According to a foreign affairs ministry statement published Sunday in the official press, the decision seeking "dialogue" was reached Friday between Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and the visiting special envoy of Algerian President Abdoulaziz Bouteflika, current OAU chairman,

Bouteflika dispatched Ahmed Ouyahia to Addis Ababa and Asmara early last week to sound off concern over the stalled settlement of the border conflict.

Meles, who had met Ouyahia earlier Tuesday, repeated when he met him for the second time Friday that the technical arrangements lacked guarantees of Eritrean government's intentions to withdraw its forces from Ethiopian territories they still occupy.

"Meles emphasised that Eritrea's withdrawal from Ethiopian territories occupied since May 1998, and the unequivocal restoration of the status quo ante is an issue of fundamental principle to Ethiopia which the technical arrangements, in their present form, fail to guarantee," the statement said.

Ouyahia "took note" of these concerns by Ethiopia. He also discussed with Meles substantive and procedural issues related to the overall OAU efforts to end the conflict.

Shareholders of the bank are all Ethiopians as the government does not allow foreigners to buy shares in private commercial banks.

The other private banks established in Ethiopia since the government liberalised the financial sector in 1994 are Awash Bank, Dashen Bank, Abyssinia Bank and Unity Bank.

There are also state-owned commercial banks, including the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), which is the country's largest with over 160 branches.

The former Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam who nationalised private banks was overthrown in 1991.

The cause of the fight, which occurred Wednesday night, could not be immediately known, though sources attributed it to the 18-month border dispute between the two countries.

The two teams are accommodated together with Rwanda, Sudan and Uganda at the Kenya College of Communication Technology.

The deputy secretary general of the confederation, Dan Murunga, said the organisation had launched investigations into the cause of the fight.

"We have sent a team of officers to the camp to try and defuse tension, establish the root cause of the problem and see whether they can stay in different wings of the camp," he told PANA Friday. "If we confirm the perpetrators of the skirmishes that ensured, we shall have no other alternative but to dispatch them home via the next flight."

He condemned the incident saying that neither CAF nor FIFA condone hostilities in football. "Like wise we cannot sit and watch indiscipline put the game into disrepute," Murunga added.

He also denied claims by Eritrean players that the food being served at the camp was sub-standard. "We are giving good food. If they have opted to have special diet, then, that's their problem," he said.

Meanwhile, hosts Kenya Thursday earned a place in the semi-finals at the expense of Ugandans, who crashed out of the competition on goal aggregate.

The Ugandans needed to beat Ethiopia by at least two goals to lock Kenya out. Their lone goal against Ethiopia was inadequate to see them through.