European Union foreign ministers on Monday approved sending ceasefire observers to Russian-occupied parts of Georgia, but crucial questions about the mission's mandate remained, according to DPA. Ministers meeting in Brussels also named French diplomat Pierre Morel as the EU's special representative to Georgia. His first task will be to set up and host international talks on the crisis, which are expected to open in Geneva by the end of next month. EU diplomats said at least 20 member states had agreed to provide between 200 and 250 civilian observers to "buffer zones" along Georgia's internal borders with the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia before October 1. France, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, is ready to provide the largest contingent with 76 officials, followed by Germany and Italy, sources said. Under a deal between Russia and Georgia brokered last week by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Russia will end its current occupation of the buffer zones, but only once the EU sends in sufficient ceasefire observers to replace them. Russia on Sunday completed the withdrawal of its troops from western Georgia, including the strategic Black Sea port of Poti. But it has said that it will keep about 7,600 soldiers in Georgia's separatist regions. It also maintains that the extension of the EU mission to South Ossetia and Abkhazia would first have to be approved by the regions' local authorities. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Monday accused the EU of being too soft with Russia by allowing it to retain a strong military presence inside the two breakaway regions. "The option of keeping Russian forces in South Ossetia and Abkhazia is not acceptable," the NATO chief told the Financial Times. The mission statement approved by EU ministers on Monday makes no specific reference to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, saying merely that the observers' main objective is to "contribute to stability in Georgia and the region." The EU mission will complement separate observation missions from the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the statement said. Ahead of Monday's talks, EU foreign-policy supremo Javier Solana was forced to concede that any decision to deploy observers to the two breakaway regions would have to be postponed. "The first commitment is to deploy the 200 observers before October 1. It will be done in time ... After that, we will see how the situation evolves," Solana said.
