Tensions between Abkhazia and Georgia were already evident by the late 1970s, with both sides organising protests in 1978 alleging discrimination, prompting intervention by Moscow. Tensions simmered throughout the 1980s, though were stoked in latter part of the decade with the advent of perestroika and glasnost under Mikhail Gorbachev, with the Abkhaz pushing for full SSR status in 1988 and ethnic riots breaking out in Sukhumi in 1989. Thereafter Abkhaz officials unilaterally declared the area an SSR. After Georgia declared independence in 1991 a compromise was brokered between Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia and the Abkhaz leadership, however Gamsakhurdia was removed in a coup in 1992 and replaced with a more hardline nationalist government under Eduard Shevardnadze. Abkhazia declared independence in August 1992 and war broke out with Georgia. After fierce fighting the Abkhaz forces pushed the Georgians out of most of Abkhazia (save for the Kodori Gorge) and a ceasefire was arranged in May 1994. Roughly 8,000 people on both sides had been killed many more made refugees, with most Georgians in Abkhazia either fleeing or being forced out of the area. Further clashes along the border occurred in 1998, 2001 and 2006, along with numerous other small skirmishes.