Text: From a line of trenches cut into the rock above the Badame plain, Ethiopian troops stockpile mortars and rocket-propelled grenades for possible use against Eritrean adversaries in trenches less than 300-meters away.

Ethiopia regained this ground after pushing north from the village of Ayay, driving Eritreans back over a dusty ridge and into the village of Gezasharif.

While Ethiopia claims control of the low ground on the Gezagelasse front, Eritreans field guns still command the strategic ridge protecting the Eritrean-held town of Badame.

Eritrean troops captured this plain last may, at the start of the border war, claiming the land is rightfully Eritrean.

Thousands of Ethiopians fled. a farmer, Berhane Asfaha Gebre Michael, stayed behind.

When the Eritreans first came, Mr. Berhane says they promised to not attack local civilians, saying they were out to destroy only the Ethiopian government. Then, about one-month ago, Mr. Berhane says the first Eritrean soldiers were withdrawn and other troops came who stole from the people and threatened them.

Many civilians say they were not willing to leave land they had planted for generations. And they say had no choice but to cooperate with Eritrean occupation.

Another farmer, Tesfu Gebrezegiher Abraha, says it was the rainy season, so we had to stay and tend our crops. the women left, Mr. Tesfu says, but the men stayed behind under Eritrean rule because it is our land.

With Ethiopian troops regaining control of the Gezagelasse plain, farmer Yemane Gidey Sile psion says he hopes his children can go back to school now and his family can return to their home.

Mr. Yemane says now that the area is again under Ethiopian control, he hopes people here can re-establish their local government.

Ethiopia wants its authority in all disputed areas reinstated and Eritrean troops there withdrawn before the start of any peace talks. Eritrea says there must be international monitors in these hills before it will pull out its troops and put its border claims to arbitration. (signed)

Eritrean soldiers at Burre on the contested border said Ethiopia started a round of heavy shelling from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (0600-1000 GMT) along the heavily fortified frontline, which lies on a dry and dusty plain of black volcanic rock.

``They were shelling a lot with 120 mm shells this morning,'' Daniel Belai, a soldier at the Assab front, told Reuters. He said the fighting later died down.

There was no confirmation of the report from Ethiopia.

The two former allies in a region once seen as an oasis of stability are at war over border land which both sides claim.

Fighting southwest of Assab started Sunday. One Ethiopian helicopter gunship was shot down in a day-long artillery duel in which Ethiopia also used aircraft to attack Eritrean positions.

The conflict erupted on February 6 in the contested Badme region, a sparsely populated patch of mountain land along the 1,000-km (600 mile) frontier between the two Horn of Africa nations.

It quickly spread to a front near the highland town of Tsorona, south of Eritrea's capital Asmara, but the Badme and Tsorona fronts have been relatively quiet since Wednesday.

Ethiopia says it will fight until Eritrea withdraws from territory it occupied last May during the war's first round.

Burre, in the hot lowlands southwest of Eritrea's strategic Red Sea port of Assab, is at the southern end of the Red Sea.

Assab was a vital conduit for Ethiopian trade before last May, when the Ethiopian government diverted most of its trade to neighboring Djibouti.

Monday, Ethiopian soldiers took journalists to the Gazagerehlase area on the Badme front, where they claim to have advanced in the first days of fighting last week.

``This was our first line of defense,'' said Lieutenant Negash at the deserted Ethiopian post of Ayay. ``Now we have abandoned these trenches and we have moved about seven kilometers.''

Negash pointed out a new Ethiopian frontline on a small ridge he said used to be held by Eritrea and said Eritrean troops had fallen back to positions on still higher ground to the west.

Although patches of scorched earth showed signs of shelling, the frontline was quiet Monday.

At the root of the conflict lies a dispute about colonial maps drawn up by the Italians who ruled Eritrea in the first half of this century. Economic rivalry also plays a part.

Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in May 1993 with Ethiopia's blessing.

``Isayas moitu!,'' they scream -- ``Isayas will die!'' in their native Tigrinya -- identifying their effigy as Eritrean President Isayas Afewerki.

Just 100 km (60 miles) to the north of Inda Selassie lies the main frontline in a bloody border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea which exploded again last week after an uneasy eight-month truce.

Save the occasional convoy of troops and weapons rattling through the rough main street, the town appears to have been little affected by the conflict.

Tiny roadside kiosks are well stocked with washing powder, cigarettes and medicines and fuel is freely available at the small pump station.

But for children and adults alike, the war dominates everyday life. Schools have been closed since June -- a month after Eritrean forces occupied the disputed border area of Badme north of here in the first round of the war -- and many of the town's young men are away at the front.

Each side accuses the other of reigniting the war after a string of mediation efforts by foreign diplomats failed to secure a peaceful resolution.

``We don't want war, but now the only option left for us is to fight the Eritreans and get them off our territory,'' said 19-year-old student Getachew Kahsay, showing off the eight-foot-deep air raid bunker his family has dug at the back of the house.

After nightfall, residents cram into the few whitewashed stone houses that boast televisions. The news is of an outbreak of ground and air battles around Burre -- a dry and desolate border region close to the Eritrean port of Assab.

The fresh fighting marks an escalation in the conflict which last week was confined to Badme and the central Tsorona front where the Ethiopian army says it has captured key Eritrean strongholds, killing over 7,000 enemy soldiers.

Such claims have been firmly rebuffed by Eritrea, which says its forces have won the upper hand and killed thousands of Ethiopian troops.

Residents of Inda Selassie seem unfazed by reports of heavy casualties. Many of them fought in the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, which, in coalition with other rebel groups including the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, ousted the hated Marxist dictorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991.

Two years later, Eritrea won the independence for which it had fought for 30 years.

Both sides said there was no fighting on any of the three military fronts along the border but that their forces were prepared for further assaults.

``We are holding our positions and we'll wait to see what the Ethiopians do next,'' an Eritrean government official said.

Heavy fighting between the two Horn of Africa nations erupted earlier this month in the contested Badme region, a rocky and sparsely-populated patch of mountain land along their 1,000-km (600 mile) frontier.

Ethiopia says it will continue fighting until Eritrera withdraws from the contested territory which it occupied in May of last year during the first round of the border war.

Hostilities have now spread to two other fronts, around the towns of Tsorona and Zalambessa south of Eritrea's capital Asmara, and around Burre southwest of Eritrea's strategic Red Sea port of Assab.

At the root of the conflict lies a dispute about colonial maps drawn up by the Italians who ruled Eritrea in the first half of this century.

But diplomats say the border dispute may have been ignited by economic rivalry between Eritrea, Africa's newest state, and its huge and landlocked southern neighbor. It has also been fuelled by intense national pride in both countries.

Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in May 1993 with Ethiopia's blessing, and with it won control of Ethiopia's access to the sea.

In Assab, residents and officials reported heavy artillery exchanges along the border about 70 km (40 miles) to the southwest throughout Sunday, and the town showed signs of a huge military build-up.

Roads leading from the port area out of the city were rutted by tank tracks and many private vehicles were camouflaged with a mixture of grease and red dust as disguise in rural areas.

Assab is Eritrea's second port and, located at the southern end of the Red Sea, was a vital conduit for Ethiopian trade before last May. The Ethiopian government has since diverted most of its trade to neighboring Djibouti.

Assab's port showed little sign of business Monday but officials said that was due more to an economic downturn than fears of military attack from Ethiopia.

The military front southwest of Assab opened Sunday with shelling and bombing along the heavily fortified frontline.

As usual, both sides blamed the other for the escalation of fighting, and each claimed to have the upper hand.

Monday, Ethiopian soldiers took journalists to the Gazagerehlase area on the Badme front, where they claim to have advanced in the first days of fighting last week.

``This was our first line of defense,'' said Lieutenant Negash at the deserted Ethiopian post of Ayay. ``Now we have abandoned these trenches and we have moved about seven kilometers.''

Negash pointed out the new Ethiopian frontline on a small ridge which he said used to be Eritrean-held. He said Eritrean soldiers had fallen back to new positions on still higher ground to the west.

Although patches of scorched earth showed signs of shelling, the frontline was quiet Monday.

(Additional reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse in Addis Ababa and David Fox in Asmara)