Georgia and the separatist region of Abkhazia have pledged not to use force against each other in an accord signed in the Ukrainian city of Yalta.

They also agreed to work for the safe return of refugees from their civil war in the early 1990s.

The Georgian minister of state, Georgy Arsenichvili and the Abkhaz prime minister, Vyatcheslav Tsugba, called on the United Nations and other international bodies to act as guarantors of the non-aggression pact.

The meeting, held under the auspices of the UN, was aimed at setting up continuing contacts to dispel mistrust so that a lasting settlement to their conflict can be found. The Itar-Tass news agency said the agreement s also gave Russian peacekeepers new powers to break-up armed groups.

Despite a ceasefire agreement in 1994 Georgia and Abkhazia have failed to agree on measures to prevent armed clashes on the border, or to ease the return of refugees.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service