Rama

History

In 1935, this was the location of the Gondrand massacre used as a major propaganda tool by Mussolini. A point of interest in Rama is the nearby church, Kor Nebir Mikael. Records at the Nordic Africa Institute website provide details of a primary school in Rama in 1968. On 29 September 1988, armed units of the Tigray People's Liberation Front overran Rama, killing 21 and capturing 854 government soldiers. This required the Derg to send a force to recover this important settlement on the road to Asmara, but it was not until late December that the 10th division of the Second Revolutionary Army fought its way into the town, only to be withdrawn a week before the decisive Battle of Shire. In January, 2005, the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea reported that MECHEM had removed land mines from 12 kilometers of track leading to Rama. These mines had been laid during the Eritrean-Ethiopian War. During the 2020-2021 Tigray War, attacks were carried out on Rama by the joint Ethiopian and Eritrean armies. On 19 December 2020, a foreign diplomat stated that “thousands” of Eritrean soldiers are engaged in Tigray. Two diplomats stated that Eritrean troops entered Ethiopia through three northern border towns: Zalambessa, Rama and Badme.