Eduard Shevardnadze
From Wikinfo
Eduard A. Shevardnadze (born 25 January 1928) is a Georgian politician.
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Communist Career (1948-1991)
Shevardnadze joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1948 after two years as a Komsomol instructor. In 1956 he was appointed as the 1st Secretary of the Central Committee of Komsomol of the Georgian SSR. In 1965 he was appointed Georgian Minister for the maintenance of public order and subsequently became Georgian Minister for Internal Affairs from 1968 to 1972.
A scandal in 1972 forced the resignation of Vasily Mzhavanadze, the First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party. His downfall may have been precipitated by Shevardnadze, who was the natural replacement candidate and was duly appointed to the post. In 1977, as part of a Soviet Union-wide sweep against Human Rights activists, Shevardnadze jailed a number of prominent Georgian dissidents on the grounds of anti-Soviet and pro-independence activities. These including the leading dissidents Merab Kostava (1939-1989) and Zviad Gamsakhurdia (1939-1993), who later became the first democratically elected President of the Republic of Georgia.
Shevardnadze joined the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party in 1976 and in 1978 was promoted to the rank of candidate (non-voting) member of the Soviet Politburo. His chance came in 1985 when the veteran Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrei Gromyko, resigned. Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev appointed Shevardnadze to the post, thus consolidating Gorbachev's circle of relatively young reformers.
Shevardnadze resigned in December 1990. He returned briefly as Soviet Foreign Minister in November 1991 but resigned with Gorbachev the following month when the Soviet Union was dissolved. Shevardnadze was one of the main organizers of the violent coup d'etat against the President of the Republic of Georgia, Dr. Zviad Gamsakhurdia in December 22-January 6, 1991-1992.
1992-2003
The Republic of Georgia elected as its first President a leader of the National-liberation movement of Georgia, Dr. Zviad Gamsakhurdia, a famous scientist and writer, who had been imprisoned by Shevardnadze in the late 1970s. Gamsakhurdia's rule ended abruptly in January 1992 when he was deposed in a coup d'�tat and forced to flee to the Chechen Republic. One of the organizers of the coup d'etat Eduard Shevardnadze was appointed acting chairman of the Georgian State Council in March 1992. When the Presidency was restored in November 1995, he was elected. He secured a second term in April 2000 in an election that was marred by widespread claims of vote-rigging.
A civil war in western Georgia broke out in 1992-1993 between supporters of Gamsakhurdia and Shevardnadze's regime but was ended by Russian intervention on Shevardnadze's side and the death of President Gamsakhurdia on December 31, 1993. He also faced separatist conflicts in the regions of South Ossetia (Shida Kartli) and Abkhazia, which caused the deaths of an estimated 10,000 people, as well as an assertively autonomous government in Ajara.
Georgia suffered badly from the effects of crime and rampant corruption, often perpetrated by well-connected officials and politicians. Shevardnadze's closest advisers, including several members of his family, exerted disproportionate economic power. It was estimated by outside observers that Shevardnadze's inner circle controlled as much 70 per cent of the economy: his wife edited and wrote for one of the country's major newspapers, and his daughter was the director of a film studio and one of the country's leading mobile phone networks. While Shevardnadze himself was not a conspicuous profiteer, he was accused by many Georgians of shielding corrupt supporters and using his powers of patronage to shore up his own position. Georgia acquired an unenviable reputation as one of the world's most corrupt countries.
Political Downfall
On November 2, 2003, Georgia held a parliamentary election that was widely denounced as unfair by international election observers, as well as by the U.N. and the U.S. government. The outcome sparked fury among many Georgians, leading to mass demonstrations in the capital Tbilisi and elsewhere. Protesters broke into Parliament on November 21 as the first session of the new Parliament was beginning, forcing President Shevardnadze to escape with his bodyguards. He later declared a state of emergency and insisted that he would not resign.
Despite growing tension, both sides publicly stated their wish to avoid any violence, a particular concern given Georgia's turbulent post-Soviet history. Nino Burjanadze, speaker of the Georgian parliament, said she would act as president until the situation was resolved. The leader of the opposition Mikheil Saakashvili stated he would guarantee Shevardnadze's safety and support his return as President provided he promised to call early presidential elections.
On November 23 Shevardnadze announced his resignation.
Shevardnadze's ouster prompted mass celebrations in the streets by tens of thousands of Georgians crowding Tbilisi's Rustaveli Avenue and Freedom Square. The protesters dubbed their actions a "Velvet Revolution", deliberately recalling the peaceful toppling of the Communist government in Czechoslovakia in 1989. Observers noted similarities with the overthrow of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, who was also forced to resign by mass protests following rigged elections.
Links and references
- Foes of Georgian Leader Storm Into Parliament Building by Seth Mydans, from the New York Times Web Site.
- People power forces Georgia leader out from BBC News online.
- de Waal, Thomas and Akhvlediani, Margarita. Shevardnadze: A Bitter Resignation. Georgia Alert #06, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, 1 December, 2003.
- MacKinnon, Mark. Georgia revolt carried mark of Soros. Globe and Mail, 26 November, 2003.
- Sakevarishvili, Revaz, Akhvlediani, Margarita and de Waal, Thomas. "Rose Revolution" Sweeps Away Shevardnadze. Georgia Alert #01, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, 24 November, 2003.
