Nearly all of former Soviet Georgia briefly loses electricity

TBILISI, Aug 18 (AFP) - Most of the impoverished former Soviet republic of Georgia suffered a power outage for several hours Monday in what officials said may have been an act of sabotage.

Power went down in about 80 percent of the country early Monday when someone deliberately damaged a key high-voltage power line in western Georgia, officials said.

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"This is an act of sabotage that affected Georgia's entire power system," Energy Minister Mamuka Nikolaishvili told AFP.

"We will do everything possible to find the culprits," the minister added.

Power returned to the Georgian capital Tbilisi by midday and was gradually being restored in the remainder of this Caucasus nation of 4.4 million people.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union tipped this once-affluent country into economic chaos 10 years ago, Georgians have had to learn to manage without power for days at a time.

Particularly during the winter, power in the capital is rationed to between five and six hours a day while in the provinces people are lucky to get a couple of hours of power.

nt-zak/bb/jah

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