Meanwhile, Georgian refugees maintain a government in exile.

In the weeks following the conflict, the Georgian government began building numerous settlements throughout the country to permanently accommodate Georgian refugees.

According to Georgian refugees, these servicemen showed little discipline or respect for the laws of war.

Saturday's accord followed an earlier agreement signed April 4 in Moscow and which additionally foresaw the return of 200,000 Georgian refugees from the conflict zone.

Around the same time, Tsaava was involved in negotiations with a group of Georgian refugees from Abkhazia that had taken hostages.

Anyone who had tried to hide a Georgian refugee or helped in any way was condemned and killed.

In early February, several thousand Georgian refugees tried to return to their villages in the Gali region.

Georgia offers Abkhazia broad autonomy on the condition that the estimated 250,000 Georgian refugees, driven out in the 1992-93 war, can return.

The hostilities resulted in hundreds of casualties from both sides and an additional 20,000 Georgian refugees.

The Georgian refugees either fled to Russia through the land border or were evacuated by the Russian navy.