UN chief calls for calm
2008-08-10 10:47
Ergneti - Georgia has withdrawn
its forces from breakaway South Ossetia, where they had been
fighting Russian troops for control, the Georgian interior
ministry said on Sunday.
The pullout followed three days of fighting in a Georgian
push to take control of the pro-Moscow enclave from separatists,
which prompted Russia to pour troops into South Ossetia and
launch air strikes inside its small neighbour.
Meanwhile, Sapa reported that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon late on Saturday called for an immediate end of hostilities in Georgia and a negotiated settlement of the conflict.
"The secretary-general urges all parties to immediately end hostilities and to engage, without delay, in negotiations to achieve a peaceful settlement," said a statement issued by Ban's office.
"The secretary-general believes that for the success of this endeavour, all armed contingents which are not authorised by respective agreements on South Ossetia should leave the zone of conflict," the statement continued.
A Georgian military convoy carrying troops and towing heavy
artillery was seen withdrawing from South Ossetia.
"They have been withdrawn, completely," Georgian interior
ministry spokesperson Shota Utiashvili told Reuters on Sunday.
Russia bombed a military airfield outside the Georgian
capital early on Sunday and Tbilisi said the Russians were also
massing troops in Abkhazia on the Black Sea, another rebel
region that broke with Tbilisi in the early 1990s after a war.
A Georgian ceasefire offer on Saturday went unheeded by
Moscow, which demanded a complete pullback to positions before
fighting began.
An EU-US delegation headed for Georgia to try to broker an
end to the conflict in the heart of the volatile Caucasus, where
Russia and the West are vying for influence over crucial oil and
gas supply routes.
Russia poured in troops, dramatically upping the stakes in a
long-running stand-off with the ex-Soviet republic over its
pro-Western policies and its drive for NATO membership.