War Heats Up On Horn Of Africa

War has returned in earnest to an arid stretch of borderland in the heart of the Horn of Africa.

Weekend fighting ended an eight-month stalemate in the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea over their unmarked border, a conflict that has simmered since Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia six years ago.

Late Monday, Eritrea claimed its troops in the contested area had survived withering artillery barrages and helicopter attacks and had pushed back a three-day Ethiopian offensive.

Hand grenades and rifles littered the parched landscape after the battle, and the air reeked of gunpowder and scorched metal.

Amid the devastation and death, morale was high among Eritrean troops, who said they were determined to stop the Ethiopians from retaking contested lands.

However, the Ethiopian government said Monday that the Eritreans sustained heavy losses in the fighting.

Government spokeswoman Selome Tadesse said Ethiopian troops captured major Eritrean strongholds in remote areas that do not appear on most maps of Eritrea or Ethiopia.

There was no independent confirmation of either claim.

Selome said the Ethiopian air force had played "an instrumental role" in fighting off the Eritreans -- a counteroffensive that would violate a moratorium on airstrikes brokered last June by President Clinton.

A wire service reporter said an Ethiopian bomber killed five civilians and wounded five others in one pre-dawn air raid on an Eritrean village near the disputed border.

Ethiopia has so far not allowed journalists to visit battle zones along the 600-mile border.

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