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 Gori erupts again
    August 14 2008 at 12:09PM Get IOL on your
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Gori, Georgia - Explosions rocked the strategic town of Gori on Wednesday, posing a fresh threat to the fragile ceasefire between Russia and Georgia.

A week after the conflict erupted, Russia stepped up diplomatic warnings to the West in response to a strong US message of support for Georgia, with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice headed to Tbilisi.

Explosions were heard and smoke was seen around Gori where Russian and Georgian forces are concentrated. An AFP reporter said it appeared to be shelling. Moments earlier, a Russian soldier had demanded journalists leave and fired shots in the air.

Under a French-brokered ceasefire agreed on Tuesday, Russian and Georgian forces were to return to positions they had before Georgia launched its offensive against breakaway South Ossetia.
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But a Georgian foreign ministry spokeswoman said Russia has raised its troop numbers in Gori and returned to the Georgian port of Poti.

"Despite the previously reached agreement, Russians are deploying additional forces in Gori and fortifying the city. At the same time, Russian armed forces have returned to Poti," spokesperson Nato Chikovani said.

There had earlier been conflicting reports on whether Russia troops were leaving Gori, which is on the main road from South Ossetia to the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

An AFP reporter saw Georgian armoured personnel carriers waiting by a roadside outside the town.

The presence of Russian tanks in Gori had heightened fears that Russia planned to advance even deeper into Georgian territory.

A senior Russian military official, General Vyacheslav Borissov, said it would take two days before the entire contingent of Russian troops left Gori and Georgian troops took full control.

The two sides have exchanged accusations that the other is breaching the truce.

Hundreds of South Ossetian rebels with some Russian army personnel looted and torched homes in villages near Gori on Wednesday.

Human Rights Watch said its researchers in South Ossetia had "witnessed terrifying scenes of destruction in four villages that used to be populated exclusively by ethnic Georgians."

Georgia's strongly pro-Western President Mikheil Saakashvili has accused Russia of carrying out ethnic cleansing operations in the area around South Ossetia while Moscow has also accused Tbilisi of atrocities.

Russia said Georgia violated the truce by failing to pursue an "active withdrawal" from South Ossetia, where Moscow says 2 000 civilians were killed in the fighting.

Russian troops and armour rolled into Georgia's South Ossetia region last Friday in response to a Georgian bid to regain control of the renegade province which broke from Tbilisi in the early 1990s.

Russian troops then pushed on into other parts of Georgia while aircraft bombed targets across the country.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev halted Moscow's offensive Tuesday and French President Nicolas Sarkozy negotiated a ceasefire with Medvedev and Saakashvili.

Washington and Tbilisi have accused Moscow of continuing attacks even after Medvedev announced the military operation was over.

Lavrov "strongly rejected insinuations of Russia's 'non-observance' of the principles of resolving" the conflict in a telephone conversation with his US counterpart Rice on Wednesday, Russia's foreign ministry said.

Lavrov also launched a bitter attack on Washington, saying it had to choose between a "relatively virtual" relationship with Tbilisi and a "partnership (with Russia) on questions that require collective action."

US President George Bush warned Russia in a clear message of support for Georgia read out at the White House.

"To begin to repair the damage to its relations with the United States, Europe, and other nations, and to begin restoring its place in the world, Russia must keep its word and act to end this crisis," he demanded.

Rice was to have talks with Sarkozy in France before heading on to Tbilisi.

Bush reaffirmed US support for Georgia's territorial integrity. While Russia says it recognises Georgia's sovereignty it no longer accepts Tbilisi's control over South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another breakaway region.

Medvedev said on Thursday that Russia would back any decision by Abkhazia and South Ossetia on their status, provided they accord with international conventions, Russian news agencies reported.

The French peace plan glossed over this issue, calling only for talks on ensuring security in the regions.

The first UN and US planes carrying humanitarian aid landed in Tbilisi Wednesday with tents, blankets and emergency supplies, officials said, as the world stepped up efforts to help the victims of the conflict.

The United Nations estimates some 100 000 people have been forced from their homes.

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