``The Eritrean aggression against Ethiopia in May 1998 was...part of the same pattern earlier made vivid by Eritrea's behaviour...which has now made the country a major source of instability in our sub-region,'' Ethiopia's Seyoum Mesfin said.

He particularly accused Eritrea of ``exploiting the anarchy and lawlessness in Somalia to advance its irresponsible policy of destabilising countries in the Horn of Africa.''

He said Eritrea was bereft of fundamental human rights and freedoms and was ``for all practical purposes ruled by the whims of one man'' -- a reference to President Isayas Afewerki.

Charging that the United Nations ``failed us,'' Mesfin said the Security Council ``knew full well...that Eritrea committed a naked and unprovoked aggression against Ethiopia'' but chose to characterise the situation as ``a mere 'border dispute'.''

By demanding an immediate ceasefire in a June 1998 resolution, the council in effect rewarded aggression by failing to demand first that the aggression be reversed, he said.

Eritrean Foreign Minister Haile Woldensae, who followed Mesfin to the Assembly podium, said the root cause of the conflict was ``Ethiopia's avowedly ethnic-based policy of territorial aggrandizement and its systematic annexation of large areas of Eritrean territory.''

He said Eritrea, from the start, had sought ``a peaceful resolution of the border problem, even in the face of provocation, creeping annexation of its territory and outright aggression.''

Woldensae said Ethiopia had refused to accept technical arrangements for implementing a Framework Agreement presented to both sides by the Organisation of African Unity ``until after it receives from the OAU firm assurances of Ethiopian sovereignty over the disputed areas.''

Eritrea's Foreign Minister Haile Weldensae said Ethiopia "is holding the peace process hostage" by refusing to accept terms for implementing a peace plan brokered by the Organization of African Unity and backed by the United Nations.

"Eritrea must be allowed to gain nothing from its lawlessness," said Ethiopia's Foreign Minister Seymoun Mesfin.

Ethiopia and Eritrea have both accepted a framework peace agreement drafted last year by the OAU which aims at ending a border war that began 16 months ago and has left thousands dead. But only Eritrea has accepted the terms of implementation.

Earlier this month, Ethiopia rejected the terms, saying they contradicted the original formula to end the war. Eritrea called the rejection "tantamount to a declaration of war."

Eritrea's Weldensae urged the United Nations and the international community to condemn Ethiopia's threat to use force, to establish a short time frame for Ethiopia to respond to the peace package, and to immediately start implementing the OAU plan.

The plan calls for a cessation of hostilities, redeployment of troops from both sides from disputed territories and deployment of peacekeeping forces in the contested areas until a new border delineation is decided and demarcated.

Officials at the nearby airport bemoan the lack of international flights into a country lacking a tourist industry or significant foreign investment and now sixteen months into a sapping war with neighbouring Ethiopia.

"With peace, this hotel will be full to capacity within three years. Without peace, our life will be more difficult," the new hotel's general manager Tamer Massoud told AFP.

The war has brought a nascent tourism industry to a near standstill. Several countries, including the United States and Britain, have posted traveler's warnings for Eritrea, although visitors to the capital are often surprised by the absence of any signs of war and by the high level of personal safety.

Construction of the hotel began two years ago, and the Inter-Continental chain came on board as property managers in April.

With nearly 10 percent of Eritrea's population currently serving in the army, the hotel has suffered from labor shortages, but Marketing Director Larissa Redaelli said this would not affect plans to open on November 1.

In spite of the conflict and lack of tourists, Massoud said he is enthusiastic about the hotel's future.

"Asmara has a lot of positive aspects. The weather is good, Eritrea has rule-of-law, the people have integrity, they are proud and non-corrupt. All combined, our analysis led us to believe in the promise of the country," explained the general manager.

The hotel features recreational facilities, six restaurants and a 420-seat conference auditorium with simultaneous translation of up to six languages.

For now, the best place to stay in Asmara is a charming 30-room family-run hotel with one restaurant, a bar and a quaint little garden.

Massoud is undeterred by the lack of luxury accommodation in Africa's youngest nation.

"The market will grow," he predicted, recalling that when the chain opened a hotel in Dubai, the city only had a dirt airstrip and hardly a building to its name.

"Today, Dubai has 80 four- and five-star hotels," he noted.

Prices at the new hotel will start at 175 dollars for a single room, a clear jump from 47 dollars for the most expensive single room available today in the Eritrean capital.

"Compared to neighboring countries, our room rates are low," Massoud explained, adding that his market is the international traveler.

The international traveler staying in the new hotel will find little of the indigenous culture. There will be an Irish pub, an Italian trattoria, and a cafe offering German, French and Italian breads.

Now, however, the Foreign Office says it is safe to visit certain parts of the country, although it is advising against tourists going to Tigray or the Eastern Afar regions.

Tour operators are again offering packages to Ethiopia, which has been attracting growing interest among tourists interested in its ancient holy cities and going on wildlife tours.

Both Naturetrek and Noble Caledonia are among operators offering trips, although others including Explore Worldwide are waiting until the conflict is over altogether.

Information: Foreign Office (0171-238 4503/4504 website: www.fco.gov.uk ).

Noble Caledonia (0171-355 1424) has a fortnight's cultural tour of Ethiopia in November from £2,235; flights and accommodation included.

A joint meeting of the National Defence and Security councils chaired by President Omar al-Beshir on Thursday endorsed a decision by the Council of Ministers to pursue legal and diplomatic efforts for the extradition of suspects in an attack last month on an oil pipeline.

The meeting decided that countries which are "lenient" with Sudanese opposition groups on their territory should be warned that failure to deal with subversive practices by those groups would "jeopardise their own interests", the independent Al-Rai al-Aam daily said.

Exiled northern foes of the regime in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) have linked up with the southern Sudan People's Liberation Army, and the alliance has bases in Egypt and Eritrea.

Friday's reports did not specify which countries were at issue and failed to say how their foreign interests would be jeopardised.

On Thursday, Sudan's embassy in Cairo forwarded a request for extradition of General Abdul Rahman Saeed, spokesman of the military command of the NDA, who is wanted for trial in Khartoum for alleged involvement in the September 19 attack on the pipeline.

The pipeline had been opened amid fanfare weeks earlier as the first oil export link to the Red Sea.

The defence and security councils reviewed measures for securing oil installations to prevent the recurrence of "such terroristic acts" in the future, papers said.

Al-Rai al-Aam, quoting investigation committee sources, said the list of suspects in the attack was likely to include the chief of the Democratic Alliance Forces, Brigadier Abdel Aziz Khalid, and the commander of the Umma Army, Abdul Rahman al-Sadek al-Mahdi, who are both in Eritrea.

The Umma Army is a northern opposition group which has taken up arms like the southern rebels, who have battled Khartoum governments since 1983, and its commander is the son of former premier Sadek al-Mahdi, ousted in a June 1989 coup which brought Beshir to power.

Elsharee Elsyasi daily, meanwhile, cited "reliable" sources who said the government has begun steps for rearranging its relations with neighbouring countries for preventing infiltration of opposition forces into Sudanese territories.

The paper said a high-level government delegation would in coming days visit Ethiopia in a bid to curb border incursions and activities by the Sudanese opposition infiltrating from Ethiopia.

Elsharee Elsyasi said the visit was expected to meet with a favourable response in light of the spirit of cooperation between the two countries.

It added that an agreement had to be concluded for halting repeated attacks on government positions in east Sudan, although most of the armed incursions are launched from Eritrea.

Sources quoted by the paper said that Eritrea has failed to observe a peace accord brokered by Qatar between Khartoum and Asmara.

Government sources criticised a statement attributed to Eritrean President Afeworki, in which he reportedly said his agreement with Khartoum did not mean that he should stop supporting the Sudanese opposition.

Nevertheless, Sudan's government would pursue efforts for reactivation of the Doha accord as a way for preventing armed incursions on east Sudan, the government sources said, according to Elsharee Elsyasi.