NAIROBI, Jan 28 - Kenyan and Ethiopian delegates traded accusations at a meeting called last week to discuss a border skirmish in which 60 Ethiopian government soldiers were killed by rebels of the Oromo Liberation Army.

The high-level security meeting collapsed on Thursday after the Kenyan delegation, led by Moyale District Commissioner Stephen Kipkibut, contested accusations by the Ethiopians that Nairobi was backing the Oromo rebel group. The delegation from Addis Ababa was led by the Southern Military Commander Gebre Medina. The talks were held on the Ethiopian side of the Moyale border town.

Kenya insisted that three people abducted by the Ethiopian soldiers as they returned to their side of the border be released before any meaningful talks could be held.

Government sources at the meeting said Nairobi demanded that Ethiopia end its military incursions and violation of the common border. In turn, Addis Ababa accused Kenya of allowing the rebel group free movement, offering it facilities and turning a blind eye to its strikes across the border.

Both the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Bonaya Godana and Permanent Secretary Mutuma Kathurima were in Arusha last week for the East Africa Co-operation heads of state summit.

Last week's abortive talks between Nairobi and Addis come in the wake of the first successful raid by the Oromo rebels from their bases at Sololo in Kenya against the Ethiopian government.

More than 60 soldiers were killed and hundreds of others wounded in the raid. Sources said the Ethiopian forces sustained the casualities in a bid to recapture two garrisons overrun by the rebels.

Initial reports of the raid said Ethiopian troops attacked a manyatta at Dambalafachala on the Kenyan side of the border as they pursued the Oromo rebels. The rebels enjoy massive support among Kenya's Boran community, which bore of the brunt of attacks by Ethiopian troops.

DC Kipkibut said: "It seems that this was a deliberate attack on us since the Ethiopians know the start and the end of the common borders we share." He said Kenyan troops were patrolling the border.

Last year, armed groups believed to be Gabbra and Boran clansmen backed by the Oromo rebels attacked villages in Wajir killing 42 people, in what was dubbed the Bagalla massacre by the local press.

Leaders from Wajir and other parts of Kenya's North Eastern Province claim that the rebels have bases in the area, particularly at Makutano, Ambala Uraan and Kinisha areas of Moyale - a charge Kenya, through the Minister in charge of Internal Security, Major (rtd) Marsden Madoka, has not managed to deny convincingly.

The Ethiopian embassy in Nairobi said it was awaiting instructions from Addis before commenting on the incident and the abortive meeting. Sources close to the embassy, however, privately talked of a wider conspiracy involving the Eritrean government.

They said Kenya's reluctance to crack down on the Oromo Liberation Army is based on the firm business relations Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki enjoys with the son of a top Kenyan politician. They are said to jointly own a giant flower farm and marble manufacturing plant in Kenya. Ethiopia is currently embroiled in a border dispute with Eritrea.

Other sources said three weeks before last week's attack, the Oromo rebels received a large consignment of arms and ammunition from the Eldoret Munitions complex in Eldoret. Senior military refused to confirm or deny the reports when contacted by this newspaper.

With southern Sudan, northern Uganda, Zaire, Rwanda and Burundi facing rebel activity and Somalia virtually under the control of an assortment of clan-based warlords, the Eldoret-based bullet factory may come under close scrutiny, particularly if Addis proves that it is supplying arms and ammunitions to the Oromo rebels.