Georgia Signs Ceasefire; Negotiators Head to Moscow

Kouchner brokers accord as new threats arise in Abkhazia
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 11, 2008 6:54 AM CDT
Georgia Signs Ceasefire; Negotiators Head to Moscow
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, right, discuss the hostilities in South Ossetia during their meeting in Tbilisi, late Sunday, Aug. 10, 2008.   (AP Photo/George Abdaladze)

Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili has signed a ceasefire agreement drafted by the European Union, which EU mediators will present to Moscow later today. Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, visited Tbilisi this morning and said that the Georgian leader was "determined to make peace." Kouchner will now try to convince Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, to support the truce.

Although Medvedev said today that Russian military maneuvers in Georgia are "largely complete," the army has continued attacks both in the breakaway province of South Ossetia and in Georgia proper. A Russian general stationed in Abkhazia, the second of Georgia's semiautonomous regions, issued an ultimatum to Georgian forces to disarm or face further invasion. (More Georgia stories.)

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