Eritrean War of Independence

Eritrean War of Independence

Part of: Ethiopian Civil War

Eritrea at war

date	September 1, 1961 to May 29, 1991
place	Eritrea
Casus Belli	Eritrean independence
Exit	Eritrean victory
Territorial changes	Ethiopia loses the former province of Eritrea and becomes a landlocked country
consequences	Hold a referendum for independence

Parties to the conflict
Eritrean Liberation Front Eritrean People's Liberation Front	1961–1974 The Abyssinian Empire. Supported by: United States of Israel     1974–1991 Derg (1974–1987) People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (1987–1991) Supported by : Cuba Soviet Union German Democratic Republic of South Yemen Libya
Commander
Hamid Idris Awate Isaias Afewerki Petros Solomon	Haile Selassie ( Empire Abyssinia ) Mengistu Haile Mariam ( People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia )
losses
~ 60,000 soldiers ~ 90,000 civilians	Ethiopia: 18,000+ soldiers -50,000 civilians Cuba: 5,000 soldiers Soviet Union : 1 soldier

The Eritrean War of Independence was a military conflict over the independence of the former Italian colony of Eritrea from Ethiopia .

The war of independence of the Eritrean separatists ( Eritrean Liberation Front and Eritrean People's Liberation Front ) began in 1961 and merged with the Ethiopian civil war from 1974 . The war itself lasted until May 1991, when the Ethiopian dictatorship under the Ethiopian Communist Workers' Party ended and the province of Eritrea became part of the territory of the Ethiopian interim government . Ultimately, Eritrea achieved its independence peacefully. After a successful, almost unanimous referendum, the independent state of Eritrea was proclaimed on May 24, 1993.

background

Eritrea, the former coastal area of ​​the Axumite Empire and the Abyssinian Empire , has always been a contested zone. From the 14th century on, the coastal region of Eritrea was fought over between Turks , Arabs , Ethiopians , Portuguese and Italians . From 1683 Eritrea was a Turkish province ( Habeş Eyaleti ) within the Ottoman Empire . After 1881 the Italians settled in Eritrea and declared it their colony of Italian Eritrea in 1890 . From 1936 to 1941 the colony of Eritrea was part of Italian East Africa and reunited with the former Abyssinia Empire as an Italian zone of occupation. Following a resolution by the UN General Assembly , the former Italian colony was assigned to Ethiopia as the autonomous province of Eritrea , which, however, gradually abolished the independence of the state: Amharic was made the official language instead of Tigrinya , the regional government was downgraded to an administrative authority on May 20, 1960, and the parliament forced to dissolve itself. Eventually Eritrea was occupied, annexed and converted to the province of Eritrea.

Outbreak of conflict

Since 1961 separatist efforts have developed, which since the overthrow of the monarchy in 1974 and the establishment of a Marxist-Leninist system of rule in Ethiopia have expanded into an uprising against the Ethiopian central government. The independence movement was initially supported by the Eritrean Liberation Front (founded in 1960) and later mainly by the rival Marxist Eritrean People's Liberation Front (founded in 1970 as a split from the Eritrean Liberation Front and restructured in 1977). The Ethiopian army committed massacres on the Eritrean rural population, for the liberation organizations from the fighting deter.

Fighting

The government of the Abyssinian Empire received temporary support from Israeli and American troops and military advisers, but was unable to shut down the liberation movements. Further independence movements emerged, and the conflict worsened after the fall of the monarchy . In two civil wars from 1972 to 1974 and from 1980 to 1981, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front was finally able to assert itself as the only political force. After the EPLF withdrew to the Sahel region in 1978 , the resurgent conflict between the two groups led the ELF to withdraw to the neighboring Sudanese country. With the support of Cuban and Soviet armed forces as well as logistical supplies from the GDR and South Yemen , the Ethiopian central government tried to suppress the uprising. The Ethiopian army was accused of using cluster bombs and napalm against civilian targets as well as using poison gas .

In 1987 the government of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia declared Eritrea an autonomous region in order to politically defuse the conflict. In 1988 the EPLF began its offensive southwards. In 1989 the Eritrean People's Liberation Front began a large-scale offensive against the Ethiopian troops. With the help of the Ethiopian opposition and the Tigray People's Liberation Front, some important victories over the Ethiopian military were celebrated in early 1991. Their armed struggle culminated in 1991 with the capture of the city of Assab , the last city still occupied by Ethiopia. On May 24, 1991 , the EPLF took Eritrea's capital Asmara , ending the War of Independence. After the collapse of the communist system of government in Ethiopia in 1991, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, which had been approaching market economy ideas since 1987, prevailed throughout Eritrea and formed a transitional government .

Recognition of independence

After a referendum on April 25, 1993, the independent Republic of Eritrea was proclaimed without protest from the Ethiopian government. In 1995 Eritrea and Ethiopia signed an agreement to create a free trade area . Ethiopia was also allowed to continue to use the Eritrean port cities as ports.

War memorial district in Massaua

Landfill of war scraps at the gates of Asmara

Results of the referendum

region	Do you agree that Eritrea should become an independent state?			total
	Yes	No	countless
Asmara	128,443	144	33	128,620
Barka	4,425	47	0	4,472
Denkalia	25,907	91	29	26,027
Gash setit	73,236	270	0	73.506
Hamasia	76,654	59	3	76,716
Akkele Guzay	92,465	147	22nd	92,634
Sahel	51.015	141	31	51.187
Semhar	33,596	113	41	33,750
Seraye	124,725	72	12th	124,809
Senhit	78,513	26th	1	78,540
Freedom fighter	77,512	21	46	77,579
In Sudan	153,706	352	0	154.058
In Ethiopia	57,466	204	36	57,706
Other countries	82,597	135	74	82,806
total	1,060,260	1,822	328	1,062,410
%	99.79	0.17	0.03

See also

• History of Eritrea
• Political system of Eritrea
• Eritrea-Ethiopia War

Web links

Commons : Eritrean War of Independence  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Country profile of Eritrea's BBC on November 4, 2005
• War of independence between Eritrea and Ethiopia 1961-1991
• Eritrean War for Independence

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=03dRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vwAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6537,4720048&dq=united+states+egypt+vice+president&hl=en
2. ↑ Ethiopia-Israel. In: country-data.com. Retrieved October 26, 2014 . 
3. ^ ^{A b} Dan Connell: Building a New Nation: Collected Articles on the Eritrean Revolution (1983-2002) . Red Sea Press, 2005, ISBN 1-56902-199-6 .
4. ^ Communism, African-Style. In: Time. July 4, 1983, accessed September 6, 2007 . 
5. ↑ Ethiopia Red Star Over the Horn of Africa. In: Time. August 4, 1986, accessed September 6, 2007 . 
6. ↑ Ethiopia a Forgotten War Rages On. In: Time. December 23, 1985, accessed September 6, 2007 . 
7. ↑ ^{a b} Thomas Keneally: In Eritrea. In: The New York Times. September 27, 1987. Retrieved August 14, 2009 . 
8. ↑ ^{a b} Tracey L. Cousin: Eritrean and Ethiopian Civil War. In: ICE Case Studies. Retrieved September 3, 2007 . 
9. ↑ ^{a b} Eritrean War of Independence 1961-1993. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007 ; Retrieved September 3, 2007 . 
10. ^ David Pool: Eritrean Independence: The Legacy of the Derg and the Politics of Reconstruction . In: African Affairs . tape 92 , no. 368 . Royal African Society, July 1993, pp. 389-402 .
11. ↑ ^{a b} Brockhaus Encyclopedia 2003, EIT-ISK, page 1210
12. ↑ ^{a b c} Meyers Großes Landeslexikon 2004, L, page 159
13. ↑ The Sydney Morning Herald - Google News archive search. Retrieved April 26, 2017 . 
14. ↑ ETHIOPIA SAID TO OPEN DRIVE AGAINST ERITREA REBELS . In: The New York Times . February 21, 1982, ISSN  0362-4331 ( online [accessed April 26, 2017]).
15. ↑ Alexander De Waal, Human Rights Watch (Organization): Evil Days: Thirty Years of War and Famine in Ethiopia . Human Rights Watch, 1991, ISBN 978-1-56432-038-4 ( Google Books [accessed April 27, 2017]).
16. ↑ Eritrea: Birth of a Nation. Retrieved January 30, 2007 . 
17. ↑ The United Nations and the Independence of Eritrea - With an Introduction by Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Secretary-General of the United Nations . In: The United Nations Blue Books Series . tape XII , 1996, ISBN 92-1100605-8 (English, pdf ).