South Ossetia, Georgia
Georgia has asked that an international conference be convened immediately to discuss the deteriorating situation in the breakaway province of South Ossetia. The province, whose inhabitants speak Russian and are not ethnic Georgians, declared its independence in 1992, when it broke violently away from Georgia with Russian help. Russia still has peacekeepers there. Two months ago, Georgia sent troops in, saying it needed to protect ethnic Georgians, and this week sporadic gun battles broke out. “We do not want war,” said Georgian Defense Minister Giorgi Baramidze. “But if war cannot be avoided, we will accept the challenge of those who want to fight us.”
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