Georgia maintains, that a group of Abkhaz saboteurs had infiltrated the upper part of the Kodori Valley, which was the only territory of Abkhazia, controlled by the Georgian government, in order to disrupt the construction of a road, connecting Kodori to the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region of Georgia.
In September 1993, Zviad Gamsakhurdia took advantage of the struggle in Abkhazia to return to the city of Zugdidi, western Georgia, and rally enthusiastic but disorganized Georgians in Samegrelo region against the demoralized and unpopular government of Eduard Shevardnadze.
Mingrelian (მარგალური ნინა, margaluri nina), with some 500,000 native speakers as of 1989, mainly in the western regions of Georgia of Samegrelo and Abkhazia (at present in Gali district only).
Ochamchire district has boundaries with Gulripsh and Gali districts of Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia and Tsalenjikha Municipality of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti.