08Aug08

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Diplomats step up efforts to halt full-scale war

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The United Nations Security Council has rejected a Russia-drafted resolution calling on Georgia and South Ossetia to immediately put down their weapons. The US, Britain and some other members backed the Georgians in rejecting a phrase in the three-sentence statement that would have required both sides "to renounce the use of force."

Diplomatic efforts to end the fighting between Georgia and its separatist province of South Ossetia are gathering pace. The EU has called for an immediate cessation of violence. However, a Russian effort at the UN to get both sides to renounce violence has failed to win backing at the Security Council.

The United Nations Security Council has rejected a Russia-drafted resolution calling on Georgia and South Ossetia to immediately put down their weapons.

The US, Britain and some other members backed the Georgians in rejecting a phrase in the three-sentence statement that would have required both sides "to renounce the use of force."

Speaking after the meeting, Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said the Georgian leadership had lost the international community's trust as a result of its military operation.

"All of Tbilisi's actions have fully undermined the credit of trust vested in the Georgian leadership as a committed party in the negotiations and in international dealings that meet the UN principles and charter," he said.

Meanwhile, the European Union says it’s ‘deeply concerned’ about the dramatic escalation in the conflict between Tbilisi and it’s separatist republic.

A spokesman for the EU Council said The EU high representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, had spoken to Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili on Thursday. He said Solana urged Saakashvili to show restraint and to return to the negotiating table.

[Source: Russia Today, UN, 08Aug08]

The Question of South Ossetia

This document has been published on 10Aug08 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.