Georgia's new leaders are seeking urgent financial aid and have called for order and stability after the country's "velvet revolution". On Monday, a senior economic aide close to the interim president said Georgia would ask Washington for $5 million to stage new elections after a discredited 2 November parliamentary ballot which led to Eduard Shevardnadze's downfall. Developments are being watched closely by Georgia's big neighbour Russia, and by western powers wanting political stability to avoid problems with a pipeline being built through the territory to take Caspian oil to the Mediterranean Sea. Shevardnadze, 75, resigned late on Sunday, bowing to three weeks of mass protests over economic mismanagement and widespread corruption during his 11 years in power, culminating in alleged vote-rigging in the November parliamentary polls. Washington voiced support overnight for Nino Burdzhanadze, speaker of the outgoing parliament, who will act as head of state until new polls in the impoverished former Soviet state. "The United States and the international community stand ready to support the new government in holding free and fair parliamentary elections in the future," said US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, adding that Secretary of State Colin Powell had called Burdzhanadze to offer support. Under the constitution, presidential elections must be held within 45 days in the Caucasus mountain state, home to five million, but the status of the contested new parliament is ambiguous.
| I guess we'll see what develops in 45 days. The true test will come when the new president's term is up, though. If it's more of the same, they might as well start growing bananas. Meanwhile, there's a lot of work to be done, patching relations with the Russians and with the U.S., resolving the problems with Abkhazia and North Ossetia. And then there's the Pankisi Gorge... |
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