Horn of Africa enemies Ethiopia and Eritrea may return to war over their disputed border in a matter of weeks if there is no major international push to halt them, an influential think-tank warned yesterday.

A 1998-2000 war on the boundary killed 70,000 people and brought untold hardship to two of the world's poorest nations.

Now analysts are warning of a repeat as troops build up ahead of an end-November deadline by an independent boundary commission for Ethiopia and Eritrea to mark out their border.