Behind the border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea there are also economic factors which have helped fuel the crisis.

Among them is the use by Ethiopia of Eritrean ports. The port of Masawa is one of two crucial ports in Eritrea.

On the quayside at Masawa 30,000 tonnes of Australian wheat are being offloaded and packed into trucks for the journey up the hair-raising zigzag mountain road to Asmara and beyond. Close by, another ship is discharging its cargo of sugar.

Throughout the crisis which erupted last month ships have continued to arrive at Masawa, which is one of two main ports on Eritrea's Red Sea coast, but there are no Ethiopian ships.

Ships turning to Djibouti

The first Masawa's port manager knew of the crisis was when the captain of an Ethiopian ship waiting to come into dock signalled that it was turning around and going to Djibouti. Another ship offloading Mercedes trucks bound for Tigre in Ethiopia was told to reload and likewise head to Djibouti.

As soon as the border crisis flared, Ethiopia re-routed all its ships away from Eritrea. Eritrea says this hurts Ethiopia more than it hurts Eritrea, because the port of Masawa and the other port of Asab are Ethiopia's easiest outlets to the sea.

Months before the border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea broke out, relations between the two friendly neighbours had already cooled because of economic factors.

Having used Ethiopia's currency since independence, Eritrea last year introduced its own currency, the nakfa. One of the consequences for Ethiopia was that it found itself paying more to use Eritrea's ports.

The international delegations now trying to mediate a comprehensive settlement hope that whilst economic arguments helped drive the two countries apart, economic necessity will bring them together again.