Celebrations erupted in the Adzhara region of Georgia early Thursday after its rebellious leader fled in what President Mikhail Saakashvili hailed as the first step to unifying the country. Thousands had massed on the streets of the regional capital, Batumi, in anticipation of the departure of Aslan Abashidze, who had run his Black Sea region as a personal fief for more than a decade. The announcement of Abashidze's departure, after Russian's former foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, began mediation to prevent violence, came from Saakashvili in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.

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