The African Union on Thursday urged Ethiopia and Somalia to implement "without delay" an agreement aimed at ending tensions between the neighbours over Ethiopia's access to the sea, calling the deal an "important act".

Ethiopia and Somalia reached an agreement Wednesday to end diplomatic tensions and to begin talks by February to iron out details over a controversial maritime access deal signed by Ethiopia with the breakaway Somalia region of Somaliland.

Somalia and Ethiopia said they would work together to resolve a dispute over Addis Ababa's plan to build a port in the breakaway region of Somaliland, which had drawn in regional powers and threatened to further destabilise the Horn of Africa.