United Nations welcome lifting the state of emergency in Georgia

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has welcomed the cancelling of the state of emergency in Georgia and expressed his hope for a fast and complete restoration of the freedom of all the mass media operating in this country.

The Secretary General has noted that such steps will contribute to proper preparation for the early presidential election appointed in Georgia on January 5, 2008.

"He has emphasized the importance of a complete restoration of the freedom of expression and associations in order to ensure a trustworthy electoral process, which will lead to elections on January 5, 2008," runs the statement made by the UN press secretary on behalf of the head thereof. The document is quoted by the IA Regnum.

The UN Secretary General has expressed his hope that all the mass media in this country could restart their normal operation before the elections, and all the participants of the electoral process could get equal access to them.

In the opinion of Mamuka Areshidze, leader of the NGO "Centre of Strategic Studies of the Caucasus", Saakashvili's decision to lift the state of emergency in Georgia was influenced by US' criticism, in particular, tough statements of Condoleezza Rice who declared on November 10 that Georgia "should cancel the state of emergency and immediately resume the work of all the mass media."