EU mission head arrives in Georgia

(TBILISI) - The head of a European Union observer mission due to deploy in Georgia has arrived in the country and will meet Prime Minister Lado Gurgenidze on Monday, officials said.

The mission head, German diplomat Hansjoerg Haber, arrived on Saturday and on Monday will "start meetings with officials including the prime minister," the secretary of Georgia's security council, Alexander Lomaia, told AFP.

"Formally, the EU observer mission will start working in Georgia as of October 1. Some of the observers may arrive earlier," he said.

A Western diplomatic source close to the mission confirmed that the meeting with the prime minister was expected on Monday and said observers were likely to arrive in substantial numbers also early in the week.

The EU is to deploy at least 200 civilian observers to Georgia by October 1 as part of a peace deal brokered by France between Georgia and Russia.

Most of the EU's 27 member states are expected to contribute personnel to the mission, which has an initial duration of 12 months.

The deployment is intrinsic to a peace deal agreed to end last month's brief war over the Moscow-backed rebel region of South Ossetia.

The deal should also see Russian troops pull back to positions they held prior to last month's fighting.

There has been controversy over whether the observers will have access to Georgia's rebel regions. Russian officials have indicated they will not while the EU has said they should.

Hundreds of people were killed on both sides in last month's conflict and tens of thousands of people were displaced from their homes.