From 40,000 to 60,000 refugees have returned to Gali District since 1998, including persons commuting daily across the ceasefire line and those migrating seasonally in accordance with agricultural cycles.

The population of the district was 29,287 according to the 2003 census conducted in Abkhazia but that figure is questioned by many international observers;[3] it was estimated at 45 thousand in 2006 although Abkhazian authorities contested this number claiming that at least 65,000 refugees had returned.

The name "Gali" is a Russified form of the Kartvelian (Mingrelian) word "Ghali"(ღალი), which translates as "brook" or "gully"[5] Historically, the present-day Gali District constituted the borderland between the principalities of Abkhazia and Samegrelo, the two breakaway feudal domains of the Kingdom of Georgia, and frequently changed its masters as the borders of these princedoms fluctuated during the dynastic feuds between the Shervashidze and Dadiani clans.

In the second half of the 17th century, the Shervashidze princes of Abkhazia succeeded in conquering the territories up the Inguri River including the Gali District.

In contrast to the rest of Abkhazia largely Islamized under the Ottoman Empire, Samurzakano remained adherent to the Georgian Orthodox Christianity.

The rate of intermarriages between the Georgians and Abkhaz was high that resulted in the mixed heritage of the district's population and the introduction of the special category "Samurzakanians" in the 1897 Imperial Russian census.

As the Soviet censuses carried out after 1926 didn't distinguish Georgians and Mingrelians as separate nationalities they together constituted the overwhelming majority in the district.

At the height of the secessionist war in Abkhazia in 1993, the Georgians of Gali were subjected to systematic ethnic cleansing at the hands of the Abkhaz militias and their allies from Russia's North Caucasian republics.

The United Nations Joint Assessment Mission to the Gali District confirmed, in 2000, that homes and infrastructure were deliberately burned and looted during the Abkhaz offensive.

Georgia regularly criticizes the Abkhaz authorities and the Russian peacekeeping forces for failing to assure the local population's safety and prevent human rights abuses.

"[11] On July 31, 2009, the breakaway region's Parliament passed amendment to the law making ethnic Georgians living in Gali District eligible for the Abkhaz citizenship.

The Inguri hydroelectric station, a major supplier to Abkhazia and part of Georgia proper, is located on the Abkhaz-Georgian ceasefire line and is operated jointly.

[26] As a result, the economic and trade links between the two sides of the cease-fire line, which formed the backbone of the resident's coping economies, became more strained.

[4] The infrastructure remains in the state of collapse and, in spite of the limited international humanitarian aid, the majority of returnees continue to live in damaged houses or temporary shelters.