Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Two Georgian peacekeepers killed in separatist region


Posted: 16 August 2004 1650 hrs



TBILISI : Two Georgian peacekeepers were killed overnight as a result of shooting and shelling in the separatist pro-Russia region of South Ossetia, a spokesman for Georgia's interior ministry said.

Guram Donadze said that fifteen South Ossetians were also killed. The figure had yet to be confirmed by officials from South Ossetia.

The overnight fighting violated for the second night in a row a fragile ceasefire that went into effect at midnight (2000 GMT) Friday in Georgia's separatist region, where tensions have simmered for months as Tbilisi has sought to reassert its control over the rebel province.

"We can say that the ceasefire has been practically violated," said Konstantin Kochiyev, an adviser to Ossetia's self-styled president.

There were no reports of casualties, nor were any Georgian reactions available.

Sunday, security officials from Georgia and South Ossetia, as well as Russian peacekeepers and observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), jointly reconnoitred the conflict zone, a senior official with the Georgian defense ministry told reporters in Tbilisi.

The aim of the reconnoitring was to decide on implementation measures for the ceasefire, including the setting up of new peacekeeper checkpoints, said the head of the defense ministry's general staff, Givi Yukuridze.

Georgian and Ossetian forces had already traded gunfire and shelling late Saturday and early Sunday, with Tbilisi saying seven Georgian soldiers had been wounded in the exchange.

Georgian Defense Minister Georgy Baramidze said Sunday mortar shells were lobbed at his motorcade as he travelled in South Ossetia following a meeting of a special commission charged with resolving the conflict there. No one in the motorcade was injured.

Friday, Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania said he came under attack from South Ossetian troops while visiting the separatist region on a peace mission. Three Georgian soldiers were killed earlier last week.

Tensions have soared and clashes have repeatedly broken out in the region over the past two months as Georgia has stepped up pressure to bring separatist regions back under its control.

Inhabited mainly by ethnic Ossetians, South Ossetia has enjoyed de facto independence since fighting a bruising battle against Tbilisi following the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Leaders in South Ossetia have demanded either their own state or else separation from Georgia and direct governance from Moscow.

- AFP





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