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The News in Brief

Tuesday, September 9
I feel pretty good for a corpse - Saakashvili

The Georgian President has said he listened with some irony to the recent allegations by the Russian authorities that the end of his political career was nigh.

In a recent statement Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called Saakashvili “a political corpse.” “When someone calls you a corpse a hundred times and you are still moving that means that either somebody has eye problems or they are unable to do you wrong,” Saakashvili said while introducing the new governor of Kakheti to the local populace on Sunday.

“They (the Russian Government) wanted to eliminate not the Georgian President but Georgia itself,” Saakashvili said. “Their main objective was to bring Georgia to its knees but they failed, and will never achieve that. Our major task now is to save Georgia’s statehood,” the Georgian President said, emphasizing that the most important thing was to avoid a crisis. Saakashvili emphasized that Russia’s actions affected the world order and “Georgia today has become the central theme of world policy.”

The Georgian President pointed out that the country had faced about 80 thousand servicemen, over 300 units of military hardware and 200 aerial attacks. At present, according to Saakashvili, one third of Georgia is occupied by the Russians. “We have become the victims of the biggest aggression of the last few years,” Saakashvili said, pointing out that the Russian authorities targeted Georgia’s statehood. Saakashvili said the country opposed this by showing a high degree of solidarity.

At the same time Saakashvili emphasized that, regardless of the aforesaid, he was proud that there was no humiliation of Russians and Ossetians by the Georgian population. “We met the barbarians in a civilized manner and that means that we have won,” Saakashvili said, emphasizing that the strength of the Georgian nation was its culture, civilization and nobility.
(Black Sea Press)



“Humana” products to be handed to IDP children from Upper Abkhazia

The Ministry of Labour, Healthcare and Welfare Protection of Abkhazia will commence the distribution of nourishment for children less than 1 year old from Upper Abkhazia on Monday.

According to the “Media Centre of Abkhazia”, Manana Shengelia, Manager of “Humana Georgia” has donated “Humana” nutrition for the children. Dalila Khorava, Minister of Defence of Abkhazia, will bring the nutrition to children at communal IDPs settlements on September 8.
(Prime-News)



Israel to render political and economic aid to Georgia

Mikhail Machavariani, Vice Speaker of the Georgian Parliament, stated after the meeting with members of a Knesset delegation on Monday that Israel will render political and economic aid to Georgia.

Abram Michael, Chairman of the Georgian-Israeli Friendship Association, has stated that discussion on all issues will be held in order for Israel to render its most effective political and economic aid to Georgia. Special attention has been focused on the issue on economic support.

The delegation will inform the Government and Parliament of Israel and Parliament of the situation in Georgia. “Georgian military injured during the Russian aggression are already undergoing treatment in Israel,” Michael noted.
(Prime-News)



Autumn session of the Georgian Parliament opened on Tuesday

The autumn session of the Georgian Parliament opened on Tuesday. The agenda for the first week was approved on Monday at the Parliamentary Bureau sitting.

Parliamentary committees presented their proposals regarding the timetabling of the discussion of draft laws due to be debated this autumn at the Bureau session.



World Council of Churches to assist Georgian-Ossetian conflict victims

The World Council of Churches (WCC), a union of over 100 Christian organizations worldwide, will render humanitarian aid to the victims of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict, presumably of several million US dollars, a WCC spokesperson said at a news conference in Moscow, Russian media sources report. The WCC is the Christian world’s largest ecumenical organization and includes predominantly Protestant churches and some Orthodox.

A WCC delegation recently visited central Georgia and the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone and met representatives of the local religious communities. “We will present a report on our visit next week and will transfer the major part of our relief funds. I believe this will be a sum of some millions of US dollars,” said Laslo Lechel, a delegation member. The organization has already transferred USD 60 thousand through the Vladikavkaz and Stavropol Eparchies as a first stage of humanitarian aid.
(Black Sea Press)