Ethiopia has confirmed that its Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, will attend talks this weekend in Burkina Faso aimed at ending its dispute with Eritrea.

Reports say the Eritrean president, Isayas Afewerki, will also attend, but that the two men will not meet face to face.

The talks, under the auspices of the Organisation of African Unity, are designed to end a conflict which erupted into violence earlier this year between the two countries.

Fighting broke out in early May over disputed border territories.

Ethiopia has accepted a peace initiative brokered by the United States and Rwanda, and endorsed by the OAU and the United Nations under which Eritrea would withdraw from territories around the border town of Badme to positions held before the conflict.