Georgia celebrates the fall of provincial strongman

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.

"You are heroic people," Mr Saakashvili told the crowd, speaking through a window of Abashidze's former residence in the Adzharian capital Batumi, where thousands had protested for more than 24 hours, calling for the regional strongman's resignation.

"You have achieved your Georgia," said Mr Saakashvili, who vowed to work to the unite the country after his landslide election in January. He told supporters that they had "demonstrated to the whole world your striving for democracy."