Surprised army members who questioned why such a threat to the nation was not broadcast on the national media, the Prime Minister said his government did not want to sound alarmist and divert the people's attention away from the fight against poverty. Meles and other high-ranking officials travelled to the front lines last Sunday.

The prime minister also warned the soldiers not to pull the trigger until Eritrea's invasion was confirmed by his government. In Amharic, he said: "Shaebia jerro-achin sirr hono escaltekose, andh tiyit anitekusim."

The commanders' question was: "Why do we have to wait until the enemy fires at us from a position under our nose?"

Sources have described Meles' attempt to confine the news of the threat of war to the troops as "a sinister plot against all Ethiopians who in their history have never been defeated."

Observers said Meles was framing up the country for a defeat by an Eritrean army that he saved from being vanquished in the hands of the Ethiopian Defense Forces three years ago.

"If Meles goes on national TV and warns a threat is blowing from Eritrea, he knows the whole country would rally against him and urge for the removal of an Eritrean agent that he is who aborted a victorious war in favor of Eritrea during last conflict," the sources said.

Unlike the 1998 counter-offensive for which the entire nation was mobilized, the Ethiopian Defense Forces find themselves today in a predicament after Meles demobilized one-third of the nation's fighting force, and fired key army commanders who played key roles in sending the Shaebia army in disarray.

Eritrea recently moved a huge army closer to the Ethiopian border, and the UN expressed "concern" over unprecedented Eritrean army movements toward the hotly contested border with Ethiopia.