TBILISI, Georgia — President Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia said Sunday that he planned to rebuild his country’s shattered army, and that even after its decisive defeat in the war for control of one of Georgia’s two separatist enclaves, he would continue to pursue a policy of uniting the enclaves under the Georgian flag.
“It will stay the same,” he said of his ambition to bring South Ossetia and Abkhazia under Georgian control. “Now as ever.”
Also on Sunday, France called an emergency summit meeting of the European Union for next Monday to discuss “the future of relations with Russia” and aid to Georgia, according to a statement from French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The meeting was framed as a response to Russia’s failure to meet the terms of the cease-fire agreement that Sarkozy negotiated between Moscow and Tbilisi. Sarkozy, in a statement, said he was responding to the demands of “several states” for the summit meeting, which will deal with “the crisis in Georgia” and take place in Brussels, Belgium.
Saakashvili said that while he may face pressures in the months ahead, as the effects of the war ripple through the economy, he said he expected to weather any troubles.
“There has been tremendous solidarity,” he said.
The New York Times
