In Georgia, President Mikheil Saakashvili has declared a state of war. The emergency will remain in force for 15 days and give both the president and the army leaders more scope in the breakaway region of South Ossetia, where heavy fighting between Georgian and Russian troops has been underway since Friday.
It now looks likely that the fighting will spread to Abkhazia, another breakaway province of Georgia. Georgian television is reporting that Russian fighter jets have bombed two villages there. Abkhazian rebels are reporting that they have begun an offensive against Georgian troops in the region.
US President George W Bush has expressed his grave concerns about what he called "a dangerous escalation of the crisis". He has talked on the telephone with both President Saakashvili and President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia and asked them to suspend hostilities.
The Russian government is claiming that more than 1,500 people have died and that more than 30,000 South Ossetians have fled the fighting.
radionetherlands
Georgia will withdraw its entire 2,000-strong military contingent from Iraq within three days to help battle South Ossetian separatist rebels, a senior Georgian military official said on Saturday.
"We are actually in the stage of preparing our departure," Colonel Bondo Maisuradze, chief of Georgia's military operations in Iraq, told AFP.
"It will definitely not be today. We are discussing with the Americans the conditions of our departure which may take place tomorrow or the day after tomorrow," said Maisuradze in Baghdad.
The US military has agreed to help with the logistics of the Georgian redeployment, Maisuradze added.
afp
It now looks likely that the fighting will spread to Abkhazia, another breakaway province of Georgia. Georgian television is reporting that Russian fighter jets have bombed two villages there. Abkhazian rebels are reporting that they have begun an offensive against Georgian troops in the region.
US President George W Bush has expressed his grave concerns about what he called "a dangerous escalation of the crisis". He has talked on the telephone with both President Saakashvili and President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia and asked them to suspend hostilities.
The Russian government is claiming that more than 1,500 people have died and that more than 30,000 South Ossetians have fled the fighting.
radionetherlands
Georgia will withdraw its entire 2,000-strong military contingent from Iraq within three days to help battle South Ossetian separatist rebels, a senior Georgian military official said on Saturday.
"We are actually in the stage of preparing our departure," Colonel Bondo Maisuradze, chief of Georgia's military operations in Iraq, told AFP.
"It will definitely not be today. We are discussing with the Americans the conditions of our departure which may take place tomorrow or the day after tomorrow," said Maisuradze in Baghdad.
The US military has agreed to help with the logistics of the Georgian redeployment, Maisuradze added.
afp
