Kodori Valley (also known as the Kodori Gorge) is a river valley in Abkhazia, Georgia's rebel province and serves de facto boundary between Georgia and Abkhazia. The valley's upper part, populated by Svans (ethnic Georgians from Svaneti region), is the only corner of the pre-1993 Abkhazia still controlled by the central Georgian government.

The Kodori Gorge is about 40 miles inside the old, official administrative boundary of Abkhazia with the rest of Georgia. It is about 20 miles down the coast from Abkhazia's capital Sokhumi.

The Kodori River was established as an Abkhazia-Georgia ceasefire line according to the 1994 agreements. Together with the Gali sector, it is one of the two real troublespots while the situation is relatively peaceful in the rest of Abkhazia.

Under UNOMG's (United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia) Expanded Mandate laid out in UN Resolution 937 (1994), UNMOs were given two tasks in the Kodori Valley: 1. To monitor the withdrawal of troops of Georgia from the Kodori Valley to places beyond the boundaries of Abkhazia, Georgia; 2. To patrol the Kodori Valley regularly.

Despite no subsequent real military activity in the Kodori corridor, several dangerous incidents occurred:

• Hostages: Three hostage-taking incidents involving UNMOs have occurred in the Kodori Valley – in October 1999, June 2000 and December 2000. In each case, the hostages were released.

• Kodori Valley helicopter attack: On October 8, 2001, a UNOMIG helicopter was shot down by unknown attackers, killing all nine aboard.

• In the fall of 2001, the Kodori Gorge was the scene of provoked armed clashes, Abkhaz raids, and Russian air incursions. In October 2001, Georgia's army sent 350 crack soldiers to guard the villages in the upper Kodori Gorge

• Russian military incident: On April 2, 2002 Georgian and Abkhazian sides signed a demilitarization agreement for Kodori Gorge. UNOMIG-monitored withdrawal of 350 Georgian troops ended on April 10. However, Russian 100 ground forces entered the Kodori Gorge without having any peacekeeping mandate on the morning of April 12. They were soon surrounded by the Georgian Defence Ministry forces. A likely armed conflict was prevented by President Eduard Shevardnadze going to Kodori to bring the situation under control. The UN representatives in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict theater also condemned the Russian action. On April 14, a Russian military unit left the gorge.

External links

• Georgraphy of the valley
• UNOMIG activities in the valley
• Georgian-Russian tensions, from the article of the
• Georgian-Russian tensions
• Russian military incursion in 2002