Georgia: Caucasus flashpoint

(CNN) -- News that the United States is considering deploying troops to Georgia is focusing attention on a possible new front in the war against terror.

Georgia, which itself declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, now has its own separatist movement to contend with in Abkhazia.

VIDEO Will America's war on terrorism come to Georgia? CNN's Jill Dougherty reports (February 27) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   MORE STORIES Moscow alarm at U.S.'s Georgia aid  Georgia: Caucasus flashpoint  U.S. troops may head to republic of Georgia    EXTRA INFORMATION Map of Georgia and its neighbors    RESOURCES • Timeline: Georgia after the Soviet Union  • Timeline: Chechnya after the Soviet Union

And military analysts suspect that in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge al Qaeda terrorists, who have fled Afghanistan, are holed up with Chechen separatists who have crossed the border to avoid Russian offensives.

Muslim separatists in Chechnya have long been considered terrorists by Russia's political establishment, which says they were responsible for bomb attacks in the neighbouring republic of Dagestan, and on apartment blocks in Moscow and Volgodonsk.

Before September 11, Russia had faced regular and harsh criticism from the West for alleged human rights violations and the use of excessive force in Chechnya.

After the attacks on the United States, the criticism was largely muted.

However, in January U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher accused Russia of not doing enough to pursue contacts with Chechen separatists.

Chechens first fought for independence in 1993 and after three years of guerrilla warfare, forced the Russian Army to retreat in humiliation.

In 1999 Russia launched a second Chechen offensive, this time sweeping through the countryside to the capital, Grozny, and forcing the rebels to flee to surrounding mountains.

When President Aslan Maskhadov called for resistance, Moscow branded him and his supporters "terrorists".

Although Russia now refuses to recognise his authority, in January, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers said Maskhadov was a key figure for resolving the conflict in Chechnya, and should not be regarded as a terrorist.

Russia has offered to hold talks with the rebels – but only if they lay down their arms.

And rarely a day goes by without reports of clashes between the Russian military and the separatists.

They continue to be based in the mountains around Grozny and use the Pankisi Gorge across the border as a safe haven from Russian attacks.

In Georgia, in the Caucasus mountains, the region of Abkhazia has been a thorn in the governments side for 10 years.

The tiny separatist region, in northern Georgia and with a Black Sea coastline, enjoys widespread autonomy but insists on independence.

Often the conflict merely simmers at the edge of the political arena before flaring back to life again with attack and counter attack, claim and counter claim.

The independence movement first gained momentum in 1992 when Georgian troops attempted to quell independence moves but succeeded only in attracting more to the independence cause.

During that fighting, Chechens and other North Caucasian peoples rushed to the aid of the Abkhaz.