Battle of Afabet

Battle of Afabet
	Part of the Eritrean War of Independence and the Ethiopian Civil War
Date	17–20 March 1988
Location	Afabet, Eritrea16°11′00″N 38°41′00″E / 16.183333°N 38.683333°E
Result	EPLF victory
Belligerents
EPLF	Ethiopia; Soviet Union (advisors)
Commanders and leaders
Mesfin Hagos; Gebregziabher Andemariam	Getaneh Haile; Wubetu Tsegaye
Strength
15,000–20,000	15,223
Casualties and losses
4,000–5,000 killed; 5,000 wounded	; 8,000–9,000 killed ; 5,000 captured; ; 1 killed; 3 captured
	class=notpageimage\| Location within Eritrea

The Battle of Afabet was a three-day battle fought from 17 March through 20 March 1988 in and around the town of Afabet, as part of the Eritrean War of Independence.^[4] The battle has been described as being the largest battle in Africa since the Second Battle of El Alamein.^[5] It has been described as the most significant battle in terms of military and political consequences since the Ethio-Somali War, alongside the 1989 Battle of Shire of the Ethiopian Civil War.^[6]

^ "Attempts to distort history". Archived from the original on 17 November 2008. Retrieved 22 January 2008.
^ Perlez, Jane (19 February 1990). "Prisoner No. 14279: Forlorn Pawn in Ethiopia's Long and Ruinous Civil War". The New York Times.
^ ^a ^b "Afabet, March 1988: The Decisive Battle for Eritrean Independence" (PDF).
^ Battiata, Mary (24 March 1988). "Ethiopian Rebels Claim Huge Victory". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Tareke, Gebru (2004). "From Af Abet to Shire: The Defeat and Demise of Ethiopia's 'Red' Army 1988–89". The Journal of Modern African Studies. 42 (2): 239–281. ISSN 0022-278X.