- US Secretary of State Colin Powell implicitly warned
Russia against supporting separatists in Georgia, as he prepared to meet
with the new leader of the former Soviet republic.
-
- "No support should be given to breakaway elements
seeking to weaken the territorial integrity of Georgia," he said in
a clear reference to Russia's support for separatist movements in the country,
without naming Moscow.
-
- The opposition seized power in Tbilisi November 23 in
a bloodless revolution. Since then Russia tried to increase its grip on
the former Soviet republic by hosting top representatives from Georgia's
separatist regions South Ossetia, Abkhazia and Adjara, who have refused
to deal with the new leaders.
-
- "The international community should do everything
possible to support Georgia's territorial integrity throughout and beyond
the elections," Powell told delegates at a ministerial meeting of
the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Maastricht.
-
- Powell called on the new leadership to ensure that presidential
elections, scheduled for January 4, are "free and fair."
-
- The presidential vote is due to take place on the same
day as parliamentary elections, but acting president Nino Burjanadze warned
it might not be technically possible to hold joint elections.
-
- Powell was later due to meet Burjanadze, who took over
from Eduard Shevardnadze when the president resigned in the face of massive
popular opposition.
-
- A senior US official travelling with Powell told AFP
that he intends to tell the new leader of the former Soviet republic to
fight corruption.
-
- "There is a lot of work that we -- the United States,
the OSCE, the European Union, the council of Europe -- are all prepared
to support (Georgia) on. Make sure that the election is clean and fair,"
the official paraphrased Powell.
-
- On Monday the international community at the OSCE conference
pledged more than five million euros (six million dollars) to Georgia to
help them organise elections. Washington has also promised an unspecified
sum of money for the vote.
-
- The visit of the US Secretary of State to the OSCE conference
was to last only a few hours. Powell is due to set off midday to north
Africa and Belgium on a diplomatic tour.
-
- While the uncertain situation in Georgia dominated the
OSCE meeting, delegates were also mulling strategies to combat what the
organisation calls "new threats and challenges" posed by global
terrorism, human trafficking and discrimination.
-
- The organisation is likely to adopt a document championed
by the United States and Russia outlining the new threats and challenges
and giving strategies for dealing with them.
-
- In a draft declaration the OSCE members pledged to fight
terrorism.
-
- "We are determined to combat this scourge and therefore
endorse further counter-terrorist measures. These include enhancing the
security of travel documents and cretaing a counter-terrorism network,"
according to the document.
-
- Copyright © 2002 AFP. All rights reserved. All information
displayed in this section (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected
by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence
you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any
way commercially exploit any of the contents of this section without the
prior written consent of Agence France-Presses.
|
