EU readies Georgia monitors

By Mark John and Ingrid Melander

AVIGNON, France (Reuters) - The European Union said on Friday it was "practically ready" to send about 200 civilian monitors to Georgia, while Germany and Italy led calls for an inquiry into the outbreak of the South Ossetia conflict.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the bloc was close to agreeing a civilian monitoring mission which the EU hopes will help convince Russia to withdraw its forces to pre-conflict lines in the country.

"This is practically ready," Solana told reporters at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Avignon, France.

"The only thing is to see when, how, at what moment, and under what mandate, and that point will be decided after Monday," Solana said, referring to a trip by the French leader to Moscow next week.

A French diplomat said the plan was to start deploying the first elements of a 200-strong force from October, initially in core Georgia but moving progressively into South Ossetia.

"The Russians said they would not move as long as there is not an international mechanism in place. We must tell them that the Europeans are ready to deploy ... that is what (French President Nicolas) Sarkozy will say to the Russians on Monday," the diplomat said.

The aim of the EU mission would be to verify that all parties stick to the terms of a French-brokered peace deal and watch over the thousands of people displaced by the conflict as they seek to return to their homes, officials said.

Moscow has kept troops in "security zones" on Georgian territory beyond South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another rebel region.