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Cheney: US is friend and ally of Georgia

04/09/2008

US vice president Dick Cheney has reassured Georgia it can count on the continued support of Washington.

In a trip to Tbilisi a day after the state department announced at least $1 billion (£564 million) worth of aid for Georgia, Mr Cheney said the country had a "friend and ally" in outgoing president George Bush.

Speaking beside Mr Cheney, Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili reiterated accusations of genocide against Russia, which fought a ten-day war with Georgia during August over South Ossetia.

The conflict, sparked by Georgian shelling of the breakaway province, saw Russian tanks advance on Tbilisi and was followed by official recognition of South Ossetia and fellow rebel region Abkhazia as independent states by Moscow.

Mr Saakashvili used his joint press conference with Mr Cheney to call on the international community to maintain its condemnation of Russian actions.

The vice president responded by insisting Washington was committed to 'healing' Georgia's wounds; rebuilding its economy and reinforcing its democracy.

"After your nation won its freedom in the Rose Revolution, America came to the aid of this courageous young democracy," Mr Cheney said, adding that Russia's reliability as an international partner was in doubt.

"We are doing so again as you work to overcome an invasion of your sovereign territory and an illegitimate unilateral attempt to change your country's borders by force that has been universally condemned by the free world."