Georgia seeks UN peace force

TBILISI (Reuter) - Georgian government forces fought fierce battles with rebels in the breakaway Black Sea region of Abkhazia yesterday, and the former Soviet republic said it had asked the United Nations to intervene. A parliamentary statement said the Georgian leader, Eduard Shevardnadze, had asked for UN peace-keepers to be dispatched to quell fighting in Abkhazia, where hundreds of people have been killed since August. A Georgian military spokesman in Abkhazia said government forces had repelled an Abkhazian offensive along the Gumista river, killing or wounding 80 fighters.