"If the Ethiopians see the hole darken from you being in front of it, they will shoot," the 29-year-old Eritrean army medic calmly told an AFP correspondent, pointing to the Ethiopian trenches a mere 50 meters (yards) away.

This is the Badme frontline, the most disputed section of around 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) of a border straddling arid scrubland over which once friendly neighbours have been at war since May last year.

Artillery shells and sniper fire echo throughout the day.

At night, red tracers and sporadic explosions light up the sky.

Scattered across the rocky hillside are tiny commanders' bunkers. Regular troops bed down under tanks hidden by camouflage tarps.

Between the two armies' trenches, hundreds of mines can be seen littering the landscape.

The putrid smell of corpses hangs heavy here. This war, conducted with human wave tactics reminiscent of World War I, has claimed tens of thousands of lives. What started as mere border skirmishes escalated into one of the most concentrated military build-ups Africa has ever seen.

On the front line, it is hard to relate to the frantic international efforts to resolve the conflict, or to the bickering between Addis Ababa and Asmara over the minutiae of peace proposals.

Eritrea took the town of Badme -- a speck on a hazy horizon from this vantage point -- in the first days after war broke out in May 1998, only to lose it again during an all-out Ethiopian push in February.

In June, Eritrean troops regained some ground. To date, peace efforts have stumbled over the exact areas from which troops should withdraw.

Five kilometers (three miles) from the trenches, Commander Mahamut Hamut listened to the news from his bunker.

"I really don't know anything more about the latest proposal, except for what I hear on the radio," he said.

"The Ethiopians appear to be building up their trenches. It doesn't look like they want peace," the commander said.

Since its inception, the actual war of bullets and bodybags has been echoed by salvoes of propaganda and accusations from both sides.

"The Ethiopians are not well trained and they don't have the will to fight because of ethnic conflicts within the country," Mahamut said.

"We get two or three who surrender each week.

"They had been well equipped," the Eritrean commander said. "They had hoped for a short victory. Now they have failed and have a shortage of ammunition.

"We don't want to fight because there is a peace proposal being discussed right now, but if war continues, we will fight to get back our land," Mahamut said.

Drinking early morning tea in a small hut just a few minutes' walk from the trenches, Eritrean Captain Zeregabr Zeniheret said, "We have the highest point. We know we are strong enough to get our land back, but for now, both sides are staying in their trenches."

"The Ethiopians keep throwing grenades and shooting at our side," the army captain said.

"We don't know why. They can't reach us in the trenches. But we think since the two fronts are so close, they are just scared we are coming for them."

Showing visitors his tiny cubby-hole cut into the trenches, army medic Tedros pledged that he would stay until the bitter end.

"Who else would take my place? My mother?" he joked.

"No, I have to be here till the end to defend my country."

Tedros shares his two square meter (20 square foot) cubby-hole with two other soldiers. He has his medical supplies, a sheet, a few books and a poncho for rain. A gully at the base of the cramped sleeping quarters prevents it flooding.

He said he left his girlfriend six months ago to volunteer.

"She's now fighting at the Zalambesa front," he stated with pride.

Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed last month to an Organisation of African Unity (OAU) peace plan to end the conflict over disputed border territory in which tens of thousands were reported to have been killed.

But Ethiopian government spokeswoman Selome Taddesse said that despite the agreement, Eritrea was supporting the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a rebel group opposed to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's political rule.

Ethiopia was doubtful of the commitment of Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki, she said.

``Isayas' professed acceptance of the OAU framework agreement for peace cannot be taken seriously as long as the government in Asmara continues to arm terrorists,'' Selome said in a statement.

She said Eritrea was arming and training the OLF and a Somali-based faction called Al-Ittihad ``in a futile attempt to divert the Ethiopian government's human and material resources from its conflict with Eritrea.''

Eritrean government officials were not immediately available to comment on the allegations.

Ethiopia believes OLF rebels operate from bases inside neighbouring Somalia and that there is substantial evidence they receive support from Eritrea via Somali faction leader Hussein Aideed.

Eritrea, preoccupied by its conflict with Ethiopia, is keen to end tension with neighbouring Sudan, which itself is trying to mend fences with several of its neigbours.

The newspaper said Sunday's meeting discussed monitoring and control of movements of people and goods across the border.

Sudan and Eritrea decided at a joint security committee meeting in Asmara earlier this month to form a committee to police the border, and to meet again regularly.

The two countries have stepped up their contacts since President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and his Eritrean counterpart Isaya Afewerki signed an agreement to normalise ties on May 2.

Eritrea broke off diplomatic ties with Sudan in December 1994, accusing Sudan of sending Moslem extremists to attack targets inside Eritrea.

No organisation claimed responsibility but the Oromo Liberation Front, which is in conflict with the government, is active in the area.

The explosion occurred 15 km (nine miles) east of Diredawa.

Railway spokesmen said three devices were placed on the track but only one exploded.

The Al Rai al Aam daily, reporting from the northeastern town of Kassala, quoted the Kassala state governor as saying he could not cope with the influx of the displaced Eritreans. ·

Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid said the response of humanitarian agencies "is still poor," despite a meeting last week between the agencies and the government's humanitarian aid commissioner. ·

The governor warned of epidemics after an outbreak of malaria among the displaced which he blamed on crowded conditions. ·

He said local government authorities had rejected the 300 asylum requests citing "insufficient" motives, but did not elaborate. ·

More than 300,000 Eritrean refugees have been residing for decades in various parts of Sudan. No agreement has been reached with the Eritrean government for their voluntary repatriation. ·

One of the organisers of the "Peace in Somalia" conference, north Mogadishu warlord Hussein Haji Bod, told journalists by radio from Baidoa that the meeting was aimed at strengthening alliances between factions.

Some warlords have dismissed the Baidoa meeting as a hostile act aimed at waging attacks on factions that support warlord Hussein Mohamed Aidid and his allies.

"If the meeting was genuine and was planned for pacifying Somalis, we would have attended it, but such an aggressive meeting aimed at discussing ways of uniting military action against rivals should not be welcomed," Aidid's representative Abdulatif Afdub told AFP in Nairobi after consulting his faction in Mogadishu.

"Such a political show-off would not attract our leaders, as the meeting in Baidoa is between splinter groups from main factions and is provocative," Afdub said.

The United Somali Congress/Somali National Alliance (USC/SNA) was founded in 1992 by the late General Mohamed Farah Aidid in 1992. It is currently led by his son, Hussein Mohamed Aidid.

The Baidoa conference is attended by General Aden Abdullahi Nur Gabyow, the leader of the Absame clans that are predominant in southern Juba Valley regions, and Bod, who controls parts of north Mogadishu.

The armed group that controls the Bay and Bakol regions, the Rahanwein Resistance Army (RRA), is hosting the talks, while Galjel warlord Abdullahi Moalin Fah will also be attending as a representative of the central Hiran region.

A faction within the Somali National Front (SNF), led by Ahmed Sheikh Ali Burale, will also be at the meeting.

But Mogadishu's main warlords -- Musa Sudi Yalhow, Ali Mahdi Mohamed, Aidid, Mohamed Qanyare Afrah and Osman Hassan Ali Atto -- will be absent, faction officials in the Somali capital said.

The "Republic of Somaliland" in northwest Somalia, which declared itself independent from the rest of Somalia in May 1991 after dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was toppled, will not be at the Baidoa meeting.

However, the position of the northeastern regional state of Puntland was still not clear as the consultations started on Friday.

On Monday, the factions of Baidoa and Puntland leaders formed a military and political alliance after a meeting in the northeastern town of Garowe, which was immediately condemned by absent rival warlords.

Somalia has been ruled by clan warlords since Barre's overthrow in January 1991.