By Matthew Lee, The Associated Press
{TBILISI, Georgia - An emotional President Mikhail Saakashvili said Friday that he signed a ceasefire agreement to bring an end to a week of bloodshed he blamed on Russian aggression and international indifference.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, standing beside the pro-American Georgian leader, said she had been assured that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev also will sign an identical document.
She called on Russia to withdraw its troops from Georgian territory immediately as outlined in the ceasefire brokered earlier in the week.
"Georgia has been attacked. Russian forces need to leave Georgia at once," she said, calling for the "immediate and orderly withdrawal" of Moscow's military.
"With this signature by Georgia, this must take place - and take place now," Rice said.
The bloodshed erupted last week when Georgia sent troops to the breakaway province of South Ossetia, a region that declared de facto independence in the early 1990s and has strong ties to neighbouring Russia.
Moscow responded by sending tanks and troops into South Ossetia and bombing Georgian military bases, hitting some Georgian towns just outside the separatist province.
An impassioned Saakashvili said ex-Soviet Georgia will "never, ever surrender" in the showdown with Russia. He accused the West of inviting Russian aggression by denying Georgia a door to NATO membership in April.
Saakashvili said Russia interpreted NATO's snub of Georgia as capitulation and began mobilizing military experts, troops and tanks for a planned invasion of Georgia's separatist regions.
"We told the world this is about starting an invasion," he said. "We screamed to the world: Stop it."
Hours earlier, U.S. President George W. Bush accused Russia of bullying ex-Soviet Georgia, saying: "Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century."
He assured Georgia that the U.S. would not abandon the ally.
The ceasefire requires Russia to withdraw its combat forces from Georgia, but allows Russia to keep peacekeepers in South Ossetia and to temporarily carry out patrols in an area up to 10 kilometres outside the two provinces.
Officials say the expanded mandate would end as soon as a team of international monitors could be sent to observe. Rice said she was assured European monitors could be in place within days.
Rice said the eventual status of the two areas can be worked out later. Existing United Nations Security Council resolutions recognize South Ossetia and another separatist province, Abkhazia, as Georgian.
"This is not an agreement about the future of Abkhazia and the future of South Ossetia," Rice said earlier. "This is about getting Russian troops out."
Saakashvili did not appear enthusiastic about the ceasefire pact, but Rice defended it as a good way to return all forces to their prewar positions.
The two spent nearly five hours in talks and their joint news conference was delayed by more than three hours, a sign that the talks were difficult.
"This is not a done deal," Saakashvili said. "We need to do our utmost to deter such behaviour in the future."
He warned about a broader Russian agenda in the region.
"Unfortunately, today we are looking evil directly in the eye. And today, this evil is very strong, very nasty, and very dangerous for everybody - not only for us," he said.
"Let us write the next chapter together," he said in an impassioned plea for help in rebuilding his "badly damaged" country.
Rice said humanitarian aid was already being provided by the United States and other countries and said access for these supplies "must be immediate and unimpeded." Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Friday that 80 tonnes of humanitarian supplies have been delivered to Georgia, with more flights expected through the weekend.
"When the security situation in Georgia is stabilized," Rice said, "we will turn immediately to reconstruction efforts."
Rice warned that Russia's action would have serious implications - for its relationship with Washington and with the West.
She said the time has come "to begin a discussion of the consequences of what Russia has done. This calls into question what role Russia really plans to play in international politics."}
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080815/world/us_russia_georgia
