U.N. council votes to keep U.N. mission in Georgia

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council on Thursday unanimously renewed the mandate of the U.N. mission in a Georgian breakaway region for four months to give Russia and the West time to agree on a long-term U.N. role there.

The mandate of the U.N. mission in Georgia, or UNOMIG, will now expire on February 15, 2009.

UNOMIG has been in Georgia since 1993 and its more than 120 military observers have been limited to the separatist enclave of Abkhazia and not the other breakaway region of South Ossetia, which Tbilisi tried to regain control over in August, prompting a full-scale Russian invasion.

It was not clear if UNOMIG would be able to continue its role as a military observer mission. Russia has accused the U.N. secretariat of being biased regarding the Georgian war.

The Russian military campaign in Georgia was roundly criticized by the United States and Europe and has led to a revival of tensions between Moscow and Washington reminiscent of the Cold War.

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Vicki Allen)