"The Eritrean leadership have sent weapons to Somalia. I denounce that country for bringing Ethiopian rebel groups with the blessings of unpatriotic Somali individuals," Atto told AFP.

He claimed that Eritrea was training hundreds of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), an Ethiopian rebel group, in Somalia to destabilise the government in Addis Ababa.

"Therefore, I urge the international community to send foreign troops to save us from more bloodshed as a result of involvement in the military affairs of the warring Ethiopia and Eritrea," Atto said.

"The foreign intervention should disarm militias and facilitate the peace process among credible factions and the civil society in Somalia," he added in a telephone interview.

The intervention should, however, be neutral to avoid "compromising the dignity of the Somali people," he stressed.

Atto also blamed other Mogadishu warlords, Ali Mahdi Mohamed and Mohamed Qanyare Afah, for supporting his rival Hussein Mohamed Aidid's policy of involving Somalis in the Eritrea-Ethiopia conflict.

Ethiopia and Eritrea have been at war over their ill-defined border since May last year, following the loss to Addis Ababa of its Red Sea coast ports when the former province gained full independence six years earlier.

Allies in the struggle to oust Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in a long war that led to his downfall in May 1991 and also to effective independence for Eritrea, the governments in Addis Ababa and Asmara have since seen growing political and economic divergences.

Eritrea has denied arming OLF rebels in Somalia, but the arrival of the weapons for the OLF in southern Somalia last week has been confirmed by various independent sources. The arms were allegedly imported by Aidid.

Atto urged Somalis to fight OLF militiamen in Somalia.

He said the Oromo fighters are currently based in Qoryoley district of the southern Lower Shabelle region.

On April 29, the UN Security Council called on all UN members to comply with an arms embargo against Somalia imposed in 1992, a year after the overthrow of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre and the descent of the Horn of Africa nation into anarchy.

Rival militias have been fighting ever since, with all attempts to set up a central government ending in failure.

The United Nations has not been actively involved in efforts to restore stability in Somalia, since the humiliating pullout of a peacekeeping mission in 1995.

Up to 300 of Ethiopia's top artists and vocalists -- including Tilahun Gesesse and Mohamed Ahmed, two of the nation's most famous singers -- took part in the concert under the theme of Honour to Ethiopia.

Odes to the 1896 Battle of Adowa against Italy, when Ethiopian forces defeated Italy, and the army's exploits against Eritrea were read to ululations and cheers from the audience.

A fee of five birr (63 cents) was levied to fund the army.

Thousands of soldiers have been killed in the border conflict that raged for two months from last May and then restarted in February.

It said Presidents Omar Hassan Al-Bashir of Sudan and Meles Zinawi of Ethiopia met on the sidelines of Saturday's inauguration of Djibouti's new president, Ismail Omar Guelleh.

The two men stressed the importance of restoring normal relations for the sake of their two peoples and the stability of the Horn of Africa, the radio added.

Relations have been frosty in the past, with Ethiopia accusing Sudan of helping Moslem militants who tried to kill Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Addis Ababa in 1995 and Sudan accusing Ethiopia of siding with anti-Khartoum rebels.

Sudan has made similar charges against Eritrea, which, like Ethiopia, denies them.

The radio said the foreign ministers of Sudan, Eritrea and Qatar would meet soon in Doha to discuss implementation of a reconciliation pact signed in the Qatari capital a week ago by Bashir and President Isayas Afewerki of Eritrea.

Mohamed Sahnoun arrived in Asmara from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa and went straight into meetings with senior government officials, according to the Eritrean news agency.

Thousands of soldiers have been killed in the border conflict that raged for two months from last May and then restarted in February.

The fighting has diminished in intensity since Ethiopian forces recaptured disputed land at Badme, southwest of Asmara, in late February and then launched an offensive near Tsorona town, south of the capital.

Both sides say they accept an Organisation of African Unity plan to end the conflict, but remain at odds over its implementation and detail.

U.N. sources said Sahnoun, an Algerian diplomat, was seeking a ceasefire as a first step towards ending the war.