UNITED NATIONS, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Ethiopia's foreign minister said the world was in danger of repeating its appeasement of fascist Italy if it did not support his country in its border conflict against Eritrea.

Addressing the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday, Seyoum Mesfin accused the leaders of tiny Eritrea of arrogance, brinkmanship, muscle-flexing and ``irrationality bordering on the insane.''

He reminded delegates that the League of Nations, the predecessor to the United Nations, allowed Italy in 1936 to invade, occupy and maim an independent Ethiopia without even imposing an oil embargo, which might have stopped the war.

``It is Ethiopia's hope that this shameful episode would not be repeated by the international community today, although the nature and scale of the challenge (is) not comparable to what it faced during those difficult days,'' he said.

``Ethiopia refuses to play by the Eritrean script and we call upon the international community to take a resolute stand,'' he said.

Hundreds of people were killed in ground and air battles fought on three fronts before fighting subsided in mid-June.

Ethiopia accepts a peace initiative brokered by the United States and Rwanda which calls for Eritrea to withdraw to positions held before the conflict erupted.

But Eritrea has rejected this, asking for an international monitoring force to be in place first. It has also called for direct talks with Ethiopia, which the Addis Ababa government has turned down.

Ethiopian and Eritrean guerrillas fought side by side in a long struggle that eventually ousted Ethiopian military dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991. Eritrea was rewarded with independence after a referendum in 1993.

Ethiopia has been accused of expelling thousands of Eritreans who had lived within its borders for decades. In turn it accused the Eritrean government of recently expelling 24,000 Ethiopians.