EU ministers back Georgia observer mission

(AVIGNON) - EU foreign ministers began two days of talks Friday to hammer out details of a European observer mission to Georgia, while admitting only Russian cooperation would get them into disputed areas.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, attending the talks in Avignon, southern France, said the mission, which aims to oversee a withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgian territory, was "practically ready" and would be completed in 10 days.

Solana said he thought Russia would cooperate with the operation, set to be deployed from the end of the month in parallel with a military mission by the the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

But he admitted there were still fundamental points for French President Nicolas Sarkozy to resolve when he travels Monday to Moscow for talks with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, as holder of the EU presidency.

"I think (Russian leaders) understand what we want and what they have to do," Solana said.

"The only thing is to see when, how and under what mandate," the observer mission can operate.

That point will be decided at a key meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow on Monday and a subsequent meeting of the EU ministers on September 15, Solana added.

Several ministers said they feared Russia would only allow the EU into undisputed Georgian territory, keeping them well outside the rebel provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, whose independence Russia recognised on August 26.

"Our mission should be on the border (with the two provinces), not somewhere on the border of a security zone that might be kilometres from the actual border with Georgia proper," said Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel.

"We should not hesitate to demand the total removal of the security zones," he added as he entered the meeting at Avignon's ancient Palace of the Popes.

"These kinds of mission have to have the acceptance of both sides of the conflict," said Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.

It needs to be more robust than UN efforts in the Balkans in the 1990s "when we failed to prevent genocide and conflict," he added.

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said he doubted the usefulness of the EU mission, and that the OSCE mission -- already approved by Russia, a member of the body -- had more chance of success.

"The best thing we can do now is talk about the OSCE in Georgia and what it can do," he said.

Solana did not say how large the mission would be but Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said it could be "several hundreds".

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said it would mainly be made up of police officers. Both Warsaw and Madrid said they were ready to contribute.

Russian troops poured into Georgia last month to repel an attack by the Georgian army aimed at retaking South Ossetia. They have remained deep inside Georgian territory in what Moscow calls "security zones."

The EU is demanding a pullback of troops to the positions they held before the outbreak of hostilities on August 7, as called for under a French-brokered peace plan.

The EU last week froze partnership talks with Moscow until it withdraws its troops, and European ministers were due Friday and Saturday to review the bloc's relations with Russia in the light of the Georgia crisis.

But a French diplomat said Russia had indicated "very clearly" it would not move its troops until an international mission was in place.

The idea, he said, is to get some observers into "free Georgia" by early October, then to "gradually get closer to the other areas as Russian forces pull out," he added.

Keen to display a common front on the Georgia crisis ahead of Sarkozy's trip to Moscow, almost all of the 27 ministers took a special high-speed train from Paris to Avignon at the invitation of French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner.

"Unity is not a question," Kouchner told reporters on the train.

Foreign Ministers' Meeting - Gymnich