Brussels, July 27 (DPA) Unarmed European Union (EU) ceasefire monitors will stay in Georgia until at least September 2010 in a bid to keep the peace between the country, its breakaway regions and Russia, EU foreign ministers agreed Monday.

The 27-member bloc 'has decided to extend the mandate of the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM) for another 12 months until Sep 14, 2010,' read a joint statement approved at a meeting of EU foreign ministers here Monday.

The mission was deployed in October 2008 in a bid to protect the EU-brokered ceasefire between Georgia, the separatist Georgian provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Russia, after their August 2008 war.

'The mission's presence on the ground remains a key stabilising factor,' said the statement.

It is the only group left to monitor the ceasefire, after Russia vetoed the extension of separate missions by the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).