She'eb () is a town in the Northern Red Sea

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

. It lies on the fertile plain at the foot of the eastern escarpment of the

Eritrean Highlands The Eritrean Highlands are a mountainous region in central Eritrea. Bordered to the south by the Mareb River, it is a northern continuation of the Ethiopian Highlands. The region has seen tremendous deforestation since the colonial period, wh ...

History

It was the site of a

massacre A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...

during the

Eritrean War of Independence The Eritrean War of Independence was an War, armed conflict and insurgency aimed at achieving self-determination and independence for Eritrea from Ethiopian rule. Starting in 1961, Eritrean insurgents engaged in guerrilla warfare to liberate ...

. The entire town was razed and burnt to the ground in 1988, and the people who had not been able to flee were ordered to assemble and subsequently run over with tanks while those trying to flee were shot. The massacre left about 400 people dead, including many elderly and children who had not been able to flee in advance. The Ethiopian army claimed that the town was notorious for harboring Eritrean rebels. They proceeded to kill at least 100 more civilians in neighboring villages.Brenda K. Uekert
"Rivers of Blood: A Comparative Study of Government Massacres"
/ref> The town has recovered since the independence of Eritrea in 1991 (de facto)/1993 (de jure) and is now the scene of a thriving agricultural industry. It is connected by asphalt road to the port of

Massawa Massawa or Mitsiwa ( ) is a port city in the Northern Red Sea Region, Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea, located on the Red Sea at the northern end of the Gulf of Zula beside the Dahlak Archipelago. It has been a historically important port for ...

via

Gahtelai Gahtelai () is the name of a river, town and plain situated in the Northern Red Sea administrative region of Eritrea. It is not the correct meaning of Gahtelai written in Tigrinya. Because the word is of Saho "gahte" means is back and "lai" means ...

and using the same road, there is a junction at the village of

Shebah Shebah () is an agricultural settlement on the plains beneath and east of the eastern escarpment of the Eritrean highlands which forms part of the Northern Red Sea administrative region with its capital in Massawa. It is situated about halfway on ...

with a gravel road winding up the eastern escarpment to

Serejeqa Serejeqa (, ) is a town in the Anseba Region of Eritrea. It is located about 20 km northwest of Asmara on the asphalt road to Keren, which in turn lies roughly 75 km away. The town is situated on the ridge of the Eritrean highlands. It ...

to connect with the

Asmara Asmara ( ), or Asmera (), is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region (Eritrea), Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the List of capital cities by altitude, sixth highest capital in the wo ...

- Keren asphalt road, thereby connecting the area with all three of Eritrea's major cities.

References

Populated places in Eritrea {{Eritrea-geo-stub