ru/docs/2008_english4.pdf
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/3797729.stm
- ^ http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/kingch/King_Five_Day_War.pdf
- ^ Foreign affairs magazine- The five day war.
- ^ a b http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/UNTC/UNPAN019224.pdf
- ^ http://www.osce.org/georgia/13265.html
- ^ a b RUSSIA. THE INGUSH-OSSETIAN CONFLICT IN THE PRIGORODNYI REGION, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki, May 1996.
