GEORGIAN president Mikhail Saakashvili addressed a jubilant crowd in the capital of Adzharia province early yesterday, calling its people “heroic” after officials said regional leader Aslan Abashidze resigned and left for Russia after a power struggle with the government.

President Mikhail Saakashvili put Georgia’s military on alert today after the restive Adzharia region barred him from entering, but he pledged his goal was to take control of the region without bloodshed.

President Mikhail Saakashvili put the Georgia’s military on alert today after the restive Adzharia region barred him from entering, but he pledged his goal was to take control of the region without bloodshed.

Six weeks after President Eduard Shevardnadze’s dramatic resignation in the face of mass demonstrations, Georgians today vote for his successor, widely expected to be the man who led the protests.

Georgia’s highest court today invalidated the fraud-tainted parliamentary vote that sparked the peaceful removal of President Eduard Shevardnadze, leaving the old parliament in place until new elections.