WASHINGTON, May 6 (UPI) -- The United States Thursday welcomed the peaceful settlement of the dispute between Georgia and its renegade republic of Ajara.
"We very much welcome these developments and, we feel, the constructive role that everybody played," State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher told a briefing in Washington.
He said Secretary of State Colin Powell worked very close with the Georgian government to resolve the situation in Ajara in a peaceful manner.
Late Wednesday night renegade Ajaran leader Aslan Abashidze left the republic which he headed and flew to Moscow.
"Russia offered Mr. Abashidze political asylum and guarantees that he not be returned to Georgia," Boucher said.
Abashidze, a Soviet-era politician, had opposed the pro-Western central government that came to power in Georgia last year.
The recent conflict had been brewing since March, when Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili was refused entry to Ajara by local authorities.
Late last month, both Georgia and Ajara were actively preparing for war, but international intervention prevented the conflict.
