She'eb ( tig, ሽዕብ) is a town in the

Northern Red Sea The Northern Red Sea Region (, it, Regione del Mar Rosso Settentrionale, ) is an administrative region of Eritrea. It lies along the northern three quarters of the Red Sea, and includes the Dahlak Archipelago and the coastal city of Massawa. A ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

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 lies on the fertile plain at the foot of the eastern escarpment of the

Eritrean Highlands The Eritrean Highlands are a mountainous region in central Eritrea. Bordered to the south by the Mareb River, it is a northern continuation of the Ethiopian Highlands. The region has seen tremendous deforestation since the colonial period, which b ...

History

It was the site of a

massacre A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...

during the

Eritrean War of Independence The Eritrean War of Independence was a war for independence which Eritrean independence fighters waged against successive Ethiopian governments from 1 September 1961 to 24 May 1991. Eritrea was an Italian colony from the 1880s until the d ...

. The entire town was raised and burnt to the ground in 1988, and the people who had not been able to flee were ordered to assemble and subsequently run over with tanks while those trying to flee were shot. The massacre left about 400 people dead, including many elderly and children who had not been able to flee in advance. The Ethiopian army claimed that the town was notorious for harboring Eritrean rebels. They proceeded to kill at least 100 more civilians in neighboring villages.Brenda K. Uekert
"Rivers of Blood: A Comparative Study of Government Massacres"
/ref> The town has recovered since the independence of Eritrea in 1991 (de facto)/1993 (de jure) and is now the scene of a thriving agricultural industry. It is connected by asphalt road to the port of

Massawa Massawa ( ; ti, ምጽዋዕ, məṣṣəwaʿ; gez, ምጽዋ; ar, مصوع; it, Massaua; pt, Maçuá) is a port city in the Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea, located on the Red Sea at the northern end of the Gulf of Zula beside the Dahlak ...

via

Gahtelai Gahtelai ( ar, غاهتلاي) is the name of a river, town and plain situated in the Northern Red Sea administrative region of Eritrea. It is not the correct meaning of Gahtelai written in Tigrinya. Because the word is of Saho "gahte" means is ba ...

and using the same road, there is a junction at the village of

Shebah Shebah ( ar, شيباه) is an agricultural settlement on the plains beneath and east of the eastern escarpment of the Eritrean highlands which forms part of the Northern Red Sea administrative region with its capital in Massawa. It is situated ab ...

with a gravel road winding up the eastern escarpment to

Serejeqa Serejeqa ( ar, سيريجاكا, ti, ሰረጃቓ) is a town in the Anseba Region of Eritrea. It is located about 20 km northwest of Asmara on the asphalt road to Keren, which in turn lies roughly 75 km away. The town is situated on th ...

to connect with the

Asmara Asmara ( ), or Asmera, is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the sixth highest capital in the world by altitude and the second highest capital in Africa. The ...

Keren Keren may refer to: Places Inhabited places * Keren, Eritrea, a city in Eritrea, formerly called Cheren * Keren Subregion, Anseba region, Eritrea Other places * House of Keren, a historical house in Taganrog, Rostov Oblast, Russia * Keren, a cr ...

asphalt road, thereby connecting the area with all three of Eritrea's major cities. Populated places in Eritrea {{Eritrea-geo-stub

History

References