Georgian Rebel Leader Declares War

Kvitsiani has been in hiding since July, when government troops disbanded his paramilitary force in the remote Kodori Gorge in northwest Georgia.

Speaking on Georgia's privately owned Imedi television, Kvitsiani said he had the support of the mountain peoples of the North Caucasus in Russia.

Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli dismissed his claims as "not serious."

Meanwhile, the Georgian Interior Ministry has released a videotape which appears to show Maia Nikoleishvili, the leader of the Anti-Soros organization, admitting her part in a plot to overthrow the government.

Nikoleishvili appears to confirm her involvement in a secret meeting of leaders of small opposition parties, who the Georgian authorities say, planned to stage a coup d'etat in late September. The Prosecutor-General's Office says that the plan had been to kill the interior and defense ministers, and to abduct the prime minister.

(AFP, Interfax, Caucasus Press)