Badme ( ti, ባድመ, ) is a town in
Gash-Barka region of
Eritrea. 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–Ethiopian ...
, 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 Eri ...
, 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 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'ilay ...
woreda. In addition to Badme, other disputed areas along the Eritrean–Ethiopian border include
Tsorona-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 ...
and
Bure.
In 2000, Eritrea and Ethiopia signed the
Algiers Agreement, which forwarded the border dispute to a
Hague 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
Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the ruling party in Ethiopia, the
government of Ethiopia 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, attacks were carried out on Badme by the joint Ethiopian and Eritrean armies.
On 19 December 2020, a foreign diplomat stated that "thousands" of
Eritrean 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, 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 grow ...
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