Symbol of hope in the ruins of Zalambessa

Little Bethlehem Abimet has become a symbol of peace and hope in Ethiopia. She was born in the destroyed village of Zalambessa, just three weeks before a crucial ruling on the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

"I am so happy my child will grow up and enjoy a life of peace,” her 22-year-old mother Tigist said, as she clutched her newborn baby girl in the wrecked border town. “I would not want her to grow up during a war.”

“I am happy there is peace between the two countries now. Let all the babies born in both countries now have peace," Tigist added. “She will always remind me of peace because she
was the only baby in the town born near the day of the ruling – she gave us luck. Now the Boundary Commission has given Zalambessa to Ethiopia things will get back to normal and business will grow, and then I will be able to make money and give my baby the things a child should have.”

Bethlehem is one of the few children born in the ruins of the town, destroyed during the bitter fighting between both countries. Zalambessa saw some of the heaviest fighting during the two-year border war which broke out in May 1998. Trenches still mark the land where thousands of troops once faced each other.

Most families fled after the war. Although they are gradually starting to return, life is far from normal. Scores of soldiers are in the town and dozens of bars keep residents occupied. A few tailors patch up clothes on the side of the main street, but very little else happens in what was once a thriving border town.

Last week, an independent Boundary Commission, based in The Hague, ruled that the disputed town was in Ethiopia. Zalambessa is in the central sector of the disputed 1,000-km border that snakes through some of the most inhospitable terrain in the world.

The regional authority estimates it will cost around US $45 million to rebuild the town. The speaker of the Tigray regional parliament, Dr Solomon Inquai, says the government has been negotiating with the World Bank to repair the town, which has no electricity or water.

He says most inhabitants have opted to move the whole town a few kilometres to the south. “I must say the people of Zalambessa have been unhappy. One thing that is unique about the people of
Zalambessa is that they are all entrepreneurs. They are hardworking people," he told journalists in the Tigrayan capital, Mekele.

Father Godey Medhanie, the Ethiopian Orthodox priest for Zalambessa, said it would take years to rebuild the town. His church, which overlooks the town, is the only building that has not been damaged. “It's a miracle that the church was not destroyed,” he said.

Zalambessa was once home to both Ethiopians and Eritreans. But no Eritreans now live in the town. Thousands are now in a makeshift refugee camp, 30 km inside Eritrean territory near the village of Senafe. "It will take many years before this town is back to normal," Father Godey says.