U.S. Official Meets Opposition Leaders

Daniel Fried, the U.S. assistant secretary of state, met with three opposition politicians – Davit Usupashvili, the leader of the Republican Party; Levan Gachechiladze, a former presidential candidate; and Kakha Kukava, the co-leader of the Conservative Party – on October 20.

“We have talked about the problems that emerged in the country as a result of irresponsible steps by the authorities,” Kukava told reporters after the meeting. “We are still supporting the launch of dialogue [with the authorities] and we think that the United States can do much in this respect by encouraging the Georgian authorities to agree to dialogue and carry out democratic reforms.”

“We have talked about the grave consequences resulting from the war,” Gachechiladze said. “Saakashvili must show the will to overcome the crisis. What we can do is to resort to street protest rallies demanding that Saakashvili undertake all the steps needed to overcome the crisis.”

“Mr. Fried has spoken about those mistakes that had been made by the authorities and which made it easer for Russia to carry out aggression against Georgia,” Usupashvili said. "It was noted that there is a need to correct all the mistakes that have been made and the Bush administration will make its contribution in this."
 
He added that the U.S. diplomat said at the meeting that U.S. officials, including him, had been warning President Saakashvili, right to the end, not to fall for the Russian trap and not to engage in military confrontation.

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