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Georgia ex-President Eduard Shevardnadze dies at 86 | Georgia ex-President Eduard Shevardnadze dies at 86 |
(35 minutes later) | |
Former Georgia President Eduard Shevardnadze has died aged 86. | |
His aide Marina Davitashvili said he had passed away on Monday after a long illness. | |
In 1992 he became the head of state of the newly independent republic of Georgia. | |
He led the country out of instability and civil war but in November 2003 was toppled in the "Rose Revolution" sparked by opposition allegations of irregularities in parliamentary polls. | He led the country out of instability and civil war but in November 2003 was toppled in the "Rose Revolution" sparked by opposition allegations of irregularities in parliamentary polls. |
Born in 1928 in the city of Lanchkhuti, Mr Shevardnadze joined the Communist Party's youth movement in 1946 and became the party's head in Georgia in 1972. | |
In 1985, he became foreign minister of the Soviet Union under reformist leader Mikhail Gorbachev. | |
He resigned from the post in 1990 before briefly taking it up again in 1991 as the country was disintegrating. | |
After returning to Georgia he managed to quell a civil war but was seen as having failed to tackle corruption. |