Tbilisi, Nov 24: Former Georgian leader Eduard Shevardnadze, who resigned yesterday after weeks of protest, is still in Georgia, his spokesman said today, denying earlier reports that the veteran leader had flown out of the country. "He is at home. And he said so himself," Soso Tkebuchava told reporters.
Shevardnadze said late yesterday after stepping down that he was going back "home."
However, Tkebuchava failed to specify which home exactly the former leader had gone back to. Shevardnadze owns several houses in Georgia, including one in his native village of Mamati, 300 km west of the capital Tbilisi.
But observers said Shevardnadze was likely to be staying at his daughter's home, some 30 km from Tbilisi.
There had been some confusion late yesterday about the whereabouts of Shevardnadze.
The Ria Novosti news agency reported he had flown out of Georgia, quoting an airport official.
But sources with Georgia's opposition denied the report, saying Shevardnadze was still in the former Soviet republic.
And opposition leader Mikhail Saakashvili said in televised comments that "Shevardnadze remains in Georgia."
Shevardnadze, who before becoming president of an independent Georgia served as foreign minister of the Soviet Union, resigned yesterday to scenes of wild jubilation in the streets of Tbilisi.
Bureau Report