Saakashvili's olive branch spurned by opposition

GEORGIA:Mikhail Saakashvili vowed yesterday to fight poverty in Georgia and improve its strained ties with neighbouring Russia as he was sworn in for a second term as president of the strategic state nestled between the Black Sea and the Caucasus mountains.

But Mr Saakashvili's offer to work with his opponents to improve living standards, defeat corruption and lead Georgia towards the European Union and Nato was rebuffed by tens of thousands of protesters who accused him of rigging this month's election.

While Mr Saakashvili was being inaugurated in the centre of the capital, Tbilisi, about 80,000 Georgians were rallying in the city's old hippodrome to condemn his alleged electoral fraud and pledge to topple the leader of the 2003 Rose Revolution.

"My foremost goal is the prosperity of every Georgian family. My goal is to beat poverty," Mr Saakashvili (40) said in his inauguration speech.

"We must unite and build our country together ... We do not have time for confrontation. We don't have this luxury. That's why I'm offering a more important role to the opposition in my second term."

Mr Saakashvili's opponents, who say he uses authoritarian tactics to crush critics and enrich his friends, showed no enthusiasm for his offer of a truce, however.

"There is no president in Georgia, because the people did not give impostor Mikhail Saakashvili any mandate of trust," said Levan Gachechiladze, who officially won 26 per cent of votes in the January 5th election, against 53 per cent for Mr Saakashvili.

"If our demands are not met, this national movement will turn into a national uprising against the government," Mr Gachechiladze told the cheering crowd, calling on people to refrain from violence but prepare for mass protests before May's parliamentary election.

While the US-educated president is determined to lead his country into the EU and Nato, he has also stressed the need for better relations with Russia, which supports two separatist regions of the country, which many analysts expect to follow Kosovo in declaring independence in the coming months.