Editing Badme

{{Short description|Town in Gash-Barka, Eritrea}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox settlement
<!-- See Template:Infobox settlement for additional fields and descriptions -->
|official_name          =  Badme
|native_name            = ባድመ<br>بادم
|image_skyline          =
|imagesize              =
|image_caption          = Badme, Eritrea (ባድመ, ኤርትራ) in 2021
|image_flag             =
|flag_size              = 150px
|image_seal             =
|image_map              =
|map_caption            =  ባድመ, ኤርትራ
|pushpin_map            = Eritrea
|pushpin_label_position = bottom
|pushpin_mapsize        = 300
|pushpin_map_caption    = Location in Eritrea<ref>[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/eritrea/ CIA – The World Factbook – Eritrea]</ref>
|subdivision_type       = [[Countries of the world|Country]]
|subdivision_type1      = [[Regions of Eritrea|Region]]
|subdivision_name       = Eritrea
|subdivision_name1      = [[Gash-Barka]]
|subdivision_type2      = District
|subdivision_name2      =
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|population_as_of       = 2005
|population_footnotes   =
|population_total       = 1563
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|coordinates            = {{coord|14|43|34|N|37|48|12|E|type:city|display=inline,title}}
|elevation_footnotes    =
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|blank_name             = [[Köppen climate classification|Climate]]
|blank_info             = [[Semi-arid climate#Hot semi-arid climates|BSh]]
|website                =
|footnotes              =
}}

'''Badme''' ({{langx|ti|ባድመ}}, {{Langx|ar|بادم}}) is a town in [[Gash-Barka]] region of [[Eritrea]]. Control of the town was at the centre of the [[Eritrean–Ethiopian border conflict]], which lasted from the beginning of the [[Eritrean–Ethiopian War]], in 1998, to the signing of a joint statement at the [[2018 Eritrea–Ethiopia summit|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.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Anglo-Ethiopian treaty of 1902 |first=Edwakd | last=Ullendorff |date=October 1967 |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies |volume=30|issue=3|pages=641–654|doi=10.1017/S0041977X00132100|issn=1474-0699}}</ref> 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{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} by the [[Tigrayan People's Liberation Front|TPLF]] (the predecessor of the  [[Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front|EPRDF]], Ethiopia's former ruling party) to the [[Eritrean People's Liberation Front|EPLF]] (the predecessor of the [[People's Front for Democracy and Justice|PFDJ]], Eritrea's ruling organization) in November 1977.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kendie|first=Daniel|title = The Five Dimensions of the Eritrean Conflict 1941-2004: Deciphering the Geo-Political Puzzle|isbn = 1-932433-47-3|publisher = Signature Book Printing|year = 2005}}</ref>{{page needed|date=June 2017}}

The Ethiopian government considered Badme as one of four towns in [[Tahtay Adiyabo]] [[woreda]]. In addition to Badme, other disputed areas along the Eritrean–Ethiopian border include [[Tsorona-Zalambessa]] and [[Bure, Africa|Bure]].

In 2000, Eritrea and Ethiopia signed the [[Algiers Agreement (2000)|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 2002, authorities in Ethiopia's [[Tigray Region]] resettled some 210 people from [[Central Zone, Tigray|central Tigray]] to Badme.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=18 June 2024 | url=https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/ar/node/201182 |title="Voluntary resettlement" in Badme |date=11 June 2002 |newspaper=[[The New Humanitarian]] | location=Addis Ababa}}</ref>

In 2005, Badme residents voted in Ethiopian elections for the first time since [[Eritrean War of Independence|Eritrean independence in 1991]].{{sfn|Abbink|2003|p=223|ps=: "In various UN documents, Badme is also mentioned as an Ethiopian place and as a recipient of food aid. People of Badme voted in all Ethiopian elections after 1991. Another indication is that until the moment of the outbreak of war in May 1998, Eritrean currency (the naqfa, introduced a year earlier) was never in use in Badme, only the Ethiopian birr."}}{{sfn|Jonathan Wilkenfeld|Kathleen Young|David Quinn|2007|p=61}}<ref>[http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=7668 Ethiopian general elections, January 2005 - Sudan Tribune]</ref>

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.<ref name="1R">{{cite web|access-date=7 June 2018 |first=Argaw
|url=https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/africa/Ethiopia-pulls-out-of-disputed-border-region/4552902-4597490-2xu78d/index.html |title=Ethiopia to withdraw from disputed border region |date=5 June 2018 |newspaper=[[The EastAfrican]]  |last=Ashine | location=Nairobi}}</ref> A [[2018 Eritrea–Ethiopia summit|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 [[Eritrea]]n soldiers are engaged in Tigray. Two diplomats claimed that Eritrean troops entered Ethiopia through three northern border towns: [[Zalambessa]], [[Rama, Ethiopia|Rama]], and Badme.<ref name="eepa31">[https://www.eepa.be//wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Situation-Report-EEPA-Horn-No.-31-20-December.docx.pdf Situation Report EEPA HORN No. 31 - 20 December] Europe External Programme with Africa</ref>

==Demographics==
The [[Central Statistical Agency (Ethiopia)|Central Statistical Agency]] 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.<ref>[http://www.csa.gov.et/text_files/2005_national_statistics.htm CSA 2005 National Statistics, Table B.4] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061123121716/http://www.csa.gov.et/text_files/2005_national_statistics.htm |date=23 November 2006 }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite journal|first=Jan|last=Abbink|url=http://dare.ubvu.vu.nl/bitstream/handle/1871/21472/157018.pdf;jsessionid=1A0719718040177E3E53E09818509E93?sequence=2|title= Badme and the Ethio-Eritrean border: the challenge of demarcation in the post-war period|journal=[[Africa: Rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione|Africa: Rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione dell'Istituto italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente]] |volume=58|issue=2|date=2003|pages=219–231|jstor=40761693}}
* {{cite book|author1=[[Jonathan Wilkenfeld]]|author2=Kathleen Young|author3=David Quinn|title=Mediating International Crises|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_wKTAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA61|date=7 May 2007|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-99479-2}}

==External links==
{{portal|Africa}}
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/396571.stm Border a geographer's nightmare]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070715023606/http://www.pca-cpa.org/showpage.asp?pag_id=1150 Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission]

[[Category:Gash-Barka region]]
[[Category:Populated places in Eritrea]]
[[Category:Eritrean–Ethiopian border conflict]]
[[Category:Cities and towns in Ethiopia]]