ZALAMBESA, Eritrea (September 28, 1998 08:49 a.m. EDT) -- Residents in this battered border town are restoring their shattered lives despite fears of new fighting in the conflict between neighbors Eritrea and Ethiopia.
About half of the town's 20,000 inhabitants have returned to Zalambesa, 60 miles south of the Eritrean capital of Asmara, since Eritrean troops took the town from Ethiopia in early June.
A delegation led by former U.S. National Security Adviser Anthony Lake was expected in the region this week in yet another attempt to find peace.
For now, traders have begun reopening shops and roadside stalls, and the Saturday market was thriving. Farmers on both sides have been busy harvesting their crops during a three-month lull in fighting.
Among those who have returned is Sara Binyam, who says business is good at her grocery store. Eritrean soldiers who stroll along the main street are among her best customers.
Goods and people had moved freely across the border until November, when Eritrea introduced its own currency, the nakfa, to replace the Ethiopian birr. Ethiopia refused to permit free exchange of the two and trade stagnated, creating anger and economic hardship on both sides.
In May, Ethiopia evacuated all civilians from Zalambesa, and soldiers started digging trenches in preparation for hostilities that broke out May 12 at Badme, a border village far to the northwest. Intense fighting spread along the border.
Under Eritrean administration now, Zambalesa considers both the birr and the nakfa legal tender.
Shopkeeper Kidane Ghirmay said when the fighting erupted he sent his eight children to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
"When I am in my house, I am afraid of the shelling. We expect the war to start every day," he said. "But when I am in my shop, I am fine because people come in and we talk. But I am always worried whether I will die today or tomorrow."
The rattle of Kalashnikov rifle fire punctuates his comments as Eritrean soldiers practice target shooting.
Before the brief war, Zalambesa was not considered a disputed area, and Eritrea never questioned that it was in Ethiopian territory. After Eritrea captured the town in June, both soldiers and officials said it would be returned to Ethiopia following a peace agreement.
But three months later, Eritrea's attitude has hardened.
President Isaias Afwerki's government is calling for a comprehensive demarcation supervised by a neutral third party of the contested border traced by Italian colonial administrators beginning last century.
Ethiopia says it will not talk peace until Eritrea withdraws from disputed areas.
In the trenches, the mood is relaxed. Apart from the occasional Ethiopian shell lobbed into the villages around Zalambasa, the front line is quiet.
The military build-up on both sides seems complete, and soldiers are just awaiting orders.
In a small underground bunker serving as military tea house, a soldier picked up his krar, a traditional stringed instrument, and sang words that underlined Eritrea's confidence: "The Ethiopians lit the fire ... but the fire went out of control, and now they have burned themselves."
In Zalambesa, people wonder whether they will have to flee again.
"Every day I am praying for peace," Binyam said.
By MARTIN STOLK, Associated Press Writer