Mikhail Saakashvili

Thousands had massed on the streets of the regional capital, Batumi, in anticipation of the departure of Aslan Abashidze, who had run the Black Sea region as his personal fiefdom for more than a decade.

Aslan Abashidze

It had been feared that the standoff between Abashidze and the Georgian government could trigger a civil war, but Abashidze left quietly for Russia.

Abashidze, a white-haired former Communist Party official, was the last bastion of the old regime of President Eduard Shevardnadze that was swept away in last year's "Rose Revolution."

The Japan Times Weekly: May 15, 2004
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