In July 2006, the Georgian police and security forces took control of the Kodori Valley, hitherto controlled by the local Georgian militias led by the defiant commander Emzar Kvitsiani.
It has remained under precarious control of the central Georgian government, but the government of the area has effectively been run, until the recent crisis, by a local authority and warlord Emzar Kvitsiani, who previously led the defense of the gorge against the Abkhaz separatist forces in the capacity of the commander of the local Monadire (literally: "Hunter") militia force and an envoy of the former President of Georgia named Eduard Shevardnadze.
2006 Kodori crisis: In July 2006, Georgia sent the Interior Ministry special forces to disarm the local defiant paramilitary leader, Emzar Kvitsiani.