On the 11th of October, Abiy Ahmed became the 100th recipient of the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. The 43 year old was appointed as the Prime Minister of Ethiopia in April of 2018 and swiftly made efforts to restore peace between Ethiopia and their neighbouring Eritrea. He was the main reason we were able to see the end to a 20 year border conflict between the two African countries.
So what did Abiy Ahmed do and what was the border conflict about? Officially, he was credited with achieving peace and international cooperation. For so long the border conflict was a forgotten one but it saw the loss of almost 100 000 lives and the displacement of more than 650 000 people. What was the conflict about? A small, dusty market town called Badme. Eritrea wanted it, Ethiopia had it and did not want to let it go.
In 1998, war broke out between the two nations and lasted for two years. The border conflict ended up becoming a continuation of the war as Ethiopia took control of Badme. The town seemingly had so little value to both countries that the battle for it was described as “two bald men fighting for a comb”. A year after the war began, Ethiopia claimed that they had won it and held on to Badme. Of course, Eritrea did not agree. Subsequently peace talks were held in which a boundary commission decided Badme was to be given to Eritrea. Ethiopia denied that ruling and that is how the conflict waged on. The border conflict affected other towns between the two countries and many people were displaced. Eritrea felt as though they had to keep increasing the size of their army and many people did not want to join the fight. Many Eritrean’s fled to refugee camps in neighbouring countries or they risked their lives trying to cross into Europe.
Fast forward to 2018, Abiy Ahmed is appointed as Prime Minister of Ethiopia. A beacon of hope to end the senseless violence, and that he did. He ceded Badme to Eritrea 3 months after he came into power and that saw an end to a 20 year stalemate between two former allies.
Shaping Africa 