Also reported by
BBC News.
I served in this region as part of the UN Observer Mission. The whole area is extemely lawless and the Kodori valley is more lawless than the rest of it. We frequently had UNMOs taken hostage up there (although the Georgian hospitality is good so they generally came back better fed!); but, more seriously one of the Mission's MI-24s was shot down by the just outside the Kodori valley in Oct 2001 killing all on board. We could never be sure if the ac was targeted because it was a UN aircraft or if it was mistaken for a Russian MI-24. The peacekeeping forces were provided by the CIS although all the troops were from the Russian Federation and the Georgians hate the Russians.
Although the Kododori is the the de-facto Republic of Abkhazia it remains under Georgian control. Although this 'control' a very loose as the people in this area (the Svanteti) are basically a law to themselves. When Abkhazian forces evicted Georgian forces from the break-away region (some claim that they did this with the assistance of some Russian forces - the Georgians claim that they were subject to attacks from Ground-Attack aircraft and artillary - and the Abkhazians didn't have any of either) several thousand ethnic Georgians fled across the mountains through the Kodori George - the local Svaneti lep them through after first relieving them of much of their possessions. Ankhazia has effectivley been ethnically clensed of ethnic Georgians (though this term is disputed as Georgia is made up of many ethnic groups). The Kodori remains a worry to the Abkhazians who believe that if several thousand 'Georgian' civilians can get out of Abkhazia that way then several thousand Georgian troops could come back - and the valley bypasses the main Abkazian force concentrations outside of the UN monitored and CIS PKF patrolled securtiy zones either side of the Ituri River.