Begemder province was annexed into the Tigray Region, after the Tigray People's Liberation Front-led Ethiopian alliance gained control of Ethiopia. The TPLF regime annexed the area for strategic (corridor to the Sudan) and economic (fertile land) reasons. On May 23, 1992, the TPLF-led government admitted that there was vehement and widespread opposition from the public against the new administrative map of the regions. However, the government then launch military campaigns in Begemder, engaging in the arbitrary arrests, the killing of civilians (including elderly, women and children), and mass displacement of the population. For the TPLF, the objective was to change the demographic composition of the province. Tigray War During the Tigray War, Amhara Region militias took control of most parts of the Western Zone in November 2020, which was then occupied for a duration by the joint Ethiopian and Eritrean armies. Human Rights Watch (HRW) described this as "represent[ing] a violent reversal of changes to Ethiopia's contested internal boundaries enacted by the Tigray People's Liberation Front-led Ethiopian federal government in 1992", and after human rights abuses over many years by Tigrayan security against ethnic Amharas and Walqaytes, serving as a backdrop to the eventual violence and expulsion of Tigrayan communities. HRW further noted that the area was part of Begemder, and incorporated into Tigray province, and for decades, the TPLF led government brutally suppressed those who asserted their Amhara identity in the area. On 17 March 2021, the Transitional Government of Tigray’s communication head, Etenesh Nigusse, claimed on VOA Tigrigna that more than 700,000 Tigrayans have been forcibly removed by Amhara forces from the Western Zone Western Tigray, further claiming that the entire population of the Western Zone now stands at around 400 000. Gizachew Muluneh, head of Amhara Regional Communication Affairs, disputed this, arguing that Etenesh's figures were too high. During the occupation, multiple atrocities were committed by Eritrean, Amara and Tigrayan forces. Demographics Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), this Zone has a total population of 356,598, of whom 182,571 are men and 174,027 women; 71,823 or 20.14% are urban inhabitants. Two largest ethnic groups reported in the Western Zone were Tigrayan (92.28%), and Amhara (6.48%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.24% of the population. Tigrinya is spoken as a first language by 86.73, and Amharic by 12.18%; the remaining 1.09% spoke all other primary languages reported. 96.25% of