In April 2000, Eduard Shevardnadze won another five...

In April 2000, Eduard Shevardnadze won another five year term in Georgia's presidential election. But the self-declared Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia ignored the elections. Despite having their own presidents and governments, and cosmetic trappings such as flags and postage stamps, they live in a bizarre purgatory, de facto independent but recognised abroad as part of Georgia, which has ruled out independence. Both were battlegrounds between Georgians and separatist fighters in the early 1990s, and are continuing to pose a great challenge for President Shevardnadze. Georgia says Ossetia is also being used by drug smugglers to bring narcotics into the country, though this is fiercely denied by South Ossetia, which has instituted the death penalty for the trade or manufacture of illegal narcotics, much of which grows in the labyrinthine valleys of its snow-capped mountains.