Georgia - Mike Goldwater

On the day after the fall of Sukhumi to Abkhazian forces, Georgian people in the now front-line town of Ochamchire prepare to leave.

On the railway platform a mother greets her son whom she thought had died in Sukhumi, the town that had just fallen to Abkhazian forces.

After the fall of Sukhumi the day before to Abkhazian forces Ochamchire is now a frontline town. Georgians desperate to leave on the last train out of the town crowd onto the cattle-truck.

Passengers at Ochamchire railway station on one of the last trains to leave the town on the day after the fall of Sukhumi to Abkhazian separatist forces

Troops loyal to ex-president Gamzkurdia sit in Ochamchire's main square waiting for orders. A little girl gives back a live grenade that the soldier has just handed her to play with.

A family in Ochamchire tries to douse the flames after their house is hit in an Abkhazian rocket attack.

Fearing an advance by Abkhazian forces further south, this young Georgian family cross the Zugdidi bridge to relative safety.

Georgian government troops, many of them volunteers, retreat from the front line. They were later disarmed by troops loyal to ex-president Gamzakurdia.

Ex-president Zviad Gamzakhurdia, in military fatigues, makes a brief visit to the military H.Q. in Ochamchire.

Three lines cars and trucks block the road as tens of thousands of Geogians from Ochamchire and Gali flee south before advancing Abkhazian forces.

People climb on board a truck as Georgians abandon Ochamchire on the day after the fall of Sukhumi to advancing Abkhazian forces.

Geogrian refugees cross the Zugdidi bridge to relative safety.

Dawn on the Zugdidi bridge the day after the Abkhazian advance. An elderly woman has gone to Abkhazian troops at the end of the bridge to find out what has happened to her relatives. She returned empty-handed.

The morning after the Abkhazian advance refugees gather on the Georgian side of the Zugdidi bridge and stare across at the Abkhazian tanks.

For thousands of Georgian refugees fleeing from Sukhumi, Ochamchire or Gali the only way out was over the 2,7580 m Chuberi Pass. Refugees gathered at Gentsvishi hoping for a helicopter to take them to safety. However, the only option for most people was the long walk over the mountains.

Refugees fight to board a helicopter at Gentsvishi, a day's walk from the foot of the Chuberi pass.

Heavy trucks and melting snow have turned the dirt road over the Chubery Pass ino an axle-deep river of mud. This large truck is hopelessly stuck.

Children and their grandmother sleep in an abandoned car to keep warm before they attempt to cross the Chuberi Pass on foot the following day.

'Refugees fleeing from Abkhazian Svaneti to Georgia on the Chuberi Pass try to help their overladen horse at it sinks to its belly in deep mud.

'Refugees carrying possessions on their backs begin the long climb over the 2,780 metre high Chuberi Pass, fleeing from Abkhazian Svaneti into Georgia.

Refugees walk with their pack horse past the body of a women as they flee over the Chuberi Pass into Georgia

In the bitter cold of dawn, refugees who have camped in the forest after crossing the Chuberi Pass into Georgia set off for the safety of Chuberi town.

This government soldier is comforted as he waits for medical help. He had just been shot by bandits on the road to Chuberi because he refused to hand over his weapon.

President Shevardnadze prepares for an hour-long satellite interview for French TV from an improvised studio in the Georgian Embassy, Moscow.

In September 1993 civil war broke out in Georgia. Russian–backed Abkhasian seperatists were fighting government forces for the key town of Sukhumi.
I had already covered several stories on the break-up of the Soviet Union and I was keen to cover it. Colin Jacobson at the Independent Magazine gave me a commission and I set off as soon as I could with the contacts I had managed to make in the few days before I left.
In a run-down 60’s era hotel in Tblisi I met Polish photographer Chris. We were both keen to get to Sukhumi as quickly as possible and we agreed to share our contacts. I had a lead to follow at the foreign ministry and he had one with the TV station. Later that morning I had got us press passes and he had got us a ride with a one–man tv crew in an old Lada Estate leaving early the following morning.
We drove all day until the early afternoon where we entered the town of Zugdidi. The streets were empty. We were stopped by soldiers at a check-point, and showed our press passes. You need passes from President Zviad Gamsakhurdia we were told, and were directed towards a local government building where, after much waiting, we met Zviad Gamsakhurdia, Georgia’s deposed ex-president. We were keen to get back on the road. The TV cameraman did a short interview, Chris and I took some pictures and we were given new press passes, signed by Gamsakhurdia himself.
I sat by the window as we drove north listening to the BBC World Service on my small Sony short-wave and heard the news that Sukhumi had just fallen. We decided to head for Ochamchire, the next town south of Sukhumi where the new front-line was likely to be.