Zalambessa

History

The original village of Zalambessa was fortified by Italian colonial forces during the period of 1936 and 1941. The fortifications were taken over by the Ethiopian military in 1952, when Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia. A portion of the village, named Tserona, remained under Eritrean administration. During the Ethiopian Civil War, on 15 November 1989, Zalambessa was bombed by the Ethiopian Air Force; no fatalities were reported. The town's precise border became an issue before and during the Eritrean-Ethiopian War (1998–2000). After the war, the town was left in ruins. In 2000, Eritrea and Ethiopia signed the Algiers Agreement, which forwarded the border dispute to a boundary commission at the Hague. In the agreement, both parties agreed in advance to comply with the commission's decision. In 2002, a ruling was issued, placing Tserona inside Eritrean territory and Zalambessa within Ethiopia. According to the Eritrean ministry of information, Ethiopian armed forces crossed the border early on New Year's Day of 2010 and engaged in a fierce battle with Eritrean troops, before quickly withdrawing back over the border, after losing ten soldiers and two more being taken prisoner. Ethiopian government spokesman Bereket Simon denied that any armed incursion had taken place.

Most recent

• M 4.2 — 2026-06-11
  62 km ESE of Ādīgrat, Ethiopia
• M 4.2 — 2026-01-21
  56 km NE of Mek'ele, Ethiopia
• M 4.4 — 2026-01-21
  52 km NE of Mek'ele, Ethiopia
• M 4.5 — 2026-01-04
  68 km NE of Mek'ele, Ethiopia
• M 4.4 — 2025-10-20
  55 km ESE of Ādīgrat, Ethiopia
• M 4.5 — 2025-10-20
  44 km SE of Ādīgrat, Ethiopia