Georgia renews South Ossetia bombardment
- 00:01:13
- ITN
Georgia renews South Ossetia bombardment
Georgian forces have renewed fighting in the separatist South Ossetian region as Russia rejected the latest ceasefire proposal. Contradicting proposals by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to back an EU envoy's plan for a return to pre-conflict positions, six Georgian attack helicopters bombed targets in the region around the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali. The latest onslaught comes just hours after the Kremlin turned down a fresh offer of a truce by President Saakashvili, who said he would agree to a joint peacekeeping force in the region and monitoring by Europe's largest security body. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had earlier suggested sending a mission from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to South Ossetia. Elsewhere, Russia confirmed its troops and armoured vehicles had advanced from the breakaway region of Abkhazia to the town of Senaki inside Georgia. This was despite an earlier statement by Mr Medvedev which stated the operation in the region was almost over. Overnight, airstrikes continued despite pleas from the international community urging the two countries to agree to an "immediate" halt to military action amid reports that more than 2,000 people have been killed and thousands are homeless. The crisis in the Caucasus has triggered alarm in the West as Georgia is an important energy transit route and has a key pipeline carrying oil west from the Caspian to European markets. On Saturday, Russian planes bombed a military airfield and Tbilisi said Russian air attacks had badly damaged its Black sea port of Poti, an important oil shipment facility. G7 foreign ministers have joined the growing calls for an immediate ceasefire. A spokesman said: "(The G7 ministers) called on Russia to accept an immediate ceasefire. They expressed deep concern for the civilian casualties and continued attacks on civilian locations." "They reaffirmed support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia and called on Russia to respect these." And in a statement, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said there is "no justification" for Russia's military action and that there is a "clear responsibility" on Moscow to agree a ceasefire and bring a swift end to the conflict which threatened a "humanitarian catastrophe." Earlier, US President George W Bush condemned Moscow's "disproportionate response" to the crisis. A big supporter of President Saakashvili, Mr Bush said he had spoken firmly to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin about the situation. He said: "I was very firm with Vladimir Putin. I expressed my grave concern about the disproportionate response of Russia. We strongly condemn bombing outside of South Ossetia." And Nato Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer accused Russia of using excessive force and violating Georgian territory. His spokeswoman Carmen Romero said: "He is seriously concerned about the disproportionate use of force by the Russians and the lack of respect for the territorial integrity of Georgia. "The military operations that we saw on Saturday and since then, including air and missile attacks, have no relation to and go well beyond the CIS peacekeeping operation," referring to the Russia-led Commonwealth of Independent States grouping former Soviet republics. The simmering conflict between Russia and its small, former Soviet neighbour erupted on Thursday when Georgia sent forces into South Ossetia, a pro-Russian province that threw off Georgian rule in the 1990s.
ITN | August 11, 2008
