South Ossetia ceasefire discussed

Despite negotiations, the violence continues

Officials from Georgia and the breakaway republic of South Ossetia have held further talks on a ceasefire which was agreed on Friday.

Both sides have pledged to honour the truce while the South Ossetians have agreed to allow civilians free passage through their capital Tskhinvali.

But according to Russian news agencies, the Georgian village of Eredvi came under fire after dark on Saturday.

Amid rising tensions, there are fears all-out war will erupt in the republic.

Buffer zones

Georgia has vowed to re-establish control in South Ossetia, which says it wants to join Russia.

But for now, the two sides have agreed to create additional buffer zones between their positions.

SOUTH OSSETIA Population: About 70,000 Capital: Tskhinvali Major languages: Ossetian, Georgian, Russian Major religion: Orthodox Christianity Currency: Russian rouble, Georgian lari

They will be patrolled by Russian peacekeepers and monitored by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation (OSCE).

"We have agreed on peace," said South Ossetia's Interior Minister Roland Guliyev who met with Georgian Defence Minister Georgy Baramidze on Saturday.

But BBC correspondent Sarah Rainsford, who spent the day in South Ossetia, says passions have been sorely inflamed by the violence of recent weeks and that there is deep lack of trust on both sides.

Despite the negotiations, the South Ossetians are preparing for war while the streets of Tskhinvali are teeming with gunmen, she added.

Even the hospital operating theatre has been boarded up with sandbags.

A Georgian peacekeeper was shot dead on Saturday, just hours after the ceasefire went into effect at midnight (1900 GMT) on Friday.