UN's Ban wants fact-finding mission in Georgia

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday that he hopes to send a fact-finding mission to Georgia, where U.N. humanitarian aid staff have had difficulty accessing Russian-controlled areas.

Russia invaded Georgia last month to thwart an attempt by Tbilisi to re-establish control over its breakaway region South Ossetia, which has since declared independence along with another breakaway enclave, Abkhazia.

Ban reiterated that he was willing to send peacekeepers to the region, something that would require a mandate from the U.N. Security Council.

"We are also looking at sending a fact-finding mission to Georgia," Ban told reporters. "U.N. agencies are delivering assistance to all people they can reach," he added, suggesting that there are people out of their reach.

The United States, Britain and France have called for such a mission to assess the humanitarian situation in Georgia.

Earlier this week, Ban's spokeswoman said Russian troops refused to allow a U.N. food aid convoy to enter Georgia's war-ravaged city of Gori. Russia's mission to the United Nations said the U.N. officials' paperwork was not in order, which is why they were not allowed to cross a checkpoint.

Russia agreed on Monday to pull back from undisputed Georgian territory outside the two separatist regions. Nicaragua is the only country besides Russia that has recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia's independence.

Western council diplomats say they still have doubts about whether Russia will keep its promise to withdraw.

The secretary-general has repeatedly called on Moscow to allow humanitarian aid workers access to all parts of Georgia affected by last month's brief war between Russia and its neighbor, a former Soviet republic.

Vitaly Churkin, Russia's U.N. ambassador, suggested last month that the U.N. secretariat was spreading "disinformation" about what Russia was doing in Georgia. He has also criticized western media for what he says is biased reporting.

'NO COLD WAR'

The U.N. Security Council discussed the Georgian crisis about six times but was unable to take any action due to the sharp disagreements between Russia and Georgia's ally the United States, both of which are permanent veto-wielding council members.

The exchanges of insults between the United States, which accused Moscow of trying to oust Georgia's pro-western leadership, and Russia, which accused Tbilisi of genocide in South Ossetia, was reminiscent of the Cold War.

Ban was asked if he was worried about a possible return to the Cold War.

"It's too hasty and too dangerous ... to think about this (as a) so-called Cold War," he said, adding that "harsh rhetoric is not always desirable."