France pens resolution urging ceasefire in Georgia

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - France was planning to present a resolution to the U.N. Security Council on Monday that would call for an immediate ceasefire in Georgia, which Tbilisi says is on the verge of a Russian invasion.

Council diplomats said the French delegation had completed a draft resolution that would demand an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of all troops from Georgia's two breakaway enclaves, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The United States had wanted to condemn what it says was Russia's unwarranted "military assault" on Georgia, but one diplomat said the French and other Europeans tried to avoid language that was certain to provoke a Russian veto.

As a permanent member of the Security Council, Russia has the power to prevent any resolution from passing.

The French were expected to introduce the text during a closed-door meeting of the Security Council currently underway. It was convened at the request of Georgia, which said Russian troops were invading their country.

The Europeans were hoping the resolution would be put to a vote on Tuesday.

Separately, U.N. assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping Edmond Mulet told Reuters U.N. military observers in Abkhazia had confirmed that Russian troops occupied the Senaki military base inside Georgia proper.

Mulet said this was the first independent confirmation of Russian forces invading areas of Georgia outside the separatist territories.

"These are Russian troops, not peacekeepers," he said.

FIFTH EMERGENCY SESSION

Russia later said it had pulled out of the town of Senaki after "eliminating" the threat it posed to South Ossetia.

This was the council's fifth emergency session on Georgia in as many days. Member nations had originally tried to agree on the wording of a unanimous appeal for a ceasefire but were unable to come up with language acceptable to Russia.

Russia says Georgia caused the crisis by trying to use military force to reclaim pro-Moscow South Ossetia, which threw off Tbilisi's rule in the 1990s.

But U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad said in an interview on CNN that Russia's response went beyond a peacekeeping campaign.

He added that Russia had been "looking for an excuse" to attack Georgia and warned that there could be far-reaching diplomatic repercussions for Moscow: "This has been a defining moment in Russia's relations with the rest of world."