Kavkaz

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has signed the ceasefire agreement delivered to him in person by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to end the week-long conflict with Russia.

US President George W. Bush has again expressed Washington’s support for Tbilisi. In a statement made from the White House, Bush said: “The people of Georgia have cast their lot with the free world and we will not cast them aside.”

The other half of the diplomatic pincer movement took place in Sochi, as the German Chancellor Angela Merkel used a pre-planned trip there to try to lean on the Russian president to withdraw his troops. The talks were short. Afterwards it appeared there had been no meeting of minds. Russia …

The self-styled president of South Ossetia has said Georgian refugees who fled the enclave will not be allowed to return home. The comments by Eduard Kokoity feature in an interview with the Russian newspaper “Kommersant.”

The Georgian town of Gori has been at the heart of the powerplay between Russia and Georgia. Most of the residents of Gori have fled the shooting, bombing and armoured intimidation.

Russian tanks and troops are still in and around Georgian towns, days after Moscow declared its military operation was over. For the second day running Georgian police have been trying to persuade Russian troops to leave the town of Gori, after rejecting Russian demands yesterday for joint security patrols.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has so far been unable to contact Russian President Dmitry Medvedev by telephone to discuss the crisis in Georgia, a U.N. spokesman said on Friday.

TBILISI (Reuters) – Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on Friday said he had signed a ceasefire agreement ending hostilities with Russia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

IGOETI, Georgia (Reuters) – A Russian military convoy advanced to within 55 km (34 miles) of Tbilisi on Friday, a Reuters witness said, in the deepest incursion since conflict with Georgia erupted last week.

GENEVA/MOSCOW (Reuters) – The United Nations and Red Cross have poured hundreds of tonnes of aid supplies into Georgia but need better security conditions before deploying in South Ossetia, the two bodies said on Friday.