Badme ( ti, ባድመ, ) is a town in
Gash-Barka
Gash-Barka ( ti, ጋሽ-ባርካ, it, Regione di Gasc-Barca) is an administrative region of Eritrea. It is situated in the south-west of the country, bordering the Anseba region to the north, and the Maekel (Central) and Debub (Southern) region ...
region of
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 ...
. Control of the town was at the centre of the
Eritrean–Ethiopian border conflict
The Eritrean–Ethiopian border conflict was a violent standoff and a proxy conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia lasting from 1998 to 2018. It consisted of a series of incidents along the then-disputed border; including the Eritrean–Ethiopia ...
, which lasted from the beginning of 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 ...
, in 1998, to the signing of a joint statement at the
Eritrea–Ethiopia summit in 2018, twenty years later.
Territorial dispute
The boundaries of Ethiopia and Eritrea follow a frontier defined by the
Treaty of Addis Ababa
The Treaty of Addis Ababa, signed 23 October 1896, formally ended the First Italo-Ethiopian War on terms mostly favorable to Ethiopia. This treaty superseded a secret agreement between Ethiopia and Italy negotiated days after the decisive Battle o ...
between Ethiopia and Italy, which ruled Eritrea as a colony at the time. However, the frontier near Badme was poorly defined in the treaty, and since Eritrea became a separate nation in 1993, each nation has disputed where the boundary actually runs. The town of Badme was ceded by the
TPLF
The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF; ti, ህዝባዊ ወያነ ሓርነት ትግራይ, lit=Popular Struggle for the Freedom of Tigray), also called the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a left-wing ethnic nationalist paramilitar ...
(the predecessor of the
EPRDF
The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF; am, የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝቦች አብዮታዊ ዲሞክራሲያዊ ግንባር, translit=Ye’Ītiyop’iya Ḥizibochi Ābiyotawī Dīmokirasīyawī Ginibari) was an eth ...
, Ethiopia's former ruling party) to the
EPLF
The Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), colloquially known as Shabia, was an armed Marxist–Leninist organization that fought for the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia. It emerged in 1970 as a far-left to left-wing nationalist group ...
(the predecessor of the
PFDJ, Eritrea's ruling organization) in November 1977.
The Ethiopian government considered Badme as one of four towns in
Tahtay Adiyabo
Tahtay Adiyabo () is a woreda in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Part of the North Western Zone, Tahtay Adiyabo is bordered on the south by Asigede Tsimbela, on the southwest by the Tekezé River on the north by Eritrea, and on the east by La'i ...
woreda
Districts of Ethiopia, also called woredas ( am, ወረዳ; ''woreda''), are the third level of the administrative divisions of Ethiopia – after ''zones'' and the '' regional states''.
These districts are further subdivided into a number of ...
. In addition to Badme, other disputed areas along the Eritrean–Ethiopian border include
Tsorona-Zalambessa and
Bure.
In 2000, Eritrea and Ethiopia signed the
Algiers Agreement, which forwarded the border dispute to a
Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
boundary commission. In the agreement, both parties agreed in advance to comply with the ruling of the border commission. In 2002, the commission ruled on where the boundary ran, placing Badme inside Eritrean territory.
Despite initially agreeing to abide by the terms of the Algiers Agreement, Ethiopia rejected its ruling and refused to withdraw to the border established by the Eritrea–Ethiopia Boundary Commission. As a result, thousands of internally displaced people were in refugee camps and there was a threat of renewed war.
In 2005, Badme residents voted in Ethiopian elections for the first time since
Eritrean independence in 1991.
In June 2018, following a meeting of the executive council of the
(EPRDF), the ruling party in Ethiopia, the
government of Ethiopia
The government of Ethiopia () is the federal government of Ethiopia. It is structured in a framework of a federal republic, federal parliamentary system, parliamentary republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, prime minister is the hea ...
announced plans to withdraw from Badme and cede it to Eritrea.
A
bilateral summit the following month ended the border conflict.
Tigray War
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 ...
, attacks were carried out on Badme by the joint Ethiopian and Eritrean armies.
On 19 December 2020, a foreign diplomat stated that "thousands" of
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 ...
n soldiers are engaged in Tigray. Two diplomats claimed that Eritrean troops entered Ethiopia through three northern border towns:
Zalambessa
Zalambessa (Tigrigna: ዛላምበሳ) is a town located in Tigray, Ethiopia. Zalambessa is part of the Misraqawi (Eastern) Zone of the Tigray Region. It is about 42 kilometers north of Adigrat. The Serha-Zalambesa border crossing is located in ...
,
Rama
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...
, and Badme.
[Situation Report EEPA HORN No. 31 - 20 December](_blank)
Europe External Programme with Africa
Demographics
The
Central Statistical Agency
The Central Statistical Agency (CSA; Amharic: ማዕከላዊ ስታቲስቲክስ ኤጀንሲ) is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growt ...
of Ethiopia in 2005 reported that this town has an estimated total population of 1,563, of whom 834 are men and 729 are women.
CSA 2005 National Statistics, Table B.4
References
Bibliography
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External links
{{commons
Border a geographer's nightmare
Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission
Gash-Barka Region
Populated places in Eritrea
Eritrean–Ethiopian border conflict
Ethiopia
Cities and towns in Ethiopia