The rebel leader of Georgia’s province of Ajaria has quit after weeks of tension with the government, President Mikhail Saakashvili has confirmed. Aslan Abashidze flew out of the region with his family on a plane for Moscow following three hours of talks brokered by a senior Russian envoy. Protesters in the regional capital Batumi celebrated the news. There had been fears that Mr Abashidze’s followers would resist any challenge to his long-standing rule.
| Maybe he can move in with Jean-Berty and Chuck Taylor... |
The BBC’s Chloe Arnold reports from Tbilisi that the departure of Mr Abashidze is reminiscent of last year’s Rose Revolution in Georgia when Mr Saakashvili led a peaceful uprising to overthrow the then leader, Eduard Shevardnadze. Mr Abashidze’s Ajaria was the last bastion of the former regime. Mr Abashidze boarded the plane of Russia’s envoy, Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov, at Batumi airport. One of Mr Abashidze’s security guards said he had ordered his elite militia to disarm before leaving. "Everyone is giving in their guns," the guard, named only as Gocha, was quoted as saying by AFP news agency. "It was his last instruction before he left." The region’s police force had already switched loyalty to the central government before news of Mr Abashidze’s departure.
| ... which presumably had something to do with his departure. |
President Abashidze said a "new era" had started. "I congratulate everyone on this victory, on the beginning of Georgia’s unification. Georgia will be united," he said. Two of the tiny Caucasus republic’s other regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, have been out of Tbilisi’s control for years. |