"Fighting is continuing today in the vicinity of the Mereb River near Shembeko," Ethiopian government spokeswoman Salome Tadesse told AFP.

She said that fighting had "scaled down" on the central Zala Anbesa-Egala front, where, according to Addis Abeba, the neighbouring states had clashed all week.

On Friday, Eritrea reported fighting during the previous two days along the western front of Mereb-Setit and said it had inflicted "heavy losses" on the Ethiopian army along the central front of Mereb-Alitena.

Addis Ababa on Friday denied Ethiopian claims that it had lost some 10,000 men between Sunday and Tuesday on the central front.

In Geneva on Friday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) expressed grave concern over the conflict and launched an urgent appeal for belligerents to respect humanitarian laws.

According to the ICRC, thousands of soldiers may have been killed, injured or captured since hostilities resumed last month.

The ICRC noted that after a period of relative calm, the war reached new levels of intensity in mid-March, resulting in many new casualties.

The United Nations Security Council on Thursday made another appeal for a cessation of hostilities and for Secretary-General Kofi Annan to renew his efforts to seek a negotiated solution.

Ethiopia, meanwhile, has repeated its demands for an Eritrean pull-out.

"According to the terms of the OAU (Organisation of African Unity) Framework Agreement, Eritrean troops are required to withdraw from all occupied territories," read a statement from Tadesse's office, faxed to AFP on Saturday.

According to Ethiopia, Eritrea has since last May occupied "Ethiopian territories in the regions of Zala An Anbesa-Aiga, Egala and Bada-Burie."

A withdrawal "is what they were required to do 10 months ago and it is what they still need to do today"

Thousands of soldiers are reported to have been wounded, killed or captured since violent clashes resumed in early February. After a temporary lull the fighting intensified in mid-March, again claiming numerous victims.

The ICRC earnestly requests that all the wounded and sick without distinction be evacuated from the battlefield and be given appropriate medical care. Combatants killed in the fighting must be identified and afforded a decent burial. Their places of burial must be duly marked.

The ICRC further reminds the parties that prisoners of war and civilian internees must be treated in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Conventions.

The belligerents are also duty bound to take all necessary steps to safeguard the civilian population from the dangers of military operations.

An announcement by the official spokesperson in Addis Ababa Friday night said there had been fresh fighting earlier in the day between the two sides in the vicinity of the Mereb River near the Eritrean border town of Shembeko.

The Eritrean border town of Shembeko is near the Badme border area, where Ethiopia managed to evict late last month Eritrean forces from the territory they had occupied for nine months.

The spokesperson said fighting continued Saturday in the vicinity of Mereb River near Shembeko.

The two sides have engaged in fierce fighting during the week along the Zalambessa-Egala front, according to the spokesperson.

Eritrean claims of inflicting heavy losses on the enemy had been denied during the week by Ethiopia, asserting that Eritrea was only engaged ''in a war of words and fights for the limelight''.

An official statement issued Friday night in Addis Ababa accused Eritrea of giving lip service to its acceptance of the OAU peace plan for resolving the border dispute ''after it was forcibly evicted from Badme.''

The statement said Eritrean forces still continued to occupy Ethiopian territory in three areas along the Zalambessaaiga and Zalambessa-Egala fronts in the central area of the common border and along Buda-Bure front in south-eastern Ethiopia.

''According to the terms of the OAU framework agreement, Eritrean troops are required to withdraw from all occupied territories. This is what they were required to do so 10 months ago, and it is what they sdtill need to do,'' the statement added.