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UN Security Council deadlocked over South Ossetia truce call
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-10 11:44

UNITED NATIONS -- The UN Security Council failed again Saturday in its attempt to agree on a truce call for the parties involved in the bitter fighting in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia.


A column of Russian armored vehicles seen on their way to the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali somewhere in the Georgian breakaway region, South Ossetia, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2008. [Agencies]


On Saturday afternoon, the 15-member body concluded its third round of an emergency session in the past 48 hours without adopting a statement that would have called for a cease-fire.

In a briefing to the council at the closed-door meeting, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Edmond Mulet said hostilities are continuing in Georgia and there have been a "substantial number of casualties, refugees and destruction."

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Citing reports from UN peacekeepers in the region, Mulet expressed concerns that the conflict may spread into Abkhazia, another rebel enclave inside Georgia.

Belgian UN Ambassador Jan Grauls, the council's president this month, told reporters that several council members expressed "grave concern on the further deterioration of the situation in Georgia."

"It is clear that the conflict has now expanded in other areas than only South Ossetia," he said.

When asked about the council's attempt to call for a cease-fire, Grauls said it would be nearly impossible for the council to take any actions at the moment.

"Regrettably I have come to the conclusion that it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to find common ground within the council on a draft statement to the press," Grauls said.

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