The celebrations began quietly in Addis Ababa. News of the success of Ethiopia's Operation Sunset offensive in the western Badme region was greeted in the capital with a sense of satisfaction, rather than jubilation.

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As news of the victory came in, a few convoys of flag-waving taxis hooted their way along the streets, while a few truckloads of soldiers were cheered through the city centre.

Ethiopian television showed pictures of the sun setting over the Badime area, with a caption claiming that total victory had been achieved.

War songs

National radio broadcast hours of triumphant war songs - some of them dating back to the conflict between Ethiopia and Somalia in 1977.

Meanwhile, newspapers published gleeful accounts of the battle. One covered its front-page with a cartoon, depicting Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi whipping a tearful Eritrean President, Isaias Afwerki.

It was only the next day, as the government claimed tens of thousands of Ertirean deaths, that the residents of Addis Ababa took to the streets. Up to a million people packed the central square, waving flags and dancing.

They chanted triumphant songs, denouncing the Eritrean regime and praising their own soldiers. An effigy of the Eritrean president was paraded around the square, before being torn to shreds by the crowd.

Placards proclaimed the victory, deriding the Eritreans for appealing for mercy by suddenly agreeing to the Organisation for African Unity's peace proposals.

News blackout

Details of the fighting itself were very slow to emerge, the Ethiopian authorities imposing a virtual news blackout on the offensive.

For the first four days, they merely issued brief statements claiming that their forces were on top and that fighting was continuing. It was only after Eritrean radio broadcast news of Ethiopia's breakthrough that the government in Addis Ababa released a fuller account of the fighting.

Claiming to have recaptured the whole of the disputed region, the Ethiopian authorities announced that tens of thousands of Eritrean troops had been killed, wounded or captured during the Sunset offensive.

The Eritrean authorities quickly rejected these figures, responding that 9,000 Ethiopian soldiers had died and 12,000 had been injured.

It is impossible to know what the true casualty figures are, since neither journalists nor international observers have been allowed up to the front. The two warring sides have also given no indication of their own losses.

Heavy casualties

Both sides are believed to have suffered heavy casualties

However, what is clear is that the fighting on the Badme front was by far the fiercest of the war, and that both sides have suffered extremely heavy casualties.

According to reports, the Ethiopian military command threw three divisions into the fray, hurling human waves of soldiers at the heavily fortified Eritrean trenches.

Eventually, despite Eritrea's arsenal of tanks and artillery, the numerically superior Ethiopian army broke through - but at great cost.

With hundreds of millions of dollars worth of recently acquired weapons on show, the UN special envoy, Mohamed Sahnoun, had warned that this could turn out to be the first hi-tech war in Africa.

Foot soldiers

But his prediction appears to have been wrong, with neither side making much use of the new fighter planes they had bought. Two Eritrean MIG 29s were reportedly shot down during the fighting, but mostly the battle was left to the foot soldiers.

With no television footage of the fighting or its aftermath and with the dead and wounded on both sides being kept far from prying eyes, most people are still unaware of the scale of the casualties. Many people have come forward to give blood - especially in the border state of Tigray and in the capital, Addis Ababa.

It is likely to be a long time before a clearer picture emerges since journalists are still barred from visiting the front, or indeed the hospitals in the border region where the injured are being treated.

The hope is, though, that the worst might now be over. Prompted by its reverses on the battlefield, Eritrea has agreed to the OAU peace proposals, which Ethiopia endorsed last year.