Yirga

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The Yirga triangle lies on the western section of the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia and, depending on the legal opinion, was assigned to the north of the Ethiopian region of Tigray or the south of the Eritrean region of Gash-Barka . It is around 400 km² and is bordered by the Mareb and Takazze rivers.

Yirga is a barren and barren land and has neither natural resources nor any military-strategic value.

The main town is Badme , which has around 800 inhabitants, but was largely destroyed by the Eritrean-Ethiopian war . At the beginning of the 20th century, the area was assigned to the then colonial area of ​​Eritrea, but, according to the Ethiopian view, it was always administered by Ethiopia and thus belonged to Ethiopia even after Eritrea's independence in 1993. On May 12, 1998, Eritrean units occupied the Yirga Triangle, whereupon the military escalation resulted in the Eritrea-Ethiopia War , during which the Ethiopian army occupied parts of the border area, including the Yirga Triangle. The OAU finally brokered a peace agreement in 2000, which provided for the precise demarcation of the boundary to be determined by an independent commission of the Permanent Court of Arbitration for the Settlement of International Conflicts in The Hague .

In the border area, a 4,000-strong UN force ensured that the fighting did not flare up again. In April 2002 the Commission awarded the area to Eritrea for the most part in accordance with the historical treaty regulation, against which Ethiopia protested.

On June 5, 2018, the Ethiopian government declared that it was ready to accept the provisions of the 2002 border agreement and to implement them. This also includes the handover of the controversial place Badme to Eritrea. A peace treaty was signed between the two countries on July 9, 2018 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ethiopia 'accepts peace deal' to end Eritrea border war. BBC News, June 5, 2018, accessed June 5, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Ethiopia and Eritrea make peace. Time online from July 9, 2018

Coordinates: 14 ° 39 '  N , 37 ° 55'  E