US backs new Georgian leader

2003-11-24 08:08

Washington - The United States granted the new Georgian government de facto recognition late on Sunday, saying it was looking forward to working with interim President Nino Burjanadze "in her effort to maintain the integrity of Georgia's democracy".

The announcement, made by state department spokesperson Richard Boucher, followed the resignation of veteran Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze amid an acute political crisis brought on by opposition charges that he had rigged a November 2 parliamentary election.

Thousands of angry demonstrators had occupied the parliament building in Tbilisi, threatening to storm the presidential residence if Shevardnadze refused to step down.

Virtually deserted by his security forces, the embattled president complied on Sunday, handing over power to Burjanadze, a former parliamentary speaker.

"We look forward to working with Interim President Burjanadze in her effort to maintain the integrity of Georgia's democracy as she strives to ensure that this change in government follows the constitution," Boucher said in a statement.

But attaching a caveat to the endorsement, he stressed that the United States and the international community stood ready to support the Georgian government "in holding free and fair parliamentary elections in the future".

"The US supports the stability and sovereignty of a democratic Georgia and is committed to helping the Georgian people emerge from this crisis," Boucher said. "We continue to urge all Georgians to work together to find a way forward without recourse to violence."

He added that the administration of President George W Bush was aware that the people of Georgia had heard the call of Mikhail Saakashvili and his colleagues "to move to a new stage in Georgian politics."

Opposition leader Saakashvili was the driving force behind the protests and is seen as a possible leading candidate in future presidential elections.

"We know that President Shevardnadzes decision was difficult, but that he made his decision in the best interests of the people of Georgia," said the State Department spokesman.

He called the ousted president "a towering figure in Georgian history and a close friend of the United States," who has worked with Washington for more than three decades on a variety of key global issues.

The president's departure notwithstanding, the unrest in Georgia introduces a new element of instability to the tense Caucasus region, already riven by conflicts over the Nagorno-Karabakh and Abkhazia enclaves and suffering the effects of a painful war in the nearby Russian republic of Chechnya.

Stability in Georgia is key to Western business interests that have selected the country for one of the pipelines designed to bring oil from Caspian fields to market.

- AFP