標題:Georgia move fails to halt raids
新聞來源:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7552908.stm (需有正確連結)
Russia has continued air raids deep inside Georgia, after it rejected
Tbilisi's announcement that it had called a ceasefire and wanted talks.
Jets bombed targets near Tbilisi, including the airport, and Russia said its
warships had sunk a Georgian boat that approached and tried to attack.
Russia earlier took control of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, forcing
Georgian troops to withdraw.
Meanwhile, the US administration has expressed strong support for Georgia.
President George W Bush said that he told Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin: "This violence is unacceptable."
At a meeting on the sidelines of the Olympic in Beijing on Friday, the US
president said that all troops should return to their positions prior to the
latest unrest, which began on 6 August.
"I was very firm with Vladimir Putin," Mr Bush said.
Meanwhile, Vice President Dick Cheney told Georgian President Mikhail
Saakashvili in a telephone conversation that "Russian aggression must not go
unanswered".
He said the events in Georgia would have "serious consequences" on Russia's
relations with the United States.
Earlier, the US ambassador at the UN accused Russia of seeking "regime
change" in Georgia.
Peace mission
President Saakashvili told the BBC his forces had observed a ceasefire since
0500 on Sunday morning, but had still been bombed by Russian planes. He said
his government had been trying "all day" to contact Russia to discuss a
ceasefire.
Russian jets were still carrying out bombing raids late on Sunday. Witnesses
said jets had hit Tbilisi International Airport, as well as a military
airfield close to the Georgian capital.
The airport was hit only a few hours before French Foreign Minister Bernard
Kouchner and Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb arrived on a peace
mission.
A Georgian official said earlier that Russian planes had bombed the western
town of Zugdidi and Georgian-controlled territory inside Abkhazia. The claims
could not be independently verified.
Later Russia's navy said it had sunk what it called a Georgian missile boat
that had approached at high speed and tried to attack Russian warships in the
Black Sea.
Meanwhile, there the US clashed with Russia at the United Nations Security
Council, accusing it of seeking "regime change" in Georgia.
The US ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, quoted Russia's foreign
minister saying Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili "must go".
He asked his Russian counterpart, Vitaly Churkin: "Is the goal of the Russian
Federation to change the leadership of Georgia?"
Mr Churkin did not directly answer the question, but said there were leaders
who had "become an obstacle".
The council has met for four days running, but has failed to agree on the
wording of a statement calling for a ceasefire.
But the US said it was preparing a draft resolution condemning Russia.
Analysts said although Russia would veto such a statement, the US wanted to
build backing for the motion to demonstrate international opinion.
Clashes in South Ossetia itself were reported to be less intense on Sunday,
as Russian forces took control and Georgian troops drew back.
Local residents fleeing the area on Sunday morning told the BBC that
Tskhinvali was relatively quiet.
Later, however, the BBC's Richard Galpin described a sense of panic on Sunday
night in the Georgian town of Gori, near South Ossetia, amid fears that
Russian troops were about to march on the town.
He had been warned by the interior ministry to leave Gori, only to find that
the road to Tbilisi was crammed with cars full of fleeing civilians.
'Disproportionate force'
Georgia's announcement of its ceasefire came in a statement from the foreign
ministry, stating that Georgia "today stopped firing in the South Ossetian
conflict zone and is ready to begin talks with Russia on a ceasefire and
cessation of hostilities".
It said a note had been passed to the Russian embassy in Georgia to that
effect.
But a Russian foreign ministry official was quoted by Interfax saying "our
information does not confirm the Georgian statement".
"There are indications that exchanges of fire are continuing and the Georgian
forces have not been fully withdrawn from the conflict zone," he said.
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) called on the parties to the
conflict to grant safe passage for thousands of civilians trying to escape
the war zone.
The UNHCR estimates that between 10,000 and 20,000 people have been displaced
within Georgia, including South Ossetia, while Russia has said that a further
30,000 people have fled north into the Russian province of North Ossetia.
"The conflict has caused civilian casualties and more are at risk," UN High
Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said.
"It is essential that humanitarian agencies be able to reach the affected and
the displaced."
Meanwhile tensions were rising in Georgia's other breakaway region, Abkhazia.
The leader of the separatist government there, Sergei Bagapsh, said he had
ordered a military operation to clear Georgian forces out of Abkhazia's
Kodori Gorge, and gave them a deadline to leave.
Georgia has accused Russia of landing 4,000 more troops in Abkhazia via the
Black Sea. The separatists said Georgia had deployed a similar number of
soldiers south of the Abkhaz border.
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「就像其他各類集體主義一樣，種族主義也尋求不勞而獲。它尋求自動獲得知識﹔它尋求
自動評價人們的品質而忽略運用理性或道德判斷的責任﹔而更重要的是，它尋求自動的自
尊（或偽自尊）」
Ayn Rand<The Virtue of Selfishness>
致台灣之光的影迷跟球迷
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