Shevardnadze refuses to flee after people's coup

“Order must be restored immediately not only in Tbilisi but also in all the regions of the country,” she said in a nationally televised speech.

Meanwhile Shevardnadze, the Soviet Union’s glasnost foreign minister, dismissed persistent rumours that he might flee to Germany.

“Although I love Germany very much, my homeland is Georgia and I owe it to her to stay here,” he said.

German media recently reported that people close to Shevardnadze had bought a 37.5 million secluded villa for his use in Baden-Baden.

Later Burdzhanadze, a lawyer, said she would repeal the state of emergency declared two days earlier by Shevardnadze. “There is no need for it now,” she said.

Life in Tbilisi appeared to be returning to normal after a night of street parties. Traffic flowed freely along Tbilisi’s main Rustaveli avenue, the scene of protests, for the first time in days.

Shevardnadze resigned on Sunday after a decade of mounting discontent and three weeks of protests over parliamentary elections his critics said exemplified the corruption that has plagued the former Soviet republic during his reign.

Some 50,000 demonstrators celebrated outside the parliament building following Shevardnadze’s sudden exit – a step he said he took to avoid a bloodbath in a region steeped in violence.

“I realised that what is happening may end with spilled blood if I use my rights” to employ force against the protesters, said Shevardnadze, who for weeks had rejected opposition demands that he step down in the wake of a general election that was widely condemned as marred by fraud.

Burdzhanadze, a scholarly-looking 39-year-old, acted quickly to ensure their loyalty. She convened an overnight meeting of the country’s top security officials.

Conspicuously absent was Koba Narchemashvili, the interior minister who had flanked Shevardnadze as he declared a state of emergency.

Burdzhanadze said she would not make personnel changes before elections were held, but that “there are people who, evidently, will not stay in their posts some of them have already expressed a desire to resign, and we need to have a serious talk with others.”

In her speech, Burdzhanadze said that because of the rigged elections, the old parliament she chaired would resume its legislative duties. She said that the constitution required elections within 45 days, and confirmed that voting for both the president and parliament would be held.

Burdzhanadze said Georgia would do the utmost to maintain friendly relations with its neighbours, including Russia. She also reaffirmed the nation’s pro-western course pursued by Shevardnadze, who often said Georgia would come knocking on Nato’s door one day.

“Georgia will firmly continue to realise the foreign policy course that was chosen by the country from the first days of the restoration of its independence: the road to integration and the soonest joining of European and Euro-Atlantic structures,” she said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin today blamed the regime change in Georgia on misery and endemic corruption, but attacked its perpetrators for resorting to force.

Putin scathingly criticised Shevardnadze, saying his policies were the cause of his downfall.

“The change of leadership in Georgia is the natural result of a series of systemic mistakes in the domestic, foreign and economic policy of the nation’s former leadership,” Putin said during a Cabinet session in the Kremlin.

“Corruption has increasingly dominated both economics and politics in Georgia. People have stopped seeing any light ahead.”

Moscow has also been angered by Shevardnadze’s pro-Western course and sought to keep the nation, which sits on a strategic oil pipeline, in its sphere of influence.

When elation over Shevardnadze’s resignation fades, Georgia’s former opposition leaders will face a stern challenge in addressing the Caucasus Mountain nation’s persistent problems and maintaining unity.