Television in Georgia has shown four United Nations observers taken hostage on Thursday eating and drinking with the gunmen who abducted them.

They are in a village Dzhikhaskari surrounded by troops; the authorities say they will not use force, and the gunmen may be allowed to leave Georgia if they free the UN observers -- two Uruguayans, a Czech and a Swede -- together with several Georgians.

The kidnappers have demanded, among other things, the release of those detained after an assassination attempt on President Eduard Shevardnadze nearly two weeks ago .

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service