There are several constraints affecting any attempt to rehabilitate Abkhazia. First and foremost, the loss of more than half the 1989 population, with particular emphasis on the skilled and economically active sectors, has had a devastating impact on the region's social and economic resilience. With a diminished labour force and sectoral structures functioning at a fraction of their earlier capacity, development possibilities are seriously limited. It is understandably difficult to plan recovery for infrastructure and services when the number of beneficiaries remains an open question. Security itself poses a significant concern.
Rehabilitation normally presupposes that conflict has ended.
In the current case, there is room for doubt as to when peaceful coexistence can become reality between the people who were on both sides of the 1992-1993 warfare. In political terms, the positions appear to have hardened over time. An attitude of proud self-reliance on one hand, and convinced determination on the other, contribute to the lack of flexibility in the search for solutions to the deleterious state of Abkhazia. Notwithstanding, there do exist shared interests with regard to the rehabilitation of Abkhazia, which point towards a mutually acceptable strategy for implementation of development projects. A Dual Approach.