Eritrean Army | |
---|---|
Founded | 1991 |
Country | ![]() |
Type | Army |
Role | Land warfare |
Size | 250,000–300,000 (including conscripts and militia) [1] Military age: 18 Conscription Budget: 6.3% (2006) [3] |
Engagements | Eritrean War of Independence Hanish Islands conflict Second Sudanese Civil War First Congo War Eritrean–Ethiopian War Djiboutian–Eritrean border conflict Tigray War |
Commanders | |
Minister of Defense | General Sebhat Ephrem |
Army Chief of Staff | General Philipos Woldeyohannes [4] [5] [6] |
The Eritrean Army is the main branch of the Eritrean Defence Forces and is one of the largest armies in Africa. [7] The main role of the army in Eritrea is defense from external aggressors, border security, and developing national cohesion. Historically, the predecessor of the Eritrean Army, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), played a major role in establishing and defending the country's independence from Ethiopia in 1991 during the Eritrean War of Independence. Since then, the army has continued to be involved in low-level border conflicts with Ethiopia and several other neighbors, including Djibouti and Yemen, with the most notable one being the Ethiopian-Eritrean War from 1998 until 2000, which ended in a partial Ethiopian military victory and Eritrean boundary line victory. It is widely regarded as one of the largest and more capable armies in Africa, despite the country having a smaller population than most of its neighbors [8] [9] with around 250,000 to 300,000 personnel due to mandatory national service. Conscription became open ended since the war with Ethiopia and no demobilization has taken place. [10] [11]
The current Eritrean army is an outgrowth of the revolutionary Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF). The trial by fire experienced by the EPLF during the Eritrean War of Independence created a force that was able to contend with the largest armed force on the African continent. When Eritrea gained independence, the country's military was admired as one of the most effective fighting forces not only in Africa but the world. [12]
During the Eritrean struggle for independence, the EPLF fought several large scale battles towards the end of the war. The most decisive were the Battle of Afabet in 1988 and the Battle of Massawa in 1990. These battles saw the collision of major units of the EPLF versus a conventional armed force.
Since its independence in 1992, Eritrea has taken part in multiple wars and clashes with its neighbors. Most notably the war with Ethiopia and border conflict with Djibouti. Eritrea has had several wars and clashes within the last two decades, particularly with Djibouti. In 2008, relations between Eritrea and Djibouti were driven to a point where war was imminent, but open conflict was averted. [13] The Eritrean Army was also involved in the Second Sudanese Civil War during which the Eritrean government supported and organised various anti-Sudanese rebel groups. [14] [15] Most notably, the Eritrean military provided the SPLA rebels with weaponry, training, and intelligence. [16] In some cases, the Eritreans even sent covert expeditionary forces into Sudan to directly fight alongside the insurgents against the Sudanese Armed Forces, for example in Operation Thunderbolt (1997). [17] Furthermore, the Eritrean Army sent one of its battalions to fight in the First Congo War due to Eritrea's alliance with Rwanda at the time. The Eritreans took part in the entire campaign, fighting with the pro-AFDL alliance and covering over 1,500 km. According to the Horn of Africa journalist Martin Plaut, this was "an extraordinary feat, especially for soldiers who walked the entire distance in gumboots, with little or no logistical support". By the end of the war, the Eritrean contingent was starving, exhausted, and ill; it had suffered numerous casualties due to the adverse conditions of the country. [18]
Information on the structure and formations of the Eritrean Army is hard to obtain as units are frequently shifted around and reorganized to prevent them from forming loyalties to commanders. In 1992, the President formed a working group of former officers of the Ethiopian Armed Forces to suggest the structure of the new Eritrean military. They recommended that the Army should be based on divisions, each headed by a colonel, with the chief of staff being a major general, and a civilian minister of defense. The working group recommended that the military be professionalized and institutionalized, maintaining small numbers due to Eritrea's limited resources and small size. President Isaias Afwerki ignored most of their advice, however, and promoted 37 former combatants of the war for independence to the general officer ranks. This hampered the development of the military as an institution and was done so that he could play them off against each other and maintain the army's loyalty to him personally. Due to the president frequently shifting the organization and assignments of senior commanders and chiefs of staff, as well as the lack of official documents recording them, putting together a complete picture of the structure of the Eritrean Army is difficult and largely relies on reports from former senior military officers. [1] [19]
In February 1991 the divisions of the EPLA were subordinated to four corps, the 161st, 271st, 381st, and 491st. [19] During the 1990s there were a total of 24 divisions. [1]
Since 2001 the army has undergone extensive reforms and resulted in the establishment of regional military command zones, which themselves are frequently changed. Currently, as of the late 2000s, the Eritrean ground forces are organized into four corps consisting of twenty infantry brigades, one mechanized brigade, and one commando division (the latter two had been created in 1991). The sources are unclear on whether the four corps still exist or not. [1] [19] There is also a Presidential Guard which includes three units of about 2,000 men. These serve as the president's personal security and are given better pay and equipment, also being used to guard political prisoners. [1] [12] In total these forces are estimated to number between 250,000 and 300,000 men, including large numbers of conscripts between the ages of eighteen and fifty. These forces are divided among five command zones, as defined in 1965 by the supreme council of the Eritrean Liberation Front. Each zone is headed by a general, who reportedly have gained considerable political power at the expense of the local civil administrations since the war with Ethiopia. Deputy commanders of zones are selected for their loyalty to President Isaias Afwerki, who uses them to maintain control. The zones include the following: Gasha-Barka (Zone 1), West (Zone 2), South (Zone 3), East (Zone 4), Center (Zone 5). Asmara, the capital, is included in the latter zone. [1] [19] Later on these zones were reformed into three new ones, the Central, Eastern, and Western fronts. [12] A military training camp is located near Assab. Large forces are still kept near the disputed Ethiopian border. [20]
In 2012 the government has taken an extra measure of establishing a "people's militia" for the older segment of the population, men aged sixty and women aged seventy, and under. [12]
Since the military region commanders report directly to the President, the office of Defense Minister is largely ceremonial. [3]
Given the frequent border conflicts between Eritrea and its neighbors, the army's numbers have always been maintained through conscription with the proclamation on the Eritrean National Service, for both men and women between the ages of 18 and 40, a policy officially introduced by President Afwerki in 1995. Thus Eritrea has remained in a state of mobilization since the wars with Ethiopia. According to a US State Department information sheet from October 2007 Eritrean national service consists of "approximately six months of military training, followed by a number of years in military or other government service." [20] Besides national defense, conscripts also spend peacetime working on public construction projects. They get paid no more than $30 a month. There is no term limit for national service, having been made open-ended in 1998. Although the average term lasts about six years, there are individual cases of soldiers who reported being forced to serve for more than a decade. The large number of troops has also had some effect on the Eritrean economy. Reportedly, many conscripts live in terrible conditions and are essentially used for slave labor, subjected to severe physical punishments for trying to escape, and are at the mercy of their commanders. There were many cases of female conscripts being sexually abused. Requests to leave are met with arrests, detainment, and even torture. As a result, they suffer from morale problems and some Eritreans even leave the country to dodge the draft. By 2017, the numbers of Eritreans fleeing the draft to other countries is reported to have reached the thousands. [1] [2] [12] [21]
Desertion has become such a serious problem that entire companies have been "hollowed out" and reduced to the size of platoons as large numbers have soldiers and junior officers have fled, often to either neighboring Sudan or to a lesser extent, Ethiopia. Many reservists have refused to attend regular military drills. To address this, in 2014 the Eritrean government of President Afwerki has pledged to enforce an eighteen-month limit for national service, though there is skepticism on whether or not the promise will actually be implemented. [2] [4] The government has stated that the duration of national service is necessary due to the continued hostilities and illegal occupation of Eritrean territory by Ethiopia. [22]
In 2015, a UN report documented extensive human rights abuses within the Eritrean army and stated:
Indeed, the indefinite duration of national service, its terrible conditions — including arbitrary detention, torture, sexual torture, forced labour, absence of leave and the ludicrous pay — and the implications it has for the possibility of any individual to found a family, conduct a family life and have favourable conditions of work make national service an institution where slavery-like practices are routine. [2]
Many Eritrean draft dodgers fled to Europe and Israel since the beginning of the European migrant crisis. [2] [23] Since 2002, Eritrean youths are forced to do unlimited military service which includes forced labor. [24] In September the same year, Eritrean government arrested leading journalists and leaving only the pro government media to work. [25]
Rank group | General / flag officers | Senior officers | Junior officers | Officer cadet | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Major general | Brigadier general | Colonel | Lieutenant colonel | Major | Captain | First lieutenant | Second lieutenant |
Rank group | Senior NCOs | Junior NCOs | Enlisted | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | ![]() | No insignia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Master Sergeant | Staff Sergeant | Sergeant | Corporal | Private first class | Private |
Name | Type | Origins | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
AKM | Assault rifle | ![]() | [26] |
AK-47 | [26] | ||
vz. 58 | ![]() | [26] | |
M16 rifles | ![]() | [26] | |
IMI Galil | ![]() | ||
Beretta BM59 | Battle rifle | ![]() | [26] |
Makarov pistol | Semi-automatic pistol | ![]() | [26] |
Uzi | Submachine gun | ![]() | [27] |
FN P90 | ![]() | ||
PK machine gun | General-purpose machine gun | ![]() | [26] |
RPD machine gun | Light machine gun | [26] | |
DShK | Heavy machine gun | [26] | |
RPG-7 | Rocket propelled grenade | ![]() | [26] |
9M14 Malyutka | Anti-tank guided missile | ![]() | [28] |
9M113 Konkurs | [28] | ||
Kornet-E | ![]() | Russian KBP contracted to deliver 80 Kornet-E launchers. [29] | |
BGM-71-C Improved TOW | ![]() | ||
Name | Type | Quantity | Origins | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
T-54/55 | Main battle tank | 270 [28] | ![]() | 120 T-55As were ordered in 2004 from Bulgaria and delivered in 2005 (the vehicles were previously in Bulgarian service). 270 T-55As are in service. [30] [31] |
T-62 | Unknown | Received a number from Ethiopia. | ||
BRDM-1 | Scout car | 100 [28] | ||
BRDM-2 | ||||
BMP-1 | Infantry fighting vehicle | 15 [28] | Eritrea is believed to have received some from Ethiopia. [32] | |
MT-LB | Armoured personnel carrier | 10 [28] | Acquired from Bulgaria in 2005. [30] | |
BTR-60PB | 25 [28] | |||
BTR-152 | ||||
Name | Type | Quantity | Origins | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
2S1 Gvozdika | Self-propelled howitzer | 32 [28] | ![]() | Acquired from Bulgaria. [30] |
2S5 Giatsint-S | Self-propelled gun | 13 [28] | ||
D-44 | Towed field gun | 80 [28] | ||
D-30 | Towed howitzer | 50 [28] | ||
M-46 | Towed field gun | 30 [28] | Acquired from Bulgaria in 1999 and 2004. [30] | |
BM-21 Grad | Multiple rocket launcher | 35 [28] | ||
BM-27 Uragan | 9 [28] [33] | Transferred from Belarus to Eritrea in 2007. [30] | ||
Name | Type | Quantity | Origins | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
9K32 Strela-2 | Man-portable air-defense system | Unknown | ![]() | [28] |
9K38 Igla | 50 [34] | ![]() | [35] | |
ZSU-23-4 Shilka | Self-propelled anti-aircraft gun | 50 [36] | ![]() | |
ZU-23-2 | Towed anti-aircraft gun | 50 [36] | ||
S-60 | 12 [36] | |||
Eritrea is an ancient name, associated in the past with its Greek form Erythraia, Ἐρυθραία, and its derived Latin form Erythræa. This name relates to that of the Red Sea, then called the Erythræan Sea, from the Greek for "red", ἐρυθρός, erythros. But earlier Eritrea was called Mdre Bahri. The Italians created the colony of Eritrea in the 19th century around Asmara and named it with its current name. After World War II, Eritrea annexed to Ethiopia. Following the communist Ethiopian government's defeat in 1991 by the coalition created by armed groups notably the EPLF, Eritrea declared its independence. Eritrea officially celebrated its 1st anniversary of independence on May 24,1993.
The politics of Eritrea and the government of Eritrea take place in the framework of a single-party presidential republican totalitarian dictatorship. The President officially serves as both head of state and head of government. The People's Front for Democracy and Justice is the only political party legally permitted to exist in Eritrea. The popularly elected National Assembly of 150 seats, formed in 1993 shortly after independence from Ethiopia, elected the current president, Isaias Afwerki. There have been no general elections since its official independence in 1993. A new constitution was drafted in 1993 and ratified in 1997, but has not been implemented. Since the National Assembly last met in January 2002, President Isaias Afwerki has exercised the powers of both the executive and legislative branches of government.
The Eritrean Defence Forces (EDF) are the combined military forces of Eritrea composed of three branches: Eritrean Army, Eritrean Air Force and Eritrean Navy. The Army is by far the largest, followed by the Air Force and Navy. The Commander-in-Chief of the EDF is the President of Eritrea. Their military role stems from Eritrea's strategic geographical location, located on the Red Sea with a foothold on the Bab-el-Mandeb strait.
Isaias Afwerki is an Eritrean politician and partisan who has been the first and only president of Eritrea since 1993. In addition to being president, Isaias has been the chairman of Eritrea's sole legal political party, the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ).
The People's Front for Democracy and Justice is the founding, ruling, and sole legal political party of the State of Eritrea. The successor to the Marxist–Leninist Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), the PFDJ regards itself as a left-wing nationalist party, though it holds itself open to nationalists of any political affiliation. The leader of the party and current President of Eritrea is Isaias Afwerki. The PFDJ has been described as totalitarian, and under its rule Eritrea reached the status of the least electorally democratic country in Africa according to V-Dem Democracy indices in 2023.
The Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), colloquially known as Shabia or HGDEF, was an armed Marxist–Leninist organization that fought for the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia. It emerged in 1973 as a far-left to left-wing nationalist group that split from the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF). After achieving Eritrean independence in 1991, it transformed into the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), which serves as Eritrea's sole legal political party.
The Eritrean Liberation Front, colloquially known as Jebha, was the main independence movement in Eritrea which sought Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia during the 1960s and the early 1970s.
The Eritrean War of Independence was a decades-long insurgency aimed at achieving self-determination and independence for Eritrea from Ethiopian rule. Starting in 1961, Eritrean insurgents engaged in guerrilla warfare to liberate Eritrea Province from the control of the Ethiopian Empire under Haile Selassie and later the Derg under Mengistu. Their efforts ultimately succeeded in 1991 with the fall of the Derg regime.
The Eritrean Civil Wars were two conflicts that were fought between competing organizations for the liberation of Eritrea.
Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the south, Sudan in the west, and Djibouti in the southeast. The northeastern and eastern parts of Eritrea have an extensive coastline along the Red Sea. The nation has a total area of approximately 117,600 km2 (45,406 sq mi), and includes the Dahlak Archipelago and several of the Hanish Islands.
Eritrea–Israel relations are foreign relations between Eritrea and Israel. Both countries established diplomatic relations in 1993 following Eritrean independence. Eritrea has an embassy in Ramat Gan and Israel had an embassy in Asmara, that was closed in 2022. Their ties were considered as very close, but after 2020 the relations worsened. Both Eritrea and Israel have shared access to the Red Sea.
The 2013 Eritrean Army mutiny was mounted on 21 January 2013, when around 100 to 200 soldiers of the Eritrean Army in the capital city, Asmara seized the headquarters of the state broadcaster, EriTV, and allegedly broadcast a message demanding reforms and the release of political prisoners. The mutiny was the first major incident of resistance to the rule of Isaias Afwerki since the purging of a group of fifteen ministers who demanded political reform in 2001. Details about the mutiny remain murky, with several government officials denying it even took place, while opposition sources claimed it had been an abortive coup attempt.
The Eritrean–Ethiopian border conflict was a violent standoff and a proxy conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia lasting from 1998 to 2018. It consisted of a series of incidents along the then-disputed border; including the Eritrean–Ethiopian War of 1998–2000 and the subsequent Second Afar insurgency. It included multiple clashes with numerous casualties, including the Battle of Tsorona in 2016. Ethiopia stated in 2018 that it would cede Badme to Eritrea. This led to the Eritrea–Ethiopia summit on 9 July 2018, where an agreement was signed which demarcated the border and agreed a resumption of diplomatic relations.
The Saho People's Democratic Movement (SPDM) is an organized 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.
The following events detail foreign affairs dominated by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi from his presidency until his death in 2012.
Since the start of Tigray War in November 2020, the Eritrean government has been heavily involved in the war against the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in support of the Ethiopian government.
The Eritrea–Sudan border is 686 km (426 mi) in length and runs from Eritrea and Sudan's tripoint with Ethiopia in the south, to the town of Ras Kasar in the very south of Eritrea. The border has been the site of several tensions, with deportations, border conflicts and colonialism by the United Kingdom and Italy. The border has also seen illegal acts such as human trafficking and hundreds of illegal crossings made by Eritreans. Due to the Tigray War, Sudan saw a surge of Eritrean and Ethiopian civilians cross its border with Eritrea and by 2023 there were nearly 130,000 refugees and civilians confirmed living in the country.
Anti-Eritrean sentiment is a broad opposition, bias, discrimination and hatred against Eritrea, its government and people. Anti-Eritrean attitude is prevalent amongst Tigrayan elites, who were crucial parts for downfall of the Derg regime in 1991. The 1998 border war exacerbated their relations as both parties accused each other for the territorial claims. Eritrean involvement in the Tigray War further aggravated anti-Eritrean feelings amongst Tigrayans.
Conscription in Eritrea requires every able bodied man and woman to serve, ostensibly, for 18 months. In this time, they receive six months of military training and the rest of their time is spent working on national reconstruction projects. This program allegedly aims to compensate for Eritrea's lack of capital and to reduce dependence on foreign aid. This is outlined in both the Constitution of Eritrea, as well as Proclamation 82 issued by the National Assembly in October 1995. However, the period of enlistment may be extended during times of national crisis, and in practice, the typical period of national service is considerably longer than the minimum. Since the 1990s, conscription has been effectively open-ended; this draft policy has been likened to "slavery" and has earned international condemnation.