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# Eritrea and Ethiopia, 5 years from peace ...
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/18728/
- Published: 2005-12-12T14:12:04.000Z
- Updated: 2019-02-14T22:34:33.000Z
- Author: openDemocracy Supporters
- Tags: #en, #Migrated, #Import 2026-04-09 18:15

Badme. A dusty village in Eastern Africa. Nothing really could distinguish this village form another in the area. Yet it has been the flashpoint of the two-year war between Eritrea and Ethiopia that killed about 80,000.

  
Five years after the peace treaty, and only three years after Badme was "awarded" to Eritrea, both countries have started to mass their troopps at the border again: Eritrea threatening to attack Ethiopia if it didn't abide by the boundary settlement of 2000.

  
On saturday, the UN announced that the lingering threats between Eritrea and Ethiopia could turn into a full-scale war "by miscalculation" even though both countries sustain they don't want to go to war.  
An interesting approach, I think, and an enlightening view on today's African conflicts. The situation seems to get so escalated that even getting out of it or putting an end to it could light up this tiny spark that will start a war.

Click [here](http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?action=cw%5Fsearch&l=1&t=1&cw%5Fcountry=41&cw%5Fdate=&ref=opendemocracy.net) to know more about the situation  
[](http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?action=cw%5Fsearch&l=1&t=1&cw%5Fcountry=41&cw%5Fdate=&ref=opendemocracy.net)