ASMARA, Eritrea (AP) -- Diplomatic efforts were under way to prevent the border conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia from exploding into full-scale war, with officials hoping that Monday's summit of African leaders will produce new ideas for a settlement.

American, Italian, German and British planes ferried more than a thousand foreigners out of harm's way late Saturday and early Sunday after Ethiopia agreed to temporarily halt bombing of a military-civilian airport on the outskirts of the Eritrean capital Asmara.

African heads of state gathered for a meeting of the Organization of African Unity in Ouagadougu, Burkina Faso, where finding a peaceful solution to the Ethiopian-Eritrean crisis topped their agenda.

"We're anxious to see what they come up with," said Eritrean government spokesman Isaac Yared.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice left a meeting of OAU foreign ministers Saturday in Ouagadougu to return to the United States. Rice is promoting a U.S.-Rwandan peace plan for the two feuding Horn of Africa countries.

The plan includes a call for Eritrea to return to positions held before May 6, when current hostilities reportedly broke out -- in other words, to withdraw from what Ethiopia considers its territory.

But Eritrea, wedged between northern Ethiopia and the Red Sea, claims it is rightfully occupying territory defined by boundaries drawn by Italy when it occupied Eritrea in 1885.

African leaders, including the presidents of South Africa, Djibouti, Uganda and Kenya, called Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki over the weekend to encourage a negotiated settlement.

Eritrean civilians were hoping to avoid war. Ethiopia's army outnumbers Eritrea's 40,000-strong force by about 3 to 1. Eritrea's tiny air force is no match for Ethiopia's.

In Asmara, Eritreans scanned cloudless blue skies Sunday and listened for the high-pitched whoosh of the Ethiopian MiG-23 fighters that had bombed their capital's airport Friday and Saturday. But none came.

Skirmishes were reported, however, along the two countries' disputed border. Ethiopia said Sunday it had reoccupied its border town of Zala Anbessa, 100 kilometers (65 miles) southwest of Asmara, after a daylong battle with Eritrean forces who captured the town last week.

Eritrean government spokesman Isaac Yared said Eritrean troops had retreated to their side of the border. "They decided it was time to go," he said.

Mokonnen, who uses just one name, said he was optimistic that a peace pact would be forged between the one-time allies.

"Our government wants peace, and we are struggling to solve it peacefully," the 27-year-old telephone operator said.

Libyan plan for cease-fire

Also Sunday, Egypt's Middle East News Agency reported that the leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea were willing to implement a Libyan plan for a cease-fire and deploy an African peacekeeping force on their border,

But Isaac, the Eritrean government spokesman, said the report was untrue, and that Eritrea preferred to concentrate on improving the U.S.-Rwandan plan.

Eritrean rebels were instrumental in helping the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front overthrow a 17-year military regime in July 1991, and Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993.

But the two countries dispute more than a half-dozen areas along their common border, which was drawn by Italy after it conquered Eritrea in 1885.

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