Shiraro is a town in northern Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

. Located in the Mi'irabawi Zone

Mi'irabawi Zone

Mi'irabawi is one of four Zones in the Ethiopian Tigray Region. Mi'irabawi is bordered on the east by the Mehakelegnaw Zone, the south by the Amhara Region, the west by Sudan and on the north by Eritrea...

 of the Tigray Region

Tigray Region

Tigray Region is the northernmost of the nine ethnic regions of Ethiopia containing the homeland of the Tigray people. It was formerly known as Region 1...

, this town has a latitude and longitude of 14°24′N 37°56′E with an elevation of 1246 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of Tahtay Adiyabo

Tahtay Adiyabo

Tahtay Adiyabo is one of the 36 woredas in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Mi'irabawi Zone, Tahtay Adiyabo is bordered on the south by the Asigede Tsimbela, then by the Tekezé River which separates Tahtay Adiyabo from Wolqayt and Kafta Humera on the southwest, on the north by Eritrea,...

.

Between January 1995 and June 1998, SUR Construction built two road segments connecting Shiraro with Shire

Shire, Ethiopia

Shire , also known as Inda Selassie , is a town in northern Ethiopia. The administrative center of the Mirabawi Zone of the Tigray region, this town has a latitude and longitude of with an altitude of 1953 meters above sea level...

 to the east and Humera

Humera

Humera is a town in northern Ethiopia, near the borders of Sudan and Eritrea. Located in Mi'irabawi Zone of the Tigray Region, this town has a latitude and a longitude of . Humera is the administrative center of Kafta Humera woreda.- Overview :Humera is served by Humera Airport...

 to the west, totalling in length 139.5 kilometers.

History

Along with Zana, Shiraro was an early hotbed of Tigrayan People's Liberation Front

Tigrayan People's Liberation Front

The Tigrayan People's Liberation Front , known more commonly and sometimes pejoratively in Ethiopia as Woyane or Weyane is a political party in Ethiopia...

 (TPLF) support. According to Gebru Tareke, the TPLF made Shiraro its base between 1979-1980, not only creating a support infrastructure there but also cultivating the land to grow cereals such as corn and sorghum, and cash crops like sesame. Eventually the Derg

Derg

The Derg or Dergue was a Communist military junta that came to power in Ethiopia following the ousting of Haile Selassie I. Derg, which means "committee" or "council" in Ge'ez, is the short name of the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, a committee of...

, the ruling military junta of Ethiopia, directed a military campaign to crush the TPLF at its base. On 12 February 1980, they launched Operation Shiraro, in which four brigades of 4,000 men under the command of Colonel Tariku Ayne advanced first to the TPLF base on the Sur River, which they destroyed then on 25 February departed for Shiraro, which they found deserted and the TPLF positioned on the heights. On the next day, although without intelligence about their opponents, the Derg soldiers advanced into an open field -- where the TPLF ambushed them. After four hours of fierce fighting, the four brigades of the defenders dissolved and the men retreated in disarray. Their casualties were 117 dead (including three battalion and three company commanders) and 292 wounded (including 11 officers).

When the Derg evacuated the town for the last time in 1985, allegedly the soldiers left land mines and hidden bombs which injured some people who had returned from hiding in the countryside. Shiraro was subjected to an aerial attack by Derg aircraft 12 December 1988, which killed 8 people.

Shiraro experienced shelling on 21 October 1998, during the Eritrean-Ethiopian War

Eritrean-Ethiopian War

The Eritrean–Ethiopian War took place from May 1998 to June 2000 between Ethiopia and Eritrea, forming one of the conflicts in the Horn of Africa...

. Its inhabitants and refugees from the surrounding area who had sought safety in the town, fled to a camp near Zeban Gedena, about 15 kilometers to the southeast.

Demographics

Based on figures from the Central Statistical Agency

Central Statistical Agency (Ethiopia)

The Central Statistical Agency is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growth, as well as to act as an official training center in that field. It is part of the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and...

 in 2005, this town has an estimated total population of 14,666, of whom 7,288 are men and 7,378 are women. According to the 1994 national census, its total population was 8,415 of whom 3,881 were men and 4,534 were women. An observer wrote in 1999 that because Shiraro is located "close to the traditional Kunama homelands, long-term Tigrayan oppression of the Kunama people is a hot topic. The Front is trying to persuade the population that if they are justified in fighting for freedom from Amhara

Amhara people

Amhara are a highland people inhabiting the Northwestern highlands of Ethiopia. Numbering about 19.8 million people, they comprise 26% of the country's population, according to the 2007 national census...

domination, then they should be critical of their own history of discrimination against the Kunama."