Tbilisi, July 30 (DPA) Since last summer's war with Russia over the country's breakaway provinces, Georgia's President Mikheil Saakashvili may have felt at times like a man under siege. The situation remains tense along the administrative borders to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, while on the home front Saakashvili experienced a three-month blockade of parliament, coupled with demands for his resignation.

Since the five-day war in early August 2008, Russia and Georgia have launched international public-relations offensives, blaming each other for the conflict which claimed several hundred lives and displaced thousands in the disputed areas. A six-point peace deal, hammered out under France's rotating European Union presidency, mandated an EU mission to monitor activities on both sides of the administrative border lines (ABL) separating the breakaway territories.

Prevented from fulfilling that mandate in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the EU monitors rely on information from Georgian police and army checkpoints, supplemented with second-hand impressions gleaned from civilians crossing the ABL. The monitors have built up tentative relations with the militia and Russian border guards controlling access to the breakaway regions, a task made difficult by the fact that the local militia are often drunk and unpredictable.

Hansjoerg Haber, the head of the EU mission, believes their presence has helped stabilise the region, especially as long-standing UN and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe missions had to withdraw after Russia vetoed a renewal of their mandate.

'Both sides are scared of a resumption of the conflict,' Haber said, adding that, in the case of renewed hostilities, 'they know that the (EU) mission is on the ground and that we would certainly discover who had started.'

Despite the gradual progress at ground level, diplomatic talks in Geneva are moving at a painstaking pace.

International talks that began in November and are aimed at stabilising the region, have failed to advance on security cooperation and have done little to prevent border incidents.

As recently as June, an explosive device left near the ABL claimed the life of a Georgian driver working with the EU mission.

Refugees from the war are still unable to settle back home, adding to the social and economic hardship for several hundred thousand people displaced by previous conflicts in the region.

Meanwhile, Saakashvili has worn European patience thin, but has one trump card left as the US remains steadfast in its support.

In July, US Vice President Joe Biden visited Tbilisi with a resounding pledge of the US' commitment to Georgia's territorial integrity and the advance of democracy, although the rhetoric is more measured in Washington.