Fighting continued Wednesday along the Mereb front, government spokeswoman Selome Tadesse said. The Mereb River had been considered the de facto border before the war broke out last May.

Ethiopian state radio announced victory over the Eritreans during its 1 p.m. news broadcast with traditional songs praising Ethiopian forces.

Selome said 12,730 Eritrean troops were killed, wounded or captured in the first three days of fighting that resumed June 9 and the rest within two days.

There was no immediate Eritrean reaction. On Tuesday, Eritrea said its forces had killed, wounded or captured 18,000 Ethiopian troops in five days of fighting. The casualty figures could not be independently confirmed.

The Horn of Africa nations have been fighting over disputed parts of their 620-mile border in mostly barren and mountainous regions.

Tens of thousands of soldiers and hundreds of civilians have been killed and more than a half million residents on both sides of the border have been driven from their homes.

Asmara claimed earlier that "the total number of Ethiopian troops put out of action in five days of intense fighting (reached) over 18,000" between Monday and Thursday.

"Ethiopia has also lost two Mig-23 jet fighters, one Mi-35 helicopter gunship and five tanks destroyed in the previous days of fighting" on the western front of the border, 1,000 kilometres (620 miles long), an Eritrean foreign ministry statement said.

``The objective is support for the armed work against the people and against the orientation of the nation,'' Mohamed al-Amin, head of the political department in the National Congress, told Al-Akhbar Al-Youm.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), at a leadership council meeting in Asmara which ended on Monday, called for intensification of the armed struggle while continuing contacts with President Hassan Omar al-Bashir's government. Amin said the NDA had placed obstacles in the way of future contacts with the Islamist-led government in Khartoum by setting pre-conditions regarding democracy and freedom. ``The Sudanese people are already practising democracy and enjoying freedom,'' he said.

Some opposition politicians in Sudan said the NDA had acted responsibly. ``The (NDA) statement never closed the door to dialogue,'' said Bakri Adil, a former cabinet minister and member of the Umma Party headed by former Prime Minister Sadeq Al-Mahdi.

He called on the government to accept the principle of dialogue as a way of establishing a democratic system.

In Cairo on Wednesday, opposition spokesman Farouq Abu Issa said opposition factions would meet again in Cairo on July 5 -- with the participation of John Garang, a key figure for around three decades in the south's resistance to Islamic rule from the north. They will also meet in Libya on July 8, he said.

Issa told reporters the Asmara meetings had resulted in an agreement to allow for initiatives by Egypt, Libya and the seven-nation African grouping IGAD to resolve the conflict in Sudan. He did not elaborate.

``The political solution does not mean making amends with the Islamic front,'' Issa said. ``It means breaking up the theocratic country, or the country of one party, and turning it into a country for all Sudanese.'' He said a five-member committee, comprising Mohamed Osman el-Merghani, al-Mahdi, Garang, Ahmed Ibrahim and himself, would tackle a political settlement to the conflict.

Bashir's government, formed after a 1989 coup, has been reaching out to domestic foes in recent months and trying to mend strains with neighbours such as Egypt, Eritrea and Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian Herald Wednesday quoted the Ministry of Economic Development and Cooperation as saying that a sum of 13.5 million dollars is required for the rehabilitation of these folks living in Addis Ababa, Nazareth, Shashemene, Makalle, Bahir Dar and Awassa.

The ministry said UNICEF launched the program to back up the Ethiopian government's effort in alleviating the growing social problems in major cities of the country.

A total of 150,000 street children and their families as well as 15,000 street-dwelling mothers would be supported if the program is being implemented by the government and regional labor and social affairs offices.

A similar study has also been conducted to assist children who are on the verge of joining street life due to family and other social problems.

According to the program, the street mothers and children will receive extensive orientation in public health, AIDs prevention means and family planning.

The ministry said the street dwellers will also be given financial assistance in the form of credit services as well as professional training which will allow them to become self-supporting and productive citizens.