Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict: Roots, impacts, and ongoing tensions
At the heart of the Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict, a decades-long territorial and political struggle between two neighboring nations in the Horn of Africa. Also known as the Eritrean-Ethiopian war, this dispute began with Eritrea’s 1993 independence from Ethiopia and exploded into full-scale war in 1998 over a small border town called Badme. What started as a disagreement over a map turned into a bloody two-year conflict that killed over 70,000 people and left millions displaced. The war ended in 2000 with a peace deal, but no one ever really agreed on where the border was supposed to be.
The border dispute, the central issue fueling decades of hostility between Ethiopia and Eritrea, remained unresolved for nearly 20 years. Even after the 2000 Algiers Agreement, both sides dug in. Eritrea, under President Isaias Afwerki, turned into a tightly controlled state with mandatory national service. Ethiopia, under Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and later Abiy Ahmed, struggled with internal unrest while keeping its military ready for another clash. The peace agreement, the 2018 deal signed by Abiy Ahmed and Isaias Afwerki that suddenly ended hostilities shocked the world. It lifted sanctions, reopened borders, and brought families back together. But peace didn’t mean trust. The agreement never fully fixed the border, and Eritrea’s government still doesn’t hold elections or allow independent media.
Today, the Horn of Africa, the volatile region where Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, and Djibouti meet, and where regional power struggles play out remains unstable. Ethiopia’s war in Tigray pulled Eritrean forces back into the fight—this time as allies of Addis Ababa. The world watched as Eritrean troops were accused of atrocities in northern Ethiopia. That alliance, forged in crisis, didn’t last. By 2022, Ethiopia was quietly distancing itself from Eritrea again. The regional stability, the fragile balance of power that keeps the Horn from collapsing into more wars is still hanging by a thread. No one knows if the 2018 peace was a real turning point or just a pause.
What you’ll find here are stories that trace the real human cost behind headlines—the soldiers who never came home, the families split by closed borders, the diplomats who tried to broker peace, and the leaders who chose war over compromise. These aren’t just past events. They’re the foundation of today’s politics in the region.
