Ethiopian/eritrean war-Irob people

Children are walking back from school, it is quiet and peaceful. Yet only a few kilometers to the north is the frontline border between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Between 1998 and 2000 this region was devastated by a violent conflict between the two countries. At that time, the Irob people who inhabit these arid highlands were forced to flea the fighting, leaving their ancestral territory to ruin and destruction. Only in the past three years have they started resettling on their land.

The Irob are an ethnic group of 30,000 people. They have their own language and share a unique culture. Most are Christians Ethiopian Orthodox or Catholics. They now fear a new war: with the local UN peace-keeping force withdrawing from the border region in July, tension is on the rise between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Hagos Gidey, a local farmer, dreams aloud: It would be good if this could be settled peacefully: that people from Ethiopia and people from Eritrea can come and go like they used to."

The Irob people are grateful to the current Ethiopian regime for granting them greater autonomy in their region. For Zewde Yohannès, a farmer displaced during the war, things are clear: Eritrea has nothing to do here. Ethiopia is a big country. I want to remain Ethiopian! I dont want a war! , he says.

Ethiopia officially accepted the new border decreed by the UN boundary commission in 2002. According to that ruling, the Irob country is part of Eritrea. But Ethiopia wants this demarcation to be renegotiated.

The Irob people want to live united, not torn apart between two hostile countries. They have been living here for the past 700 years and intend to stay here.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• WB
• EN
• REPORT
• 06H12M1114

[kind899]

public media are always abusing their public rights and how come u interview some ppl who can not even write their name about the war b/n the 2 countries....after all what is the cause of war, who is behind the war, what is the vision of the war for some politicians,,,,those are tvillhe Q's should be addressed, not interviewing villagers.....any how this is not the first time massive public media compromise their identity....always baised and objective in their views.

[axum3000]

@kind899 they interview the villagers to see the naitives point of view...to provide us with an understanding of the impact from this war....

[axum3000]

@kind899 although i agree with your statement

[AgameListro]

Irobs are basically Saho like the Eritian but they are all chritians

[MissRae33]

I think we need to start to forgive, understand and love one another.. I am Canadian-Eritrean and i'm sad to say i don't really know a lot about why we are fighting each other, but all i can say is there is no solution to violence and anger. Both Eritreans and Ethiopians need to embrace and accept each others differences and move forward in a positive way..

[yaya99ification]

@qweas0 One of the best comment i have ever read on youtube! well said !..very well said yagere lege!

[yaya99ification]

@SuperSawg umm it said that they don't want to be considered Eritrean even though they're located in 'eritrea'! wtf re u talking bout?..smh

[mererew1]

i was zere(zalanbessa) when z war was provoked and i do have my relatives in eritrea(senafe,embab dehan and ...) so i suffer more from a meaningless war. my old brother(ethiopia) and my aunt's doughter(eritrea) were engaged in the war to destroy each other. it is a real history. but here u used to talk about the war by fabricating words. but zala anbessa( up to walaka) and irop and badme were never ever under eritrean territory.

PEACE FOR ETHIO_ERITREA!!!!!!!!!!

[winnieaman94]

i am from irob and now live in canada. growing up i never assumed that we were by any means part of Eritrea, we identified ourselves as ethiopians and we still do. the main point is that Irob people are very peaceful people and have nothing to do with political issues. i only hope we stay united. i love irob and its people so dearly.

[SuperSawg]

@SuperSawg SANCTION MAKES US MORE N MORE STRONGER EVER!!ERITREA HAS BEEN SANCTION THIS PAST 2 YEARS BUT THE ECONOMY OF ERITREA KEEP GROWING WHILE OTHER EAST AFRICAN COUNTRIES R IN FAMINE, ERITREA IZ ONLY COUNTRY THAT HASN'T RECEIVED AID.(self-reliance iz only solution in africa). PROUD OF ERITREA PPL AND THE GOV.

[OperationSunset]

@SuperSawg Dear brainless shabo, i know you have a small mind and no brain, but try to think here. The war was over Badme, once we won the territory we kept the land. Eritrea admitted defeat and withdrew from all border areas, Eritrea agreed to UN buffer zone 25 km inside Eritrean territory. Ethiopia still has Badme-Zalembassa and other disputed territories of the Yirga triangle. Pretend that you won all you want idiot, more sanctions are coming!

[SuperSawg]

@OperationSunset look this piece shit if 500 Eritreans killed why Eritrea still have Asseb. it doesn't make sense what u saying. U SAID "stop invading Ethioipia" get the fact right u dump fuck. ETHIOPIA IZ ONE Invaded Eritrea so they can capture ASSEB ND ASMARA BUT THOSE DREAM DIDN'T HAPPENED. 80M VS 3M DAVID AND GOLIATH.

[SuperSawg]

LOOK all those refugee agame stealing Eritrea land. This land used to be Kunma land but after the war those agame immigrant to this place. They said "we part of Ethiopian'" if the land part of Ethiopia why United Nation decided that this land belongs to Eritrea. Those agame beggar will always dreaming of becoming Eritrea "hell NO"

[OperationSunset]

@EritreanKing007 E.Africa faces famine, Eritrea suffers in silence

Alem Teke watched her crops in Eritrea shrivel and die from drought. She braved landmines and escaped being raped by soldiers to save her children from starvation by fleeing across the border to a refugee camp in neighboring Ethiopia.