Eritrean–Ethiopian War

Eritrean–Ethiopian War
	Part of the Eritrean–Ethiopian border conflict
	; Map of the disputed territories on the Eritrea–Ethiopia border where vast majority of the fighting took place
Date	6 May 1998 – 18 June 2000; (2 years, 1 month, 1 week and 5 days)
Location	Eritrean–Ethiopian border
Result	Ethiopian military victory; Eritrean diplomatic victory Algiers Agreement (2000); Most of the disputed territory awarded to Eritrea by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2002; Ethiopian occupation of disputed territories and the border town of Badme until the 2020 Tigray War; Refugee displacement and humanitarian crises of Eritreans and Ethiopians; Deployment of UN Peace-keeping troops along disputed border region; Conflict over the border continues until 2018;
Territorial; changes	Final and binding border delimitation by the International Court of Arbitration
Belligerents
Eritrea	Ethiopia
Commanders and leaders
Isaias Afewerki; Sebhat Ephrem; Ogbe Abraha;	Meles Zenawi; Tsadkan Gebretensae; Samora Yunis;
Strength
200,000–; 300,000	300,000–350,000
Casualties and losses
19,000 killed; (Eritrean claim); 67,000 killed; (Ethiopian claim); 20,000–50,000 or 150,000 killed; (other estimates)	34,000–60,000 killed (Ethiopian claim); 123,000 killed; (Ethiopian clandestine opposition claim); 150,000 killed; (other estimates)
	70,000–100,000 killed on both sides; (ICG estimate); 300,000 killed on both sides; (other estimates)

The Eritrean–Ethiopian War, also known as the Badme War, was a major armed conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea that took place from May 6, 1998 to June 18, 2000.

After Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993, relations were initially friendly. However, disagreements about where the newly created international border should be caused relations to deteriorate significantly, eventually leading to full-scale war. The conflict was the biggest war in the world at the time, with over 500,000 troops partaking in the fighting on both sides.

Eritrea and Ethiopia both invested heavily in armaments prior of the war, and reportedly suffered between 70,000 and 300,000 deaths combined throughout the conflict as a result, with a further 600,000 people displaced. The conflict ultimately led to minor border changes through final binding border delimitation overseen by the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

In 2005, the Eritrea–Ethiopia Boundary Commission, a body established by the Algiers Agreement, concluded that Badme, the disputed territory at the heart of the conflict, belongs to Eritrea. The war officially came to an end with the signing of the Algiers Agreement on 12 December 2000; however, the ensuing border conflict would continue on for nearly two decades.

On 5 June 2018, the ruling coalition of Ethiopia, headed by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, agreed to fully implement the peace treaty signed with Eritrea in 2000, with peace declared by both parties in July 2018, twenty years after the initial confrontation.