The United States is planning new peace initiatives that Georgia hopes will win it control of two separatist enclaves backed by its giant northern neighbour Russia, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said. "For the first time in post-Soviet history, the U.S. will be part of the peace-making process, will be part of the negotiations," he told Reuters in an interview late on Thursday. Saakashvili has made the return of the pro-Moscow separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia a central policy since coming to power in Georgia almost two years ago on the back of a popular revolution. The two enclaves, ethnically different from elsewhere in Georgia, broke away amid the fierce fighting over territory across the Caucasus that followed the breakup of the Soviet Union nearly 14 years ago. "(The U.S. role) is something very crucial to us, not because the Americans can solve it alone," Saakashvili said. "It means ... (we have) somebody at the table who could basically convince ... Russia that peace-making pays off ... we are working closely with the Americans on our peace plan and with the Russians on our peace plan." He said the United States was preparing a new set of initiatives on the issue to be presented at the annual ministerial meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in December. Georgia says Russia props up the enclaves with military support and turns a blind eye to criminal activity, which benefits officials in Moscow who also have a sentimental regard for Abkhazia, a Soviet-era Black Sea resort for top communists. --SP 1330 Local Time 1030 GMT
