Russia and Georgia open talks

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) - Senior officials from Russia and Georgia began talks Wednesday on the Moscow-backed Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia amid last-minute wrangling between their delegations, diplomats said.

Organisers threw a news blackout around the politically charged meeting in Geneva and prevented photographers from taking photos of the delegations as they entered the United Nations building in Geneva.

"The talks are private and fairly complex. It is a decision of all of the parties," a U.N. spokeswoman told reporters.

Officials said the talks aimed to launch a regular negotiating process to get the foes together to resolve practical issues following their five-day war in August, including the rights of tens of thousands of refugees.

Three international bodies -- the European Union (EU), United Nations and Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) -- are co-chairing the one-day talks.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

"We need to try our best efforts among the parties concerned to restore confidence so we can establish a conflict-resolution process," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a news briefing Tuesday night.

Alexander Stubb, Finland's foreign minister who currently chairs the OSCE, Europe's main democracy watchdog, said: "We knew this is a long process, we are taking it slowly step by step."