Tengiz Sigua
Georgian politician; Prime Minister of Georgia (1934–2020)
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Tengiz Sigua (Georgian: თენგიზ სიგუა; 9 November 1934 – 21 January 2020) was a Georgian politician who served as Prime Minister of Georgia from 1992 to 1993.[2]
Tengiz Sigua | |
|---|---|
თენგიზ სიგუა | |
| |
| 2nd Prime Minister of Georgia | |
| In office 6 January 1992 – 6 August 1993 (acting until 8 November 1992) | |
| President | Eduard Shevardnadze |
| Preceded by | Besarion Gugushvili |
| Succeeded by | Eduard Shevardnadze (acting) |
| Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Georgia | |
| In office 15 November 1990 – 18 August 1991 | |
| President | Zviad Gamsakhurdia |
| Preceded by | Nodar Chitanava |
| Succeeded by | Murman Omanidze (acting); Besarion Gugushvili |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 November 1934 |
| Died | 21 January 2020 (aged 85)[1] Tbilisi, Georgia |
| Signature | .svg) |
Sigua was an engineer by profession[2] and entered politics on the eve of the Soviet Union's collapse. In 1990 he led an expert group of the bloc "Round Table-Free Georgia". Following the first multiparty elections in Georgia, he was elected Chair of the Ministers' Council of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic on 14 November 1990.[2]
He was the prime minister in Zviad Gamsakhurdia's government from 15 November 1990 to 18 August 1991. However, he resigned in August 1991 after disagreements with the president.[2] He later remarked that the newspapers used to call Gamsakhurdia "Caucasian Saddam Hussein".[3] Along with the National Guard leader Tengiz Kitovani and the paramilitary leader Jaba Ioseliani, he became a leader of the uneasy opposition which launched a violent coup against the President in December 1991-January 1992. After Gamsakhurdia's fall, he became Prime Minister in the Georgian interim government (Military Council, later transformed into the State Council) which was joined by Eduard Shevardnadze) on 6 January 1992.[2] He was reappointed Prime Minister on 8 November 1992 by the newly elected Parliament.
He resigned on 6 August 1993 after the Parliament rejected the budget submitted by the government.[4][5] He remained as an MP, led the National Liberation Front opposition party and backed a military solution of the Abkhazia conflict.
In an interview with the Russian news agency Ria Novosti, Sigua accused the Georgian side of starting the 2008 war: "We started the war in 2008. We started to shell Tskhinvali and this, after the death of Russian peacekeepers, gave Russian troops the right to actively interfere".[6]