OSCE ready to boost number of Georgia monitors

A soldier with a Russian national flag waits with other soldiers on armoured vehicles as part of a Russian military convoy massed 2 km (1.5 miles) from the centre of Zugdidi, a major town in western Georgia, August 14, 2008. More than 100 Russian army vehicles were massed 2 km (1.5 miles) from the centre of Zugdidi, a major town in western Georgia, a Reuters witness said.

VIENNA (Reuters) - Members of Europe's security and rights organization, the OSCE, appear ready to send up to 100 more monitors to Georgia to help supervise a fragile ceasefire with Russia, an official said on Thursday.

"We have discussed this proposal in the permanent council and there is no decision yet, but I can say that there is no objection in principle on this," said the OSCE's special envoy for the South Caucasus, Heikki Talvitie.

"The decision will be taken as soon as possible," he told reporters after a special meeting of the OSCE's 56-member permanent council, which would need to take a decision on deployment by consensus.

Russia, Georgia and the United States are all members of the OSCE, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

It currently has a mission of around 200 people in Georgia, of whom eight are military monitoring officers looking at security, military and humanitarian issues in and around the conflict zone.

Russia crushed Georgian forces, drawing condemnation from Washington and other Western nations, after they attempted to retake South Ossetia, a breakaway region of Georgia.

Nearly 30 members of the OSCE mission to Georgia were based in the field office in Tskhinvali, capital of South Ossetia, before being evacuated last Thursday when fighting broke out. Talvitie said it was unclear when the mission could reopen its field office in South Ossetia.

(Reporting by Karin Strohecker, editing by Mark Trevelyan)