US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Georgia to secure Tbilisi's signature to an peace deal with Russia and show Washington's support for its embattled ally.

"I'm going now to talk to President Saakashvili about the clarifications that the French have provided and then we'll try to get this formal ceasefire in place because the goal of this is to get a ceasefire and to get Russian forces to withdraw from the country ASAP," Ms Rice told reporters on the plane.

Georgia, part of whose territory is occupied by Russian troops and tanks, has yet to formally place its signature on the deal brokered this week by France on behalf of the EU.

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