Tensions rise in Georgia's separatist enclave

Georgia warned Friday of a risk of "serious confrontation"with South Ossetia after the breakaway region demanded the Georgian authorities remove a checkpoint on its boundary.

Georgian foreign ministry said it observed "mobilisation of military equipment and personnel" near the village of Chorchana, where Georgian authorities had set up the checkpoint.

The situation risked "escalating into a serious confrontation," Georgia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mari Narchemashvili told AFP on Friday.

At a talks mediated by the EU and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) on Thursday, South Ossetia had demanded that Georgian police dismantle the checkpoint before 0300 GMT on Friday, according to one of the delegates at the meeting.

"If this condition is not met, the government (of South Ossetia) will take all legal measures to ensure security of the South Ossetian people and protect the state border," a South Ossetian delegate, Yegor Kochiev, said in televised remarks.

Kochiev is a delegate to the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism, which meets to discuss the security situation under EU and OSCE mediation.

On Thursday, the OSCE had said in a statement that "recent developments along the administrative boundary line had negatively impacted the overall security situation."