http://www.truthout.org/article/georgia-launches-attack-rebel-region
FRIDAY 8 AUGUST 2008
Georgian Troops Move to Retake Rebel Province
Friday 08 August 2008
;
by: The Associated Press
photo
On Friday near South Ossetia's capital, Georgian troops fired rockets
at troops from the separatist province. (Photo: Reuters)
Tbilisi, Georgia - Russian troops moved into South Ossetia hours
after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin warned Georgia that its attack on
the breakaway region would draw retaliation, Russian television
re****ted Friday.
The Russian move comes after Georgian troops launched a major
military offensive earlier Friday to regain control over South Ossetia
and the president accused Russia, which has close ties to the
separatists, of bombing Georgian territory.
The fighting in South Ossetia has raised fears of an all-out war
that could draw in Russia, which has peacekeepers in the region. Putin
said an unspecified number of the peacekeepers have been wounded.
Russia's Channel 1 television showed a convoy of Russian tanks
which it said entered South Ossetia. The tanks were re****tedly expected
to reach the provincial capital, Tskhinvali, in a few hours.
There was no immediate comment from Georgian officials.
Putin had earlier said the Georgian attack will draw retaliation
and the Defense Ministry pledged to protect South Ossetians, most of
whom have Russian citizen****p.
An Associated Press re****ter saw tanks and other heavy weapons
concentrating on the Russian side of the border with South Ossetia and
villagers were fleeing into Russia.
"I saw them (the Georgians) shelling my village," said Maria, who
gave only her first name. She looked shocked and was reluctant to
speak. She said she and other villagers spent the night in a field and
then fled toward the Russian border as the fighting escalated.
NATO has called for an immediate end to fighting. NATO Secretary
General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said he is seriously concerned about the
fighting and that the alliance is closely following the situation.
Separatist officials in South Ossetia said 15 civilians had been
killed in fighting overnight. Georgian officials said seven civilians
were wounded in bombing raids by Russia.
South Ossetia officials said Georgia attacked with aircraft, armor
and heavy artillery. Georgian troops fired missiles at the regional
capital, Tskhinvali, an official said, and many buildings were on fire.
The Russian news agency Interfax said a hospital was hit by Georgian
shelling.
Full Mobilization
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said Russian aircraft bombed
several Georgian villages and other civilian facilities.
"A full-scale aggression has been launched against Georgia,"
Saakashvili said in a televised statement.
He also announced a full military mobilization with reservists
being called into action.
Seven civilians were wounded when three Russian Su-24 jet bombers
flew into Georgia and bombed the town of Gori and the villages of
Kareli and Variani, Deputy Interior Minister Eka Sguladze said at a
briefing.
She said four Russian jets later bombed Gori, the hometown of
Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, but that raid didn't cause any
casualties.
Saakashvili urged Russia to immediately stop bombing Georgian
territory. "Georgia will not yield its territory or renounce its
freedom," he said.
A senior Russian diplomat in charge of the South Ossetian conflict,
Yuri Popov, dismissed the Georgian claims of Russian bombings as
"disinformation," the RIA-Novosti news agency re****ted.
Moscow Denounces 'Dirty Adventure'
Russia's Defense Ministry denounced the Georgian attack as a "dirty
adventure." "Blood shed in South Ossetia will weigh on their
conscience," the ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site.
"We will protect our peacekeepers and Russian citizens," it said
without elaboration.
Georgia, which borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia, was
ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the breakup of
the Soviet Union. The country has angered Russia by seeking NATO
member****p - a bid Moscow regards as part of a Western effort to weaken
its influence in the region.
Saakashvili long has pledged to restore Tbilisi's rule over South
Ossetia and another breakaway province, Abkhazia. Both regions have run
their own affairs without international recognition since splitting
from Georgia in the early 1990s and built up ties with Moscow.
Most residents of South Ossetia and Abkhazia have Russian
pass****ts. An open war could prompt Russian to send in more forces
under the claim of protecting its citizens.
Putin Warns of 'Retaliatory Actions'
Putin, speaking in televised remarks Friday during his trip to the
opening of the Beijing Olympics, said Georgia's military action causes
"grave concern and it will certainly lead to retaliatory actions."
Saakashvili said government troops have seized the outskirts of
Tskhinvali and are fighting for control of the center. Georgian forces
also have seized several villages around the capital.
Gen. Mamuka Kurashvili, a Georgian military officer in charge of
operations in the region, said on Rustavi 2 television that Georgian
forces were moving to "establish constitutional order in the region."
The leader of Russia's province of North Ossetia rushed to
Tskhinvali. "We are jointly organizing defenses here," Teimuraz
Mamsurov said in the city, according to the Interfax news agency.
Mamsurov said hundreds of volunteers from North Ossetia were
streaming across the border into South Ossetia, Interfax said. It also
quoted the separatist leader of Abkhazia as saying that some 1,000
volunteers from his region were heading to South Ossetia.
Georgian State Minister for Reintegration Temur Yakobashvili said
Georgian officials were doing everything they could to avoid casualties
and the destruction of property.
But Boris Chochiyev, a minister in the South Ossetian government,
said that Georgian troops shelled the center of Tskhinvali with
truck-launched missiles. He asked the Russian government to defend
South Ossetians.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Boris Malakhov called on Tbilisi
to commit itself to peaceful resolution of the conflict.
Yakobashvili said Friday that Georgia was ready to negotiate, but
claimed the South Ossetian officials were dragging their feet in
starting talks.
At the request of Russia, the U.N. Security Council held an
emergency session in New York but failed to reach consensus early
Friday on a Russian-drafted statement.
The council concluded it was at a stalemate after the United States
Britain and some other members backed the Georgians in rejecting a
phrase in the three-sentence draft statement that would have required
both sides "to renounce the use of force," council diplomats said.
"We think that this is a very serious error of judgment and
political blunder," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said of the
council members' disagreement. "I hope that the Georgian side will
reconsider its reckless actions in the area of the Georgia-South
Ossetia conflict."
The Georgian attack came just hours after Saakashvili announced a
unilateral cease-fire in a television broadcast late Thursday in which
he also urged South Ossetian separatist leaders to enter talks on
resolving the conflict.
Georgian officials later blamed South Ossetian separatists for
thwarting the cease-fire by shelling Georgian villages in the area.
Worst Fighting Since 1992
The fighting was the worst outburst of hostilities in the region
since it won a de-facto independence in a war that ended in 1992.
Russia has soldiers in South Ossetia as peacekeeping forces, but
Georgia alleges they back the separatists. Russia also was criticized
by the West as provoking tensions by sending warplanes over South
Ossetia last month.
Most of South Ossetia, which is roughly 1.5 times the size of
Luxembourg, has been under the control of an internationally
unrecognized separatist government since 1992. Georgian forces hold
several swaths of it.
Relations between Georgia and Russia worsened notably this year as
Georgia pushed to join NATO and Russia dispatched additional
peacekeeper forces to Abkhazia.
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop
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