Saakashvili seeks process to unite Georgia

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili proposed a U.N. conflict resolution process to unite Georgia and its two rebel provinces.

Saakashvili, during his address Tuesday to the U.N. General Assembly, asked member states not to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia and welcomed the possibility of an independent investigation into the conflict in South Ossetia, RIA Novosti, the Russian news agency, reported Wednesday.

"We should unite and follow a policy of non-recognition with regard to the two separatist provinces of Georgia," Saakashvili said. "We need to set up a full fledged process at the U.N. to resolve the conflict by peaceful means, which will reunite Georgia."

The cease-fire agreement brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy also must be honored, he said.

The Georgian leader accused Russia of invading Georgia during the five-day conflict between the two countries in August and of violating Georgia's territorial integrity by recognizing the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Russia has come under diplomatic fire from the United States and other Western countries for its military operation in Georgia after Georgian troops tried to rein in rebel forces in South Ossetia.