EU extends Georgia mission, holds off on U.S. joining

A car of the European Union Monitoring Mission parks in the Georgian village of Mukhrani, some 50 km (31 miles) to the southwest of Tbilisi, October 1, 2008.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU nations on Monday extended their ceasefire monitoring in Georgia for a year but delayed any move to invite other countries, including the United States, to join the mission.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels agreed to extend the mission's mandate until September 14, 2010, an EU official said.

There was no discussion, which some EU states had sought, of the possibility of other countries including the United States joining the mission, he said.

"Participation of non-EU countries will be discussed in the autumn," the official told Reuters.

Georgia wants U.S. monitors and weapons to help defend against what it says is a threat from Russian troops in two breakaway regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, at their nearest point 50 km (30 miles) from the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

But some EU countries are concerned that inviting the United States to join the mission could anger Russia, a key energy supplier to the bloc.

"It is premature to discuss whether to change or integrate a new mandate or the number of participants, particularly non-EU states," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the issue would be discussed in September, but inviting U.S. monitors could be counterproductive to the aim of getting access to Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

"Having the Americans in the monitoring mission might even be like falling into a trap," he told reporters. "The priority is to reinforce the European presence on the ground ... and to have the monitors on the other side."

EU THE ONLY MONITORING MISSION

The EU now has the only monitoring mission in Georgia, an important transit region for oil and gas to the West.

U.N. and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) missions, which had monitored in the breakaway territories until Georgia's war with Russia last year, pulled out of Georgia after Russia rejected extending their mandates.

Moscow recognized the two breakaway territories as independent states after crushing a Georgian assault on South Ossetia in a five-day war last August.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Washington had offered personnel and equipment for the monitoring mission. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said it was important that the mission be as effective as possible, and added:

"If others want to come under an EU banner, that's fine."

The EU has some 225 unarmed monitors deployed in Georgia since last year's war to monitor a fragile ceasefire. But it has been denied access to either South Ossetia or Abkhazia and conducts patrols only as far as the de facto borders.

A statement agreed by ministers from the 27 EU states noted "with deep regret and concern" that agreement had not proven possible on the future of the U.N. and OSCE missions.

Analysts say the EU mission has neither the access nor the means to prevent frequent incidents -- gunfire and bomb blasts -- escalating into full-blown clashes.

During a visit to Georgia last week, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden pledged Washington's full support for Tbilisi, urging Moscow to abide by a ceasefire pact and pull its troops back from the two rebel regions.

(Additional reporting by Bate Felix, Marcin Grajewski, Julien Toyer and Laura Shields)