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4.15pm update

Real hope in ending the Eritrea-Ethopia bloodbath

Hours after Addis Ababa announced a partial withdrawal from Eritrean territory, peace talks in Algiers hope to bring the two-year border war to an end

Ahmed Ouyahia, the Algerian justice minister, will mediate between poverty stricten Eritrea and Ethiopia, at war since May 1998. Haile Woldensae, the Eritrean foreign minister, is leading his country's delegation in peace efforts sponsored by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), and backed by the US and the EU.

The planned four day talks were due to start yesterday but were delayed by 24 hours after Seyoum Mesfin, the Ethiopian foreign minister failed to appear. The peace effort follows recent Ethiopian offensives reminiscent of the bloodiest parts of the first world war.

Ethiopia said its army had withdrawn from western Eritrea after accomplishing certain military objectives, claiming its forces had killed, wounded or captured a sufficient number of Eritrean soldiers thereby stunting Eritrea's ability to wage war.

Fighting still continues in southern Eritrea where Ethiopia claims its enemy is holding pockets of Ethiopian land along a 600-mile frontier. On the central front, Ethiopian troops are believed to have pushed to within 60 miles of the Eritrean capital Asmara. The latest offensive has brought the Eritrean economy to a standstill as the UN struggles to cope with an exodus to Sudan of wide-reaching humanitarian implication.

Ethiopia: special report