UN Security Council fails to draft statement on Ossetia fighting

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
At the request of Russia, the UN Security Council held an emergency session in New York on Friday on the escalating violence in Georgia's breakaway province of South Ossetia but failed to reach consensus early Friday on a Russian-drafted statement. The council concluded it was at a stalemate after the US, Britain and some other members backed the Georgians in rejecting a phrase in the three-sentence draft statement that would have required both sides "to renounce the use of force," council diplomats said.