UNITED NATIONS -- Georgian leader Eduard Shevardnadze has said talks at the United Nations on ending the conflict between his government and Abkhazian separatists will be resumed in Geneva later this month.


"I am sorry to say that the documents that were to be signed by the two sides have not been completed and have not been signed. So the work on these documents will continue later in Geneva," he told reporters.


Preliminary agreement had been reached that the UN special envoy for Georgia, Edouard Brunner, would invite the two delegations to Geneva before March 20, he added.


The negotiations moved to New York this week after a previous session in Geneva from Feb. 22 to 24. A major stumbling block has been the refusal of the Abkhazian side to accept that Abkhazia, an autonomous republic within the former Soviet republic of Georgia, now lies within the new, independent Georgia.


A condition set by the Abkhazians for the return of some 300,000 refugees displaced by the fighting is that they exclude those who fought alongside Georgian troops.


Shevardnadze's impromptu remarks to reporters followed an address to the Security Council calling for the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force.


But most council members are wary of mounting a UN peacekeeping operation in Georgia -- beyond about 20 military observers already serving there -- until a viable peace settlement is in sight.


The United Nations has raised the possibility of a 2,500-strong force, but only once this has been achieved. Ambassador Karl Inderfurth of the United States told the Security Council Washington affirmed "in the strongest possible terms its support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity" of Georgia.


If there were a settlement involving a durable cease-fire and the return of the refugees, "we would be inclined to support a carefully defined UN peacekeeping operation in Georgia, if certain conditions are met, and would encourage other governments to join us," the U.S. envoy added.


President Bill Clinton, who conferred with Shevardnadze in Washington earlier this week, said no American troops would be involved.


The U.S. handling of the Abkhazia dispute has potentially wide implications for treatment of the former Soviet republics, many of which are torn by ethnic and territorial disputes. The United States is concerned that Russia may be too anxious to send its troops to such republics, raising the spectre of Russian imperialism.


Abkhazian leader Vladislav Ardzinba told a news conference at the United Nations his parliament had not declared independence yet because it wanted to find common ground with the Georgian side, "on condition that Georgia is not treating Abkhazia as its colony but on an equal footing."


He also wanted the function of any peacekeepers to be clarified, saying they should be deployed on the Abkhazian-Georgian border to prevent a resumption of fighting. Georgia opposes deploying such a force in a way that would solidify Abkhazia's separation.