20 September 1990 – South Ossetia declares independence. The republic remained unrecognized, yet it detached itself from Georgia de facto. In the last years of the
Soviet Union,
ethnic tensions between Ossetians and
Georgians in Georgia's former
Autonomous Oblast of South Ossetia (abolished in 1990) and between Ossetians and the
Ingush in North Ossetia evolved into violent clashes that left several hundred dead and wounded and created a large tide of refugees on both sides.[10][11][12]
Although a Russian-mediated and
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe-monitored
ceasefire was implemented in South Ossetia in 1992, the
Georgian-Ossetian conflict[13] still remains unresolved even though a recent peace plan proposed by the government of Georgia promised the South Ossetians larger
autonomy and pledged expanded international involvement in the political settlement of the conflict. Meanwhile, the South Ossetian
secessionist authorities demand independence or unification with North Ossetia, which itself is located in
Russia, while the international community instead recognizes it and
Abkhazia as a part of Georgia.[14]
On Sunday 12 November 2006, South Ossetians (mostly ethnic
Ossetians) went to the polls to vote in a referendum[15] regarding the region's independence from Georgia.[16] The result was a "yes" to independence, with a turnout above 95% from those among the territory's 70,000 people who were eligible to vote at that time.[17] There was also a vote in favor of a new term for
Eduard Kokoity, who was the de facto state's president at the time.