Ground that Eritrean troops held last week, seemingly secure in miles of trenches and bunkers they spent years preparing, is now thick with the debris of war, Eritrean corpses, and victorious, confident Ethiopian soldiers.

``A few days earlier the enemy had declared that passing these ridges would be like putting a tank shell through the eye of a needle,'' scoffed Ethiopian Maj. Shegaw Guale, pointing proudly to two key, captured hills.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi on Monday rejected appeals to call an end to his country's offensive to allow for peace talks.

``We shall negotiate while we fight and we shall fight while we negotiate,'' Meles declared before African diplomats in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital. Envoys from the Organization of African Unity and European Union failed to achieve any immediate progress in shuttling between the two capitals Monday.

Ethiopia maintains its objectives are to destroy the Eritrean army, secure border territory it claims as its own, then withdraw.

Meles defended the invasion Monday as ``the stick'' that would finally goad Eritrea into settling the on-and-off 2-year-old war that has drained the resources of two of the world's poorest countries.

On May 18, faced with four Eritrean infantry divisions dug deep into the steep, rocky hillsides overlooking the strategic town of Barentu, Maj. Shegaw engaged his enemy from behind to secure Ethiopia's most crucial victory yet.

Shegaw's soldiers attacked a village at the bottom of the peaks, sneaked up the hills and locked in a fierce two-day infantry battle supported by air and heavy artillery.

Ethiopia's strategy has been to skirt fortifications and isolate points of attack, blocking any rescue by Eritrea. The strategy was developed over a year of planning by the army, military experts said.

``Ethiopia trained specifically for this fight,'' said one Western military analyst who spoke Monday in Addis Ababa.

``They built a training regime to the level of an elite fighting force, very tough and ready to march,'' the analyst said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Eritrea's fighters won renown as guerrillas during a 30-year struggle for independence from Ethiopia that achieved its goal in 1993. But the country so far has proven no match against its much-larger neighbor in more conventional warfare.

Now, Eritrea's army trucks - their frames twisted by missiles, tank fire and mines - sit at the side of the road that winds its way to Barentu, which until days ago was the country's northwest command center.

In one truck, two scorched corpses sprawl over the burnt dashboard. Shattered rifles and body parts of other Eritrean soldiers surround the drought-cracked earth around the charred vehicle.

On Monday, Ethiopia and Eritrea both reported fighting overnight along the eastern border crossing of Bure and elsewhere. It was impossible to immediately verify any of their rival claims of attacks repulsed and heavy losses inflicted.

The two nations are believed to have spent $1 million a day - each - arming and manning for battle.

Ethiopia's largely volunteer army swelled from 60,000 to 350,000 since the war began in 1998. Eritrea's largely conscripted army made similar gains, growing to 250,000 to 300,000 in a nation of 4 million.

While the war officially is over borders, personal rivalry between their leaders is thought to have much to do with the bloody refusal to come to terms.

Earlier rounds of the war cost tens of thousands of lives. No one knows how many have perished in the latest offensive, although it is estimated to have sent more than half a million Eritreans fleeing from their homes.

Ethiopian Col. Gedre Kidane, a commander on the western front, insisted the reasons for success go beyond strategy and arms for Ethiopia.

``We are an ancient country and have defended our country very effectively ourselves, almost without parallel,'' Kidane said.

But the fight now, if it continues, goes into the far higher, rougher land that is the stronghold around Eritrea's capital - and no one knows how the battle would go there.