UN council to reconvene Monday on Georgia fighting

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Georgia desperately appealed to the United Nations and got its wish for another Security Council emergency session Monday, just as the former Soviet republic said Russia's firepower had effectively split it in half. But the late afternoon session will start off at least as private consultations that Georgia can't attend, since it is not a member of the 15-nation council. That leaves most of the diplomatic confrontation to Russia and the United States, Georgia's ally. It will be the fifth such session since late Thursday night. Belgium Ambassador Jan Grauls, the council president, agreed to it in a continuing effort to resolve fighting between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia that is nearing all-out war. Council diplomats say the session will examine the latest developments on the ground, which will include confirmation from a top UN peacekeeping official that some Russian troops have entered Georgia from its other separatist region of Abkhazia and taken control of Georgia's Senaki army base.