Shevardnadze resigned

TBILISI, November 23 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Georgia’s political earthquake seemed Sunday, November 23, in its way to calming down. Veteran President Eduard Shevardnadze resigned, a senior opposition figure declared a presidential election will be held in Georgia in 45 days' time, and the tremor proved to be "velvet revolution" after all.

Shevardnadze resigned late Sunday to scenes of wild jubilation in the streets of Tbilisi, as the man who helped end the Cold War was forced to step down after weeks of angry protests, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

He handed over power to former parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze in the climax to mounting protests after a disputed November 2 parliamentary poll that tapped into widespread dissatisfaction with his rule.

As thousands of protestors shouted, cheered and danced to celebrate the news, Georgian television reported the Presidential plane was waiting at the tarmac of the capital's airport.

"President Shevardnadze has resigned," opposition leader Mikhail Saakashvili said on Rustavi-2 television as he announced Burjanadze's appointment as acting President.

"He has taken a manly step by leaving office without spilling any blood."

Just before, inside his residence outside Tbilisi where Shevardnadze had agreed to resign after meeting the opposition leaders along with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, he cut a lonely figure.

Asked by reporters who he was handing power over to, the 75-year-old Shevardnadze, who was once the darling of the West, replied: "That is no longer any of my concern."

Shevardnadze, who was forced to flee to his residence outside Tbilisi Saturday after angry protestors stormed the parliament, had sought to defuse the crisis Sunday by promising talks on new parliamentary and Presidential elections.

"I am ready for dialogue and if you want, to discuss early Presidential and parliamentary elections, but only after you leave the (parliament) buildings," Shevardnadze said in a televised address.

But Saakashvili said the country's army and security forces had already abandoned Shevardnadze, who was due to end his second term in 2005, and called on him to step down immediately and go into exile.

The opposition has charged that the parliamentary elections which returned Shevardnadze's government to power were rigged, and alleged that the President had allowed corruption to flourish unchecked.

Jubilant opposition supporters

The European Union and the Russian and U.S. governments coordinated international efforts to end the political crisis in Georgia peacefully, as Russia's Foreign Minister Ivan Ivanov shuttled between Shevardnadze and the opposition Sunday.

At one point the opposition threatened to march on his residence outside the capital.

Shevardnadze, who was elected in 1995, declared a state of emergency Saturday, but on Sunday backtracked saying the declaration had not been put into effect.

Shevardnadze's critics allege that despite winning Western support for helping to end the Cold War as Soviet foreign minister, he has allowed powerful interests to get away with corruption in exchange for their political loyalty and let the once prosperous country descend into poverty.

Georgia, which is of vital strategic interest to the West as a transit route for oil from the new fields of the Caspian Sea, was buffeted by civil war fought out on the cobbled streets of Tbilisi more than a decade ago.

But the demonstrations this time were peaceful, giving rise to comparisons with the "velvet revolution" which saw the peaceful overthrow of communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989.

Late Sunday, outside the parliament, the scene of almost daily rallies by thousands of opposition supporters since the disputed poll, red flares lit up the night sky as protestors let off a round of fireworks in celebration.