In a further sign of the break down of relations between Georgian opposition parties and a drift away from the previously united pro-western position of most opposition leaders, ex-prealiamentary speaker and acting Georgian president Nino Burjandaze has refused to meet Hilary Clinton today - complaining that the US does not take the opposition's complaints about abuses of democracy and human rights seriously.

The US Secretary of State, who is travelling round Eastern Europe and the Southern Caucasus offered to meet Burjanadze, who leads the Democratic Movement - United Georgia party as part of a delegation of "women leaders".

Clinton is to meet representatives of the Christian Democrats and Our Georgia Free Democrats parties - who emerged as the leading opposition electoral forces after 30 May's local polls.

Three of the leading figures of the Georgian opposition - former speaker and acting president Nino Burjanadze, former defence minister Irakli Okruashvili and former presidential candidate Levan Gachechiladze - are to form a new political "association" to demand early presidential and parliamentary polls.

It is not clear at present if this will be in the form of a new political party or whether - as was suggested earlier today - the "new recruits" of Okruashvili and Gachechiladze will join Burjandadze's Democratic Movement - United Georgia.

None of the three took part in the recent mayoral elections, though Gachechiladze was actively involved in seeking a common platform amongst all the opposition parties: a move which failed.

Today Nino Burjanadze rounded on Irakli Alasania who had earlier said that "nihilism" in some opposition circles over the poll had contributed to the scale of the ruling party's victory.

The Georgian government have been forced to admit they surrendered more territory to Russian occupation forces and their South Ossetian militia allies, reports the Democratic Movement United Georgia.

Georgian authorities say they have handed over the remote Mamisoni pass - which is 2800 metres above sea level and around 20 kilometres due west of the Roki tunnel - between Georgia and Russia (see picture).

The pass, while clearly stunning and a potential tourist attraction, is unlikely to be of great strategic significance - the road is poor and is only passable between May and October. However it was actually forced by the invading Red Army in the Spring of 1921, so its loss is a reminder of an earlier defeat of Georgian independence even if today's military conditions mean a similar feat is unlikely.

That said, the Georgian government have destroyed at least one bridge over the upper Roni.

The DMUG report that the government have attempted to claim that the pass was lost to Russians in the war of August 2008. However, DMUG, led by Nino Burjanadze, whose husband was formerly head of the Georgian border force, reports that it was in government hands until at least Novemeber 2008.

For their part, the South Ossetian regime openly boast of their control of the pass and say they have maintained an armed outpost there since May 2009.

Nino Burjanadze, former acting president of Georgia and parliamentary speaker and now leader of the opposition Democratic Movement, has said that Mikheil Saakashvili has been forced to rely on propaganda techniques to bolster his claims of a strong relationship with the US as it is clear Barack Obama has no desire to spend any time with him.

Speaking to the Daily Georgian Times she said:

State channels are doing their best to mislead the public. and when Saakashvili almost threw himself at Barack Obama and shook hands with him for two minutes they tried to present this as strategic talks between Georgia and America.

The fact that the President of America had been in office for two years and has not found the time to meet the President of Georgia yet must be a clear massage for Saakashvili. In contrast Barack Obama met the President of Armenia for half and hour but the meeting was prolonged for 40 minutes. He has also met the new President of Ukraine, Yanukovich.

I am not happy to say all this because I sincerely believe that this is a catastrophe for our country.

She did, however, welcome Saakashvili's efforts to attend the funeral of Polish president Lech Kaczynski, of whose death she said: "I share the pain of the tragedy of the death of the President of Poland and his wife. Even if Saakashvili had walked to Poland Kaczynski deserved the respect shown to him by Georgia and its President."

Burjanadze also recalled an incident in 2008 in the Akhalgori region, neighbouring Russian-occupied South Ossetia, when the Polish president's party was apparently fired on. Leaked reports from Poland later suggested the whole incident had been staged - without Kaczynski's knowledge - by the Georgian authorities. Burjanadze comments:

I have not said before that Kaczynski was heartbroken by the stunt Saakashvili organised near Akhalgori. After the provocation there Kaczynski’s security guards were dismissed. An investigation was launched into this and the President of Poland was criticised there for getting involved with the irresponsible and unserious Saakashvili.

Georgian national television channels have tonight broadcast a story claiming that the Georgian mafia - the so-called "thieves in law" - have been funding the opposition in the capital.

They are using carefully edited extracts of a story run in the populist newspaper Austrian newspaper "Kronen Zeitung", but as the report in the newspaper itself makes clear - all the allegations are based on a paper provided to the newspaper by the Georgian interior ministry:

The Georgian mafia also pursues political objectives. Here is a brief look back into history is necessary: When the pro-Western politician Mikhail Saakashvili came to power in Tbilisi in 2004, he devoted himself to the fight against the local godfathers of organized crime, "Thieves in Law". They had to emigrate to Russia or Western Europe and were mainly in Spain, Germany, but also fled into Austria. From here they support, as is evident from a secret report of the home [ie Georgian] Interior Ministry, the extra-parliamentary opposition in Georgia, or organize demonstrations against the government. Their goal: to destabilize the situation, the hated president should be overthrown. Supposedly one Georgian living in Vienna has no less than one million U.S. dollars invested in such activities.

 

[Die georgische Mafia verfolgt aber auch politische Ziele. Hier ist eine kleine Rückschau in die Geschichte notwendig: Als der westlich orientierte Politiker Michail Saakaschwili im Jahr 2004 in Tiflis an die Macht kam, verschrieb er sich dem Kampf gegen die dortigen Paten des organisierten Verbrechens, "Diebe im Gesetz" genannt. Diese mussten nach Russland oder Westeuropa auswandern und konnten vor allem in Spanien, Deutschland, aber auch in Österreich Fuß fassen. Von hier aus unterstützen sie, wie aus einem geheimen Bericht des heimischen Innenministeriums hervorgeht, die außerparlamentarische Opposition in Georgien oder organisieren Demonstrationen gegen die Regierung. Ihr Ziel: Die Lage soll destabilisiert, der verhasste Präsident soll gestürzt werden. Angeblich hat ein in Wien lebender Georgier nicht weniger als eine Million Dollar in derartige Aktivitäten investiert.]

The newspaper itself - notorious for its populist style and short opinionated articles with a minimum level of factual explanation, offers no further detail of the supposed political activities of the mafia.

The claim by the authorities that those who oppose them are criminals or those who were displaced by Saakashvili's crack-down on corruption following the Rose Revolution is not a new one. But, not even in Georgia's notoriously complaisant courts system has such a charge ever been brought. And, of course, most opposition leaders involved in last year's protests were strong supporters of the anti-corruption drive and the Rose Revolution:

• Nino Burjanadze was one of the leaders of the revolution and remained close to Saakashvili until 2008
• Levan Gachechiladze was formerly Saakashvili's parliamentary campaign manager and resigned from the "New Rights" party in 2003 after it failed to support the Rose Revolution
• Salome Zourabichvili was Saakashvili's foreign minister for most of the first 18 months after the revolution
• Irakli Alasania served the Saakashvili government in a number of key positions, culminating in being ambassador to the UN

It is not so long ago that prominent members of Georgia's ruling party were alleged to be seeking to treet with Lasha Shushanashvili, the most notorious of the mafia, over the Ukrainian elections.