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The foreign relations of Eritrea are the policies of the Eritrean government by which it administers its external relations with other nations. Since its independence, Eritrea's foreign relations have been dominated by conflict and confrontation, both in the regional and international arenas. It has maintained often troubled, and usually violent, relations with its neighbors, including brief armed conflicts with Yemen and Djibouti and a destructive war with its bigger-neighbour, Ethiopia. At present, Eritrea has very tense relations with neighboring Ethiopia and Djibouti. Relations in the international arena also have been strained since the last decade, particularly with major powers. What appeared cordial relations with the US in the 1990s turned acrimonious following the border war with Ethiopia, 1998-2000. Although the two nations have a close working relationship regarding the ongoing war on terror, there has been a growing tension in other areas. Ties with international organizations such as the United Nations, the African Union, and the European Union have also been complicated in part because of Eritrea's outrage at their reluctance to force Ethiopia to accept a boundary commission ruling issued in 2002.
Isaias Afwerki is an Eritrean politician and partisan who has been the president of Eritrea since shortly after he led the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) to victory in 24 May 1991, ending the 30-year-old war for independence from Ethiopia.
The Eritrean–Ethiopian War, also known as the Badme War, was a major armed conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea that took place from May 1998 to June 2000.
The Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), informally known as Jebha, was the main independence movement in Eritrea which sought Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia during the 1960s and the early 1970s. It was established in 1960 after Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie violated a 1952 UN resolution that guaranteed Eritrea the right to an autonomous government. Idris Muhammad Adam and other Eritrean intellectuals founded the ELF as a primary Pan Arab movement in Cairo, but the first attack was led by Hamid Idris Awate in 1961. Over the course of the 1960s, the ELF was able to obtain support from Arab countries such as Egypt and Sudan. However, tensions between Muslims and Christians in the ELF along with the failure of the ELF to ward off Ethiopia's 1967–1968 counter offensive internally fractured the ELF, causing it to split. By the mid 1970s, the ELF and the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), an ideologically Maoist liberation movement, were the key liberation movements in Eritrea. The EPLF ultimately overtook the ELF as the primary Eritrean independence movement by 1977, and the ELF was subsequently defeated in 1981.
The Eritrean War of Independence was a war for independence which Eritrean independence fighters waged against successive Ethiopian governments from 1 September 1961 to 24 May 1991.
There are no current independent mass media in Eritrea. All media outlets in Eritrea are from the Ministry of Information, a government source.
Abraha Kassa Nemariam is an Eritrean Brigadier General. As of March 2021, he is the Director of the National Security Office of Eritrea, a post that he has held since 1997 or earlier.
Hamid Idris Awate was the founder of the Eritrean Army, and a symbol of the Eritrean struggle for independence.
Seyoum Tsehaye is a jailed Eritrean journalist. At independence in 1993, Tsehaye was named to the head of Eri-TV, the Eritrean state broadcaster. He was arrested in September 2001 when President Isaias Afewerki closed all non-governmental media sources. In December 2007, Seyoum was named Reporter of the Year by Reporters Without Borders. As of January 2016, he was known to be alive, being held at Eiraeiro prison.
Aster Yohannes is a veteran of Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) and an independence activist. Post-independence, she was working in the ministry of Fishery and Marine Resources in 1995. She also is the wife of detained Eritrean politician Petros Solomon.
The Eritrean National Salvation Front is an Eritrean opposition group in-exile. The organisation had an armed wing which fought the Eritrean government, and a radio program that operates outside of Eritrea.
The Saho People's Democratic Movement (SPDM) is a rebel group in Eritrea, fighting for the self-determination of the Saho people. They are allied with the Red Sea Afar Democratic Organisation (RSADO), whom they have done joint operations with. The organization was founded in 1984, during the Eritrean War of Independence, and played a significant role in the struggle against Ethiopian rule.
Freedom Friday one of the few political opposition organizations in Eritrea as of 2017. Also known as the Arbi Harnet project, this opposition movement seeks to empower Eritreans to publicly challenge the Isaias Afwerki government. According to former diplomat Fathi Osman, there are approximately 5,000 activists out of 6 million Eritreans, and many choose to act in opposition before fleeing the oppressive country. This movement started under the "Empty the Street" Campaign, which was inspired by the Arab Spring movements. However, due to the political culture in Eritrea, youthful citizens were unable to gather to organize mass protests. The official date the movement began was November 11, 2011 when original members made calls and sent messages around the country to join in protesting for democratic changes. The movement as of 2020 is led by Ephrem Tewelde, and has managed to recruit and mobilise new members. Ephrem Tewelde and Tsigabu Asmelash send weekly radio program on short wave and satellite, focusing on the future Eritrea and presenting national plan that covers every aspect of the society. The movement claims that it is reaching new heights in introducing new projects to avail independent internet access for the entire nation. Freedom Friday is claimed to have mobilised community leaders that will help the transition from dictatorship to democracy.
Dawit Mesfin is a writer, researcher and political analyst who campaigns for human rights and democracy in Eritrea. He is a founding father of Awate.com, a leading Eritrean website and served as a senior editor for Asmarino.com. He set up Voice of Liberty radio station, chaired diverse human rights and civil society groups focusing on Eritrea, and was principal director of Justice Africa, an international NGO with a special focus on the Horn of Africa, from 2011-2014.
Abiy Ahmed Ali is an Ethiopian politician serving as the third Prime Minister of Ethiopia since 2018, and as a leader of the Prosperity Party since 2019. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize "for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea". Abiy served as the third chairman of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) that governed Ethiopia for 28 years and the first person of Oromo descent to hold that position. Abiy is a member of the Ethiopian parliament, and was a member of the Oromo Democratic Party (ODP), one of the then four coalition parties of the EPRDF, until its rule ceased in 2019 and he formed his own party, the Prosperity Party.
The Tigray War was an armed conflict that lasted from 3 November 2020 to 3 November 2022. The war was primarily fought in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia between forces allied to the Ethiopian federal government and Eritrea on one side, and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) on the other.
Vanessa Tsehaye is Swedish–Eritrean human rights activist.
Asmarino or Asmarino Independent Media is an Eritrean diaspora news website created in 1997.
Abiy Ahmed's tenure as prime minister of Ethiopia began on 2 April 2018 with his swearing-in at the Ethiopian parliament, succeeding Hailemariam Desalegn. Abiy is the first person of Oromo descent to hold the office, and became chair of the ruling Prosperity Party after the dissolution of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in November 2019.
The 1995 Ethiopian Federal Constitution formalizes an ethnic federalism law aimed at undermining long-standing ethnic imperial rule, reducing ethnic tensions, promoting regional autonomy, and upholding unqualified rights to self-determination and secession in a state with more than 80 different ethnic groups. But the constitution is divisive, both among Ethiopian nationalists who believe it undermines centralized authority and fuels interethnic conflict, and among ethnic federalists who fear that the development of its vague components could lead to authoritarian centralization or even the maintenance of minority ethnic hegemony. Parliamentary elections since 1995 have taken place every five years since enactment. All but one of these have resulted in government by members of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) political coalition, under three prime ministers. The EPRDF was under the effective control of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), which represents a small ethnic minority. In 2019 the EPRDF, under Abiy, was dissolved and he inaugurated the pan-ethnic Prosperity Party which won the 2021 Ethiopian Election, returning him as prime minister. But both political entities were different kinds of responses to the ongoing tension between constitutional ethnic federalism and the Ethiopian state's authority. Over the same period, and all administrations, a range of major conflicts with ethnic roots have occurred or continued, and the press and availability of information have been controlled. There has also been dramatic economic growth and liberalization, which has itself been attributed to, and used to justify, authoritarian state policy.
References
- ↑ Keita, Mohamed (2012-12-27). "Where is Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu?". Committee to Protect Journalists . Archived from the original on 2023-04-09. Retrieved 2021-03-21.
- 1 2 Rosen, Armin (2012-12-20). "The Fog Over the Red Sea". The Atlantic . Archived from the original on 2021-03-21. Retrieved 2021-03-21.
- 1 2 3 Zajac, Bec (2014-03-16). "Refugee radio voices for a new Eritrea". The Age . Archived from the original on 2021-03-21. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
- 1 2 "About us". Awate. 2021. Archived from the original on 2021-03-22. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
- 1 2 Bernal, Victoria (2013). "Civil Society and Cyberspace: Reflections on Dehai, Asmarino, and Awate". Africa Today . 60 (2): 22. doi:10.2979/africatoday.60.2.21. eISSN 1527-1978. ISSN 0001-9887. Archived from the original on 2021-03-21. Retrieved 2021-03-21.
