Adzharia is officially part of Georgia, but the 65-year-old Abashidze ruled it as a virtual fiefdom, with rigorously controlled elections and positions of power granted to his close political associates, analysts said. He withheld payment of many taxes and customs duties from a region that has, in Batumi, the country's major oil shipping port.
"This man Mr. Abashidze is a kind of 'Papa Doc' Duvalier," said Alexander Rondeli, head of the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies in the nation's capital, Tbilisi, referring to a former dictator of Haiti.
"He wants to have a feudal system in a modern democratic state. He has developed his own mini-empire in Adzharia," Rondeli said shortly before Abashidze stepped down.
Abashidze supporters complain that Saakashvili and his government have misstated the situation, and they say Adzharia has simply sought a more equitable power-sharing arrangement with the central government.
"They have turned on a media campaign against us, and have tried to call us a breakaway region, even though we are loyal citizens of Georgia," said Bakuria, the regional parliament member.
Meeting with U.S. officials in Washington to try to broker a settlement, Bakuria said Adzharian leaders had proposed opening negotiations with the two other breakaway regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, to form a federal system of government that included more regional autonomy.
But Abashidze clearly was counting on the support of Russia, which has a military base in the 1,200-square-mile region, though Moscow had emphasized during the crisis the need for a peaceful settlement.
Ivanov's visit resembled a diplomatic trip he made to Georgia in November, which helped bring an end to Shevardnadze's presidency.
This time, he flew into Batumi, met with Abashidze for less than three hours and left with the Adzharian leader on his plane, according to reports from Georgian officials.
Popular support for Abashidze appeared to drop sharply after he ordered the destruction of three bridges linking the region to other areas of Georgia on Sunday in an attempt to stave off a feared military invasion. Demonstrations, supported by Tbilisi, began mounting in Batumi.
"It is completely clear to us now that all these years, Abashidze has worked not in the interests of our people, but in his own interests and the interests of his clan," Tamaz Savukvadze, a legislator from the Alternativa faction of the Adzharian parliament, said by telephone.
"His last action to blow up bridges connecting us to Georgia was
Times staff writer Sergei L. Loiko contributed to this report.
