Assab or Aseb (, ) is a port city in the

Southern Red Sea Region The Southern Red Sea Region (, it, Regione del Mar Rosso Meridionale, ) is an administrative region of Eritrea. It lies along the southern half of the Red Sea, and contains the coastal city of Assab. It borders the Northern Red Sea Region, and h ...

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

. It is situated on the west coast of the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

. Languages spoken in Assab are predominantly Afar,

Tigrinya (; also spelled Tigrigna) is an Ethio-Semitic language commonly spoken Eritrea and in northern Ethiopia's Tigray Region by the Tigrinya and Tigrayan peoples. It is also spoken by the global diaspora of these regions. History and literature ...

, and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

. Assab is known for its large

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...

, beaches and

nightlife Nightlife is a collective term for entertainment that is available and generally more popular from the late evening into the early hours of the morning. It includes pubs, bars, nightclubs, parties, live music, concerts, cabarets, theatre, c ...

History

Assab is about 50 km NW of the ancient city of Arsinoe Epidires. On 15 November 1869 the port of Assab was bought by the Rubattino Shipping Company of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

from the local Sultan. After the Italian government took over control of the port on 5 July 1882 it laid the foundations for the formation of the colony of

Italian Eritrea Italian Eritrea ( it, Colonia Eritrea, "Colony of Eritrea") was a colony of the Kingdom of Italy in the territory of present-day Eritrea. The first Italian establishment in the area was the purchase of Assab by the Rubattino Shipping Company in ...

, which became the independent country of

following its independence from the

Transitional Government of Ethiopia The Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE) was an era established immediately after the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) seized power from the Marxist-Leninist People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) in 1991. D ...

in the 1990s. Construction of an

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, lique ...

began in 1964 and it opened in 1967. By 1989, Assab had a population of 39,600 inhabitants. The port facilities were greatly expanded in the early 1990s, with the construction of a new terminal. The oil refinery was shut down for economic reasons in 1997.

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

used Assab as the port for two-thirds of its trade with the world until the

Eritrean–Ethiopian War The Eritrean–Ethiopian War, also known as the Badme War, was a major armed conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea that took place from May 1998 to June 2000. The war has its origins in a territorial dispute between the two states. After Eritr ...

broke out in 1998. Borders between Eritrea and Ethiopia closed and trade with Ethiopia ceased. The port and the port town declined and by 2005 the population had dropped to an estimated 20,222 inhabitants.

21st century

In 2008, following a border dispute with neighbouring

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

and consequently an unsafe border between the countries, which saw forces from

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

acting as mediators in a buffer zone, the role of Assab diminished further. During the

Tigray War The Tigray War; ; . was an armed conflict that lasted from 3 November 2020 to 3 November 2022. The war was primarily fought in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia between the Ethiopian federal government and Eritrea on one side, and the Tigray Peop ...

, Assab was also involved. Offensives of joint ENDF- Amhara-Eritrean forces into Tigray were facilitated by the intervention of " Pterosaurus" drones, launched by the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

from its base in Assab. The Chinese-made armed drones bombed Tigrayan towns and defence forces.YouUAV.com, 4 December 2020
/ref>

EEPA The Europe External Programme with Africa and Europe External Policy Advisors, both called EEPA, are two closely associated Belgian-based non-governmental organizations that aim to encourage the European Union's involvement in human rights in ge ...

has provided a summarised translation of the Chinese article. On 19 December 2020, an

report mentioned that Egyptian officials and a European diplomat state that the

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

have used its base in Assab to launch armed drone strikes against Tigray. The investigative platform

Bellingcat Bellingcat (stylised as bellngcat) is a Netherlands-based investigative journalism group that specialises in fact-checking and open-source intelligence (OSINT). It was founded by British journalist and former blogger Eliot Higgins in July 2014 ...

further confirmed the presence of Chinese-produced drones at the UAE's military base in Assab.Situation Report EEPA HORN No. 31 - 20 December
Europe External Programme with Africa

Infrastructure

Assab is served by

Assab International Airport Assab International Airport is an international airport in Assab, the capital of the Southern Red Sea region of Eritrea. Characteristics It serves as a dual public and military facility. The airport has an 11,531 ft (3,515 m) asphalt runwa ...

. The

reportedly uses the port and airport for logistics, and as a

detention center A detention center, or detention centre, is any location used for detention. Specifically, it can mean: * A jail or prison, a facility in which inmates are forcibly confined and denied a variety of freedoms under the authority of the state as a ...

Climate

Assab has the typical

hot desert climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''BWh'') of the Danakil Region. The city's climate is arid and extremely hot, with an extremely low average annual rainfall of . Assab experiences high temperatures during both the day and the night, with the annual mean average temperature approaching .

References

External links

* {{Coord, 13, 01, N, 42, 44, E, region:ER_type:city, display=title Regional capitals in Eritrea Southern Red Sea Region Populated places in Eritrea Port cities in Eritrea Russian and Soviet Navy bases Port cities and towns of the Red Sea