War in Georgia News Links: August 13, 2008

Following is a Round-up of the latest news coming out of Georgia.

Georgian villages burned and looted as Russian tanks advance
Mood of panic as eyewitnesses say ceasefire being broken by Russian military and ‘irregulars’
by Luke Harding, near Gori, Georgia and James Meikle
The Guardian, August 13, 2008 11:40 BST

“People are fleeing, there is a mood of absolute panic. The idea there is a ceasefire is ridiculous,” Luke Harding, the Guardian’s correspondent, said.

Russia denied any advance, however Georgian authorities claimed that about 50 tanks and armoured vehicles were near the strategically important town of Gori.

Harding, watching villages near Gori burn, said witnesses had told him Russian military, including at least 25 tanks, had moved from the Russian-controlled South Ossetia into the villages.

“They asked villagers to hang white flags or handkerchiefs outside their houses if they did not want to be shot, they say.”

The tanks had passed through the village of Rekha at about 11.20am local time. “Behind them (say eyewitnesses) is a whole column of irregulars who locals say are Chechens, Cossacks and Ossetians.

“Eyewitnesses say they are looting, killing and burning. These irregulars have killed three people and set fire to villages. They have been taking away young boys and girls,” said Harding, watching smoke rise from another village, Karaleti. asdfasdfasd

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RUSSIAN TROOPS TAKE UP POSITION OUTSIDE GEORGIAN CITY
by C. Calcutt (text)/Robert Parsons reports from Tbilisi, 1 pm – GMT +2
(Video available at link)
France24 – August 13, 2008

A day after warring Georgia and Russia agreed to a ceasefire, the conflict in the Caucasus appears far from resolved.

On Wednesday morning, FRANCE 24 reporters saw a column of Russian Special Forces armoured vehicles move into position on a hill above the Georgian city of Gori and install mortars.

“The Russian forces have climbed a hill dominating Gori and are installing mortars as I speak,” FRANCE 24’s Nicolas Ransom reported, adding that he could not confirm whether the mortars were turned toward the city.

According to Ransom, the Russian soldiers, “are waving their arms and smiling but it is not clear what their intentions are.”

Earlier, Georgia’s president Mikheil Saakahvili scorned Russian claims of a ceasefire at a press conference in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, saying that bombing and “the worst kind of marauding” were continuing in Gori. According to Rancom, the city of Gori was deserted and the Red Cross personnel were leaving town.

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RUSSIAN TANKS PATROL GORI IN DEFIANCE OF NICOLAS SARKOZY’S PEACE DEAL
by Damien McElroy, Adrian Blomfield, and Harry de Quetteville
The Telegraph – August 13, 2008

As the EU announced plans to send peacekeeping troops to monitor the ceasefire, Russian troops destroyed an empty Georgian military base in Gori and set up a checkpoint on the road to Tbilisi.

In clear defiance of the spirit of [French President] Sarkozy’s peace deal, Russia appeared to be working to cement a buffer zone for South Ossetia.

A Georgian official claimed that 50 tanks had moved into Gori and South Ossetian snipers were also reportedly in operation in the town.

Georgian troops pulled back from the town of Gori earlier this week and its civilian population has virtually abandoned the streets.

Georgia has also lost its last stronghold in another separatist province, Abkhazia, overnight as its troops withdrew from the Kodori Gorge.

Russian-backed separatist forces took advantage of the Georgian military’s collapse to attack Kodori.

More than 100 Russian military vehicles entered the gorge on Tuesday forcing the Georgian retreat.

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EXTRA INFORMATION:

DOWNLOADS:
Map of the Georgia Conflict ( .PDF FILE)

Russian President Says Fighting in Georgia is Over, But is It?

UPDATE: After days of fighting, and after Russia advanced into Georgia proper from two different regions, Russian President Medvedev has called for a halt to the fighting.  Meanwhile, fighting continues, and Russia has promised to eliminate any remaining Georgian Troops in South Ossetia.

[More commentary later as I catch up…  For now just this thought – I don’t trust Russia as far as a cease-fire goes.  They have their eyes on that pipeline, and they aren’t just going to let it go…]

Here is an excerpt from the latest article in the International Herald Tribune:

Russia orders halt to Georgia military action but fighting continues

By Ellen Barry and Helene Cooper – The International Herald Tribune (IHT)

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

MOSCOW: President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia announced Tuesday that he had ordered a halt to his country’s military operation in Georgia, although he did not say that troops were pulling out and he insisted that Russian forces were still authorized to fire on enemies in South Ossetia.

The president said Russia had achieved its military goals during five days of intense fighting, which has seen Russian troops advance into Georgian territory and which brought strong denunciations from President George W. Bush and other Western leaders.

In a meeting with Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov shown on Russian television, Medvedev said: “The goal of the operation has been achieved. The security of our peacekeepers and civilians has been ensured.” But he also told Serdyukov to “eliminate” any enemy remaining in South Ossetia.

“Whenever hotbeds of resistance and other aggressive plans emerge, make the decision and eliminate them,” he said.

The fighting appeared to continue in Georgia on Tuesday — with reports of sporadic bombing and some Russian troops digging in around Georgian cities — and it was uncertain whether Medvedev’s statement would lead to an end to hostilities.

Medvedev took the lead role in announcing the halt to the operations in contrast to previous days when the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, was the dominant public figure in the crisis, even flying to the Georgian border to direct operations.

When asked about the cease-fire, Anatoly Nogovitsyn, a senior defense official, said military actions could continue.

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French Riots – Part Deux?

Well, they’re at it again… Readers here may remember the French riots back in November of 2005 that last for almost 3 weeks. During that time the rioting was perpetrated by dissaffected “youths” – more precisely Muslim “youths” all over France; starting in the Paris suburbs and quickly spreading to outlying towns and cities.

Tonight we receive news that riots are again plaguing Northern France. Approximately 60 cars were burned last night and French police were attacked with baseball bats and molotov cocktails…

Here is the coverage from “Big News Network”:

French Youths Riot in the Streets

Dozens of youths and police have clashed in northern France, leaving nine people injured.

Around 60 cars went up in flames as youths went on a rampage in the streets of Vitry-le-Francois, some 200 kilometres north of the capital Paris.

The youths, armed with baseball bats and Molotov cocktails, were only scattered after dozens of security forces quelled the unrest.

The scuffles broke out after a young man was murdered on Saturday evening.

Reports are slowly coming in giving a little more detail… Following is the coverage from 24News.com. Several policeman and firefighters were injured in the rioting last night…

French Youths Clash with Police

Lille – Dozens of French youths clashed with police in a town in northeast France overnight, burning cars during a rampage triggered by the killing of a 22-year-old man, an official said on Sunday.

Two police officers, two firefighters and five residents suffered minor injuries during the violence that raged until Sunday morning in Vitry-le-Francois, said Sylvaine Astic from the regional prefect’s office.

Armed with baseball bats and firebombs, about 50 youths went on a rampage, torching cars and setting fire to garbage bins in the town of 17 000 people, Astic told AFP.

The violence started around 22:00 (20:00 GMT) after the 22-year-old man was gunned down in Vitry-le-Francois. A suspect was arrested overnight.

About 60 police officers were dispatched to the town late on Saturday and remained in Vitry-le-Francois on Sunday.

A police union issued a statement denouncing what it termed as “hysteria” in relations between French youth and police.

“This started out as a murderous settling of scores,” said Nicolas Comte of the SGP-FO police union.

“But quickly this tragic event prompted a violent group to attack police with baseball bats and molotov cocktails as young bystanders watched passively, like spectators to the ‘riot show’,” said Comte.

He linked the latest outbreak to the 2005 suburban riots, France’s worst unrest in decades, when poor immigrant-heavy areas around Paris and other major cities exploded into three weeks of violence.

“Nothing has been resolved since. The fire is still burning under the ashes,” said Comte.

About 250 people took part in a silent march in Vitry-le-Francois on Sunday, led by the victim’s mother who wept as she walked holding a photograph of her son through the low-income neighbourhood of Rome-Saint-Charles.

The last time there was major rioting was in the Paris suburb of Villiers-le-Bel in November when two teenagers riding a motorbike died after they collided with a police car. The incident led to three days of riots.

More than 100 police officers were injured in Villiers-le-Bel when rioters armed with hunting rifles and pellet guns opened fire, a new, worrisome turn in the ongoing clashes with police in the suburbs.

I will continue to follow this, hopefully it won’t turn out into weeks of violence with scores of innocent civilians and others hurt, as it did in 2005. It will be interesting to see how Sarkozy responds to these incidents in comparison to former French President Jacques Chirac.