Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - A meeting of presidents chosen in June by the OAU to mediate in the Eritrea-Ethiopia border dispute is scheduled to be held in October in Burkina Faso, informed sources said Friday.

They said "consultations are going on at the highest level to enable the OAU heads of state mediation committee on the Ethio-Eritrean border dispute to meet with both parties in Ouagadougou in mid-October."

The sources saw the forthcoming gathering as the last chance to avert the nearly five-month old dispute from escalating into a full-scale war.

They told PANA that the meeting initially scheduled to take place this weekend, with only members of the committee taking part, had been postponed.

The mediation committee, under the chairmanship of Burkina Faso, chairman of the OAU, is composed of the presidents of Djibouti, Rwanda and Zimbabwe, who have made one peace mission to Addis Ababa and Asmara.

During its 18-19 June visit to the two capitals, however, the leaders failed to resolve the crisis.

It was unable to persuade Eritrea withdraw its forces to positions they held prior to the eruption of the border dispute in May, as contained in a settlement plan proposed by Rwanda and the US, who were among the first facilitators in the conflict.

The committee's ambassadorial delegation later visited the two countries and submitted a report to the president of Burkina Faso in August.