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January 1, 2005
Yushchenko rings in New Year
>From correspondents in Kiev, Ukraine
January 1, 2005
UKRAINE opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko rang in the New Year with
Georgia's leader today in central Kiev, hours after Prime Minister Viktor
Yanukovich resigned and all but admitted losing a presidential rerun vote.
In an appearance sure to irritate Russia, Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili joined Mr Yushchenko in hailing Ukraine's "orange revolution",
which followed Tbilisi's "rose" uprising last year.
"This is a triumph of good over evil," a beaming Mr Saakashvili said in
Ukrainian to some 100,000 people gathered in Kiev's central Independence
Square, the epicentre of the "orange" protests which he fervently supported,
albeit in private.
"I am a president and because of my official position I couldn't come here,
but my heart was on Khreshchatik (Kiev's main thoroughfare)... I must say
that these last few days I have felt like a native of Kiev," said Mr
Saakashvili, who attended university in the city.
"I wish you a happy new year with your new president," he said. "You have a
super president, he is a good friend of mine and a great politician."
For his part Mr Yushchenko said: "Ukrainians have been independent for 13
years but now they are free," a few moments before midnight when fireworks
exploded over the Kiev sky.
The celebration came hours after Mr Yushchenko's pro-Russia electoral rival
Mr Yanukovich resigned from his post and said that his appeals over the
historic December 26 vote were unlikely to be granted.
"I have made a decision and am formally submitting my resignation,"
Yanukovich said in a televised address. "I find it impossible to occupy any
post in a government headed by these authorities."
But Mr Yanukovich stopped short of conceding defeat in the poll, which would
have brought Ukraine's six-week election saga to an end.
"Concerning the election results, we are keeping up the fight but I don't
have much hope for a just decision from the central election commission and
the supreme court," he said.
Mr Yanukovich repeated his assertion that "external forces" were responsible
for his defeat in the December 26 vote.
But he got no support from Ukraine's outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, who
called on the nation during his New Year address to "accept the democratic
choice" made in the presidential poll.
Ukraine's "orange revolution" marked the second year in a row that peaceful
protests headed by a Western-leaning leader swept out a Russia-friendly
regime in an ex-Soviet nation.
Moscow has accused the United States of fomenting the unrest in order to
install allies in its strategic backyard, charges that Washington has
denied.
But opposition movements in authoritarian-leaning former Soviet republics
and Russia have hailed the peaceful uprisings and in the heat of the
"orange" demonstrations, Belarussians, Armenians, Azeris and Russians
mingled with Ukrainian protesters in central Kiev.
Earlier yesterday, Mr Saakashvili was mobbed by hundreds of wildly cheering
opposition supporters as he walked through a tent city in central Kiev set
up in Mr Yushchenko's support after he refused to concede defeat to Mr
Yanukovich in a November 21 runoff because of fraud.
Mass opposition demonstrations led to the annulment of the runoff election
due to massive fraud, remade Ukraine into a de facto parliamentary republic
and led to a historic rerun vote on December 26, which Mr Yushchenko won by
more than 2.2 million votes.
Agence France-Presse
January 1, 2005
Yushchenko rings in New Year
>From correspondents in Kiev, Ukraine
January 1, 2005
UKRAINE opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko rang in the New Year with
Georgia's leader today in central Kiev, hours after Prime Minister Viktor
Yanukovich resigned and all but admitted losing a presidential rerun vote.
In an appearance sure to irritate Russia, Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili joined Mr Yushchenko in hailing Ukraine's "orange revolution",
which followed Tbilisi's "rose" uprising last year.
"This is a triumph of good over evil," a beaming Mr Saakashvili said in
Ukrainian to some 100,000 people gathered in Kiev's central Independence
Square, the epicentre of the "orange" protests which he fervently supported,
albeit in private.
"I am a president and because of my official position I couldn't come here,
but my heart was on Khreshchatik (Kiev's main thoroughfare)... I must say
that these last few days I have felt like a native of Kiev," said Mr
Saakashvili, who attended university in the city.
"I wish you a happy new year with your new president," he said. "You have a
super president, he is a good friend of mine and a great politician."
For his part Mr Yushchenko said: "Ukrainians have been independent for 13
years but now they are free," a few moments before midnight when fireworks
exploded over the Kiev sky.
The celebration came hours after Mr Yushchenko's pro-Russia electoral rival
Mr Yanukovich resigned from his post and said that his appeals over the
historic December 26 vote were unlikely to be granted.
"I have made a decision and am formally submitting my resignation,"
Yanukovich said in a televised address. "I find it impossible to occupy any
post in a government headed by these authorities."
But Mr Yanukovich stopped short of conceding defeat in the poll, which would
have brought Ukraine's six-week election saga to an end.
"Concerning the election results, we are keeping up the fight but I don't
have much hope for a just decision from the central election commission and
the supreme court," he said.
Mr Yanukovich repeated his assertion that "external forces" were responsible
for his defeat in the December 26 vote.
But he got no support from Ukraine's outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, who
called on the nation during his New Year address to "accept the democratic
choice" made in the presidential poll.
Ukraine's "orange revolution" marked the second year in a row that peaceful
protests headed by a Western-leaning leader swept out a Russia-friendly
regime in an ex-Soviet nation.
Moscow has accused the United States of fomenting the unrest in order to
install allies in its strategic backyard, charges that Washington has
denied.
But opposition movements in authoritarian-leaning former Soviet republics
and Russia have hailed the peaceful uprisings and in the heat of the
"orange" demonstrations, Belarussians, Armenians, Azeris and Russians
mingled with Ukrainian protesters in central Kiev.
Earlier yesterday, Mr Saakashvili was mobbed by hundreds of wildly cheering
opposition supporters as he walked through a tent city in central Kiev set
up in Mr Yushchenko's support after he refused to concede defeat to Mr
Yanukovich in a November 21 runoff because of fraud.
Mass opposition demonstrations led to the annulment of the runoff election
due to massive fraud, remade Ukraine into a de facto parliamentary republic
and led to a historic rerun vote on December 26, which Mr Yushchenko won by
more than 2.2 million votes.
Agence France-Presse