Seven years after Eritrean independence, a border dispute over the town of Badme escalated into full-scale war between Ethiopia and Eritrea from May 1998 to June 2000, involving trench warfare reminiscent of World War I and killing an estimated 70,000-100,000 soldiers on both sides. The war displaced roughly 1 million civilians from border areas, and both governments expelled or deported tens of thousands of each other's nationals and dual-heritage residents on grounds of national security. A 2000 peace agreement created a UN-monitored buffer zone, and an independent Boundary Commission ruled in 2002 that Badme belonged to Eritrea, but Ethiopia refused to withdraw for nearly two decades, leaving the two countries in a state of 'no war, no peace' until a 2018 rapprochement formally ended the conflict.
Ethiopia and Eritrea fought over the disputed border town of Badme and adjacent territory; both governments expelled or deported each other's nationals
World Bank and UN Population Division series give Ethiopia about 63.9 million and Eritrea about 3.2 million in 1998. The burden fell very unevenly: displacement and expulsions in Eritrea alone are usually put at 750,000 or more, close to a quarter of its population, while Ethiopian displacement was concentrated in Tigray and Afar.
Most international reporting settled on about 70,000 dead on both sides; the Encyclopedia of Conflicts Since World War II (2015) gives roughly 19,000 Eritrean and 120,000 Ethiopian soldiers killed, near 140,000. Each government's own claims serve its case — Eritrea acknowledged 19,000 of its soldiers killed while Ethiopia claimed 34,000-60,000 of its own and up to 67,000 Eritrean dead — and some regional analysts have suggested figures as high as 300,000. Press access restrictions meant none of these were independently verified.
Human Rights Watch documented detainees subjected in some cases to torture, rape and other degrading treatment, and recorded the deportation of 77,000 Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean origin from Ethiopia with their belongings confiscated and citizenship stripped, alongside an estimated 70,000 Ethiopians expelled from Eritrea — matters also litigated before the Claims Commission.
Eritrea, Ethiopia