I will go into this in more detail further. But first I would like to make a few more introductory remarks. I did not suspect that the culture of blood revenge would be so salient in the issue of refugee return. I had to come and meet people face to face and listen carefully in order to really understand the resistance to the massive return of Georgians. My observation of representatives of international organizations is that they preach their universalistic guidelines more than they listen to the concerns of local populations.
Economic factors are also no doubt influential in considerations about the return of refugees.
For instance, many families in the capital city of Sukhumi, Abkhazian and non-Abkhazian, have taken over apartments abandoned by Georgians who left the territory when Abkhazian forces drove out the Georgian army. Some moved into these apartments out of necessity, their own homes having been destroyed or made uninhabitable, and others, for unjustifiable reasons. In addition, many jobs became available from the loss of the large Georgian population. So I speculated that the benefits of newly acquired apartments and jobs might be the underlying motivation for resisting the return of Georgians. However, these considerations were not expressed to me, and when I raised them informants were adamant in their denial.