Bush visits ex-Soviet Georgia

2005-05-10 08:13

Tbilisi - US President George W Bush is expected on Tuesday to make a landmark speech in Georgia, the heart of a region torn with ethnic conflicts and long dominated by Russia, underscoring the dramatic geopolitical shifts under way in the former Soviet Union.

Bush, who arrived in Georgia on Monday, was due to meet US-educated President Mikhail Saakashvili and other officials, including the speaker of parliament, Nino Burjanadze, and representatives of civil society.

The American leader was then to deliver his speech and depart for Washington.

Georgian authorities have promised to mass 100 000 people to hear Bush speak on Freedom Square - formerly known as Lenin Square - in an event that will be telling of the changes that have taken place here since mass protests toppled an entrenched regime in 2003.

"I have been most impressed by the aftermath of the revolution," Bush said in an interview with a local television network prior to his arrival, referring to the "Rose Revolution" that brought Saakashvili to power.

Georgia became the first of three former Soviet republics to overthrow corrupt, entrenched governments in the last 18 months, defying Moscow and ushering in reforms.

It is also a key link in an US-backed energy transport corridor that spans Nato member Turkey, a massive Central Asian oil deposit, cutting Russia to the north out of the Caspian oil equation.

Traditional music

Georgian television networks aired live video of Bush clapping and nodding his head to the beat of traditional Georgian music as his host, Saakashvili led him through a giant, tightly choreographed dance presentation before hosting the US president and his wife, Laura, for dinner.

Authorities in the Caucasus nation pulled out all the stops in an effort to repair roads that Bush's motorcade will travel over and to give crumbling buildings along the route a fresh coat of paint.

Georgia marks the last leg of a four-country World War 2 victory commemoration that has taken the US president through The Netherlands and Russia and that began - to Moscow's chagrin - in the former Soviet Baltic republic Latvia, a state aligned with Nazi Germany.

Controversy over the Soviet Union's role in occupying the Baltic states after the war clouded victory celebrations in Moscow as Russia denied its presence there had been illegal.

But Bush's Georgia visit also tests Russian pride as it highlights how far a nation obscured by centuries of Russian domination has come.

Georgia was absorbed into the Russian empire in the early 1800s and shares many religious and historical ties with its neighbour. But since independence in 1991 it has been at odds with Moscow over two separatist Russia-backed quasi-states and military bases within its territory.

The issue is so contentious that the Georgian leader boycotted V-Day celebrations in Moscow due to continuing disagreements over the presence of Russian troops in the republic.

- AFP