Powell asks for 'free' Georgian elections

MAASTRICHT, Netherlands -- A month to the day after a Georgian parliamentary election marked by ballot fraud, Secretary of State Colin Powell met Tuesday with the country's acting president, Nino Burdzhanadze, and stressed the need for a free and fair process when Georgians return to the polls on Jan. 4 to choose a new president.\nPowell arrived here from Washington before dawn to attend a meeting of the 55-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The Georgian leader was sworn in late last month following the forced resignation of President Eduard Shevardnadze.\nAt a briefing after their meeting, Powell emphasized the importance of a constitutional process in Georgia that will "lead to a new government that will have been brought to office by free, fair and open elections."\nSince last month's upheaval in Georgia, the unstable situation there has become a priority for the OSCE. Donations from member nations are expected to cover virtually the entire cost of the January election. The United States also will make a contribution, Powell said.\nThe OSCE is Europe's largest security organization. Part of its mandate is to provide encouragement and resources to countries new to democratic processes. It also has been seeking to arrange a withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia and another former Soviet republic, Moldova.\nPowell said he was disappointed that the conference had failed to reach agreement on a consensus statement about the situation in the two countries.\nPowell criticized Russia for refusing to meet a Dec. 31 deadline to withdraw troops from Georgia and Moldova, each wracked by separatist movements.\n"This is a setback, though progress has been made," Powell told the convention. He called for a swift withdrawal of Russian forces from the two former Soviet Republics.\nDisagreement over the two states preoccupied the conference and overshadowed agreements to step up the fight against human trafficking, global terrorism and the spread of small weapons, especially lethal shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles.\nAddressing the convention Monday, Burdzhanadze accused Russia of undermining Georgian sovereignty by supporting the dismemberment of the country over the past decade and by hosting their leaders last week in Moscow.\nAfter a stay here of less than four hours, Powell flew to Tunisia for a brief stop before heading for Morocco to spend the night. He will visit Algeria today and then fly to Belgium to meet with fellow NATO foreign ministers.\nHe is visiting the three North African countries partly to acknowledge their cooperation in the war on terrorism.\nThe Bush administration and the OSCE went to some lengths to bring about a credible parliamentary election in Georgia on Nov. 2.\nThe administration spent more than $2 million on a variety of activities, including sponsoring get-out-the-vote campaigns and town hall meetings. The OSCE dispatched 400 monitors to oversee the balloting. When the official results were announced, they were widely repudiated and mass protests ensued. Shevardnadze quit in a matter of days.\nAn embittered Shevardnadze said in an interview last week he believed the United States, after long years of friendship, had orchestrated his downfall. The State Department quickly denied the allegation.