Zalambessa (Ge'ez: ዛላምበሳ) is a town located on the Ethiopian border. is part of the Misraqawi (Eastern) Zone of the Tigray Region It is about 37 kilometers north of Adigrat
History
Zalambessa was a village that was fortified by Italian colonial forces. The fortifications were taken over by the Ethiopian military in 1952 when Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia. The older village (Tsorona) remained under Eritrean Administration and the exact border became an issue before and during the Eritrean-Ethiopian War (1998–2000).
In 2000, Eritrea and Ethiopia signed the Algiers Agreement (2000) which forwarded the border dispute to a Hague boundary commission. In the Agreement both parties agreed in advance to comply with the ruling of the Border Commission. In 2002, the commission ruling, reconfirmed and made more precise in their final ruling effective November 2007, placed Tsorona inside Eritrean territory, and Zalambessa inside Ethiopian territory.
Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah announced in July 2009, during a 3-day visit to Ethiopia, that his country would provide a $63 million loan to Ethiopia, part of which would be used to build a road between Wukro and Zalambessa
According to the Eritrean Information Ministry, Ethiopian Forces crossed the border early on New Year’s Day 2010, and engaged in a fierce battle with Eritrean troops before quickly withdrawing back over the border, after having 10 soldiers killed and 2 taken prisoner. Ethiopian government spokesman Bereket Simon denied that any armed incursion had taken place.
