New leader vows to unite Georgia

Saakashvili will be Europe's youngest elected head of state

Georgia's president-elect has vowed to rebuild his fractured country as a strong and unified state.

At a symbolic ceremony watched by cheering crowds, Mikhail Saakashvili laid his hand on the tomb of King David who united Georgia in the 12th century.

Mr Saakashvili won a landslide election victory after leading a peaceful revolt in November which forced Eduard Shevardnadze from the presidency.

The 36-year old US-trained lawyer is being formally sworn in on Sunday.

"Standing at David's tomb we must say Georgia will unite, Georgia will become strong and will restore its integrity," said Mr Saakashvili, who was blessed by Georgia's Patriarch Ilya II at a monastery in Kutaisi.

"I want all of us to do it together and I promise not to become a source of shame for you," he said at the tomb of the ruler Georgians know as "The Builder" for unifying the country and building cities, roads and bridges.

Chaos and instability

Two months ago, few Georgians would have named him as their next president, says the BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Moscow.

But when Mr Shevardnadze tried to rig parliamentary elections, it was Mikhail Saakashvili who led the protests, our correspondent says.

There were mass demonstrations, then the storming of Georgia's parliament.

Mr Saakashvili won more than 96% of the vote in January's presidential elections which followed a decade of corruption, deepening poverty and separatist tensions.

Half of all Georgians live in poverty, and most survive on earnings of around $50 a month.

Mr Saakashvili has called on western nations to provide aid and investment. Otherwise, he says, Georgia could slide into chaos, and become a major source of instability in a volatile region.