With a military parade and a patriarch's blessing, Georgia inaugurated Eduard Shevardnadze on Sunday as the former Soviet republic's first president since 1992.
Shevardnadze was elected by a wide margin this month, after leading the troubled Caucasus Mountains nation as parliament chairman for three years.The 67-year-old former Soviet foreign minister took the oath of office in front of the parliament building in central Tbilisi, site of a bloody Soviet attack on independence demonstrators in 1989.
Addressing a crowd of thousands gathered in the fierce wind on the brightly decorated square, Shevardnadze swore "to defend the constitution, integrity and indivisibility of the state."
He called for settling the dispute with Abkhazia, which declared independence from Georgia after a 1993 civil war. Shevardnadze promised Abkhazia a "wide range of rights," including its own parliament, constitution, flag and anthem.
"We're glad that the peace process has started in the Balkans, and now the time has come to settle the conflicts in the Caucasus," Shevardnadze said.
He urged the United Nations and the world's developed countries to increase aid to Georgia and other struggling former Soviet republics.
As he finished speaking, Georgians raised the nation's flag above the parliament and a military orchestra played the national anthem. About 2,000 cadets led a parade through the city's center.
Shevardnadze then went to the ancient Georgian capital of Mtskheta with Ilya II, head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, who blessed the president in the Svetitshkoveli cathedral.