Georgia offers ceasefire as fighting continues
TSKHINVALI, Georgia (Reuters) - Georgia offered Russia a ceasefire and peace talks on Sunday after pulling troops back from rebel South Ossetia's capital, and mediators began a mission to end the internationally condemned fighting.
Some fighting still gripped parts of the Caucasus region, however, and Russia demanded an unconditional Georgian withdrawal.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner arrived in Tbilisi at the head of an international team of mediators, the first top level diplomatic mission to fly to the region in an attempt to stem the bloodshed. It was due to move on to Moscow on Monday.
After meeting Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Kouchner said a "controlled withdrawal of the troops" was his main priority.
"Coming back to the table, negotiations, peace talks, a political solution. That's it. Easy to say, very difficult to do," Kouchner told journalists in Tbilisi.
The United States maintained its strong criticism of Russia, condemning its "disproportionate and dangerous" military action.
Russian troops and tanks took control of Tskhinvali, the region's devastated capital, early on Sunday after a three-day battle. Moscow said 2,000 civilians were killed and thousands made homeless in a "humanitarian catastrophe".
There has been no independent confirmation of the number of dead and wounded throughout the region.
The simmering conflict between Russia and its small, former Soviet neighbor Georgia erupted late on Thursday when Georgia sent forces into South Ossetia, a small pro-Russian province which threw off Georgian rule in the 1990s.
Russia, which had provided support to the separatists and had peacekeepers stationed in the province, responded by pouring troops and heavy amour south through the Caucasus mountains into South Ossetia to drive back the Georgians.
The conflict alarmed the West, which views Georgia as a valuable, if volatile, ally because of its strategic location on an energy transit route carrying oil from the Caspian to Europe.
Saakashvili appeared smiling but disheveled to meet Kouchner, before showing him the night-time view of Tbilisi from a hillside.
"It is the most surreal world crisis I could ever imagine," the Georgian leader told reporters.
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Georgia says troops withdrawn
