Rice meets with peace broker Sarkozy en route to crisis talks in Tbilisi

US SECRETARY of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in France yesterday for talks with President Nicolas Sarkozy, broker of a ceasefire accord on the Russia-Georgia conflict, before heading to crisis talks in Tbilisi.

Sarkozy, who negotiated the six-point peace plan as current president of the EU, greeted Rice yesterday at Bregancon Fort, an official residence on the French Riviera. They were joined by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who also travelled to Moscow and Tbilisi to try and cement the fragile EU-backed truce.

The draft plan fleshes out a French-brokered agreement giving Russian peacekeepers the express right to patrol beyond South Ossetia, the disputed border region at the heart of the conflict.