Intro: With regional mediators trying to bring a ceasefire in the border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, both countries are reinforcing positions along their border. V-0-A correspondent Scott Stearns is at the Ethiopian front, where he reports there is more talk of war than of peace.

Text: Under cover of darkness, thousands of Ethiopian troops march toward the front for what their officers say will be the second phase of Ethiopia's counteroffensive against Eritrea.

When Eritrean troops crossed the border last may, reclaiming land they say is rightfully Eritrean, Ethiopia was caught off guard. it took weeks for Ethiopia to reinforce the front and stop Eritrea's push south.

This time, Ethiopian officers say they are ready to retake land that, before last may, was administered by Ethiopia.

In a column of more than four-thousand men marching single file along a dusty ridge in northern tigray province, Ethiopian soldier Tesfae Ayele says Eritrea will not take them by surprise again.

He says Eritrea invaded Ethiopia because it has economic problems. So, we have come to defend our territory.

It is the first time in combat for soldier Yohannes Kabede, who was recruited eight months ago and now says he is happy to finally be heading to the front.

Mr. Kabede says Ethiopians are ready to defend our territory. for us, we are here because of the Eritreans, not because we want war.

When Eritrea declared its independence in 1993, Mr. Kabede says he never imagined there would be war between these former allies who fought side by side by against Ethiopian leader Mengistu Haile Mariam.

But independence brought territorial rivalries and economic jealousies across the border. Ethiopia invested heavily in Tigray province, threatening Eritrean commercial interests. When Eritrea unveiled its own currency, Ethiopia refused to accept it one-to-one against the Ethiopian birr.

Soldier Imir Melakwi says it is a war more about money than land.

He says there is a misunderstanding on both sides because of Eritrea's economic jealousy of Ethiopia's development. He says Eritrea has been preparing for war for the past seven years while Ethiopians were trying to develop their country.

Regional mediators are trying to arrange a ceasefire in the war. but so far, both countries seem determined to continue the fight.

Eritrea wants international monitors in the disputed areas before withdrawing its forces. Ethiopia wants those troops out and local Ethiopian authority restored before any formal peace talks.

Marching to the front with a rocket propelled grenade launcher over his shoulder, Ethiopian soldier Kasou Mahari says there has been enough talk about peace.

After Eritrea invaded our country last may, he says, we were trying to solve this problem peacefully. But he says Eritrea has rejected peaceful means so the only alternative now to defend our country is to fight them.

Young men on both sides of the front are dying over a few kilometers of dry rock that their governments believe are central to national security. (signed)

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17-Feb-99 10:41 AM EST (1541 UTC)
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Ethiopian MiG fighter planes attacked the reservoir for a third time late on Tuesday night following an unsuccessful attack earlier in the day.

Conflict between the two countries erupted on February 6 in the Badme region, a sparsely-populated patch of mountain land along their 1,000-km (600-mile) frontier that both sides claim.

It quickly spread to a front near the highland town of Tsorona, south of Eritrea's capital Asmara, before erupting on the frontier close to Eritrea's Red Sea port of Assab on Sunday.

Reuters correspondents in Assab said the latest raid on the Eritrean reservoir started around 10:00 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Tuesday and was answered with anti-aircraft fire.

The reservoir is used to supply Eritrean troops and is seen as critical to the war effort in the semi-desert terrain.

The frontline lies about 70 km (45 miles) southwest of Assab but the reservoir is only 20 km (12 miles) from the port city.

Ethiopia on Wednesday also reported the bombing.

``The Ethiopian airforce once again bombed Harsele, a logistical support centre for the Eritrean army at the Afar front, causing further damage to the Eritrean positions,'' government spokesman Selome Taddesse told Reuters on Wednesday.

Both sides said the Badme and Tsorona fronts were quiet on Wednesday.

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

Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in May 1993 with Ethiopia's blessing, but relations quickly soured.

At the root of the war lies a dispute about colonial maps drawn up by the Italians who ruled Eritrea in the first half of this century. Economic rivalry and fierce national pride have also fuelled the conflict.

In the Horn of Africa war between Eritrea and Ethiopia, Assab is one of the worst economic casualties. The port is empty, schools are closed, and restaurants and hotels have few guests.

It is a town on hold, waiting for the war to end.

Tekle, 38, is one of about 3,200 laborers who lost their jobs at the port last May, when the border war started.

More than a dozen ships used to arrive in Assab daily, almost all of them ferrying landlocked Ethiopia's import and export shipments.

But Ethiopia has since taken its business elsewhere, leaving the port -- the main employer of the town's 45,000 people -- at a standstill.

Now only three or four ships arrive a day, most of them carrying military supplies, according to a port employee. Thousands like Tekle can only hope for some temporary work with the town.

"We heard there were jobs to build roads," Tekle said Tuesday, sitting at an empty table without enough money to buy a cup of coffee. "So we have hope that we will find jobs."

Shops and houses in Assab, once painted in bright hues of green and blue, are now fading and dirty. Roadside shanties need repair, but there is no extra money to fix them.

Assab's population has also dramatically changed. Before the war, about two-thirds of the town's residents were Ethiopians who remained in Eritrea after it won independence in 1993.

Now about a third of the Ethiopians have gone back to Ethiopia -- an exodus of 20 percent of Assab's population.

"Eighty percent of the port workers were Ethiopians," said Tadesse Sebhato, 42. "All we had in the port was our flag.

"But our business is not beyond our sovereignty," he added. "I don't want anyone to give me a dime and take away my freedom."

Serekeberhan Woldemichael, Assab's head of commerce, says the Ethiopians "left by themselves."

"Nobody forced them to leave."

In Ethiopia, the International Committee for the Red Cross estimates that more than 50,000 Eritreans have been forced out of the country since the war began. Ethiopia claims the deportees were spies; Eritrea says they were persecuted for being Eritrean.

In Assab, soldiers mingle with civilians on the streets passing through the gray, desert terrain. Mud-covered vehicles, camouflaged for the front lines 45 miles to the southwest, race past leaving clouds of dust.

Dozens of large trucks rumble noisily down the main coastal road that runs past the port, heading southwest to carry war supplies to the border instead of the commercial cargo they once took to Ethiopia.

The latest fighting has brought the war right to the outskirts of the town. This week, Ethiopian warplanes tried three times to destroy Assab's underground water reservoir located less than 12 miles away.

Instead of fear, however, residents have responded with fury.

"Even now we are not afraid," said Daoud Adam, 45. "They are the ones who chose this. They just want our land. But Eritrea is always stronger."