Carnegie Europe: "Can the Coronavirus Reset the Abkhazia Conflict?"

The new reality imposed by the global COVID-19 pandemic has opened up an avenue for a closer engagement between Georgia and the de-facto leadership of Abkhazia, believes region expert Thomas de Waal in a piece for Carnegie Europe.

The the recent de-facto election of the president of the unrecognised province, in the realm of the spread of the virus threatening it, means there is an opportunity to see movement in the "exhausting" and drawn-out confrontation, de Waal says.

Officially, Abkhazia has registered only one case of the virus, but as there is almost no testing it is impossible to confirm what the real situation is. A serious outbreak would quickly overwhelm its health system" - Thomas de Waal

The article argues that a response of a group of Western governments to the de-facto election missed an opportunity to express readiness to help Abkhazia contain a spread of COVID-19 while only focusing on the political framing.

While the non-recognition of the de-facto regime by the West is "well-justified", it is claimed in the piece, it could be developed into a more constructive format.

Two new factors, the election of Bzhania and the global pandemic, are an argument for much more active engagement" - Thomas de Waal

Such new approach should be based on points of active engagement around the issues of the coronavirus, an "on-the-ground international development assistance program" in Abkhazia and reciprocal action by the de-facto government, de Waal writes.

Read the full story here.