South Ossetians Vote for Independence

Officials in South Ossetia today said 99% of voters had backed independence from Georgia in a referendum held at the weekend.

South Ossetia, a tiny province on the border of Russia, split from Georgian central government control after a civil war in 1991-92. The war killed more than 1,000 people, displacing tens of thousands.

Ossetians have sought secession for more than a decade, and want to join neighbouring Russia.

Bella Pliyeva, the head of the province's electoral commission, said 95% of the 55,000 population had been eligible to vote in the referendum, which asked voters whether they supported independence and the seeking of international recognition.

The US and European countries have said they will not recognise the result of the referendum, and no western monitors were present at the poll.

"The results will not be recognised by the international community," Terry Davis, the head of the Council of Europe, Europe's main human rights body, told the Associated Press.

Mr Davis described the referendum as "unnecessary, unhelpful and unfair".

A separate vote was held for the South Ossetian presidency, and was won by the current leader, Eduard Kokoity. Mr Kokoity wants South Ossetia to join Russia.

"It's not a symbolic referendum - it's an answer to those who won't recognise the will of the people of South Ossetia," he said after the vote.

Celebrations erupted in the capital, Tskhinvali, after voting ended yesterday. Young men waved the province's yellow, red and white flags, and crowds gathered to watch traditional folk dances.

"Of course everyone voted for him [Kokoity], Inna Guchnazova, a 30-year-old mother of two, told Reuters. "In the past five years, a lot has changed in our republic. We now have steady pay, light, gas and water."

The Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili, who is seen as pro-western, has accused Russia of wanting to annex South Ossetia and encouraging the separatist movement.

Russia - which does not formally recognise the republic - argues that the Ossetians, whose language is likened to Persian, have a right to self-determination.