The statement was issued by the Ethiopian foreign minister to the OAU Council of Ministers' meeting in the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou. The following is an Ethiopian radio report on the statement.

"The Ethiopian government has urged member states of the OAU and the international community at large, to prevail upon the government of Eritrea to end its intransigent position and demonstrate its readiness to resolve the conflicts with peaceful means by immediately and unconditionally accepting the recommendations of the facilitators.

In a press communique to the 68th session of the council of ministers of the OAU, Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin said presently the ball is clearly and squarely in the court of the Eritrean government.

The communique said if Eritrea is committed to peace, it is imperative that the Eritrean government accept the passage of recommendations of the facilitators and unequivocally heed to the appeal urged by the council of ministers of the OAU.

The Ethiopian delegation to the special session [of the OAU] is reported to have accepted with appreciation and full commitment the appeal by the special session on both countries to simultaneously and at the same time put an end to all hostilities and to accept and implement the recommendations of the facilitators."

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.