Eritrea was an Italian colony from the 1880s until the Italians were defeated by the Allies in World War II in 1941. Afterward, Eritrea briefly became a British protectorate until 1951. The United Nations convened after the war to decide Eritrea's future, eventually voting in favor of a federation between Eritrea and Ethiopia. As a result, Eritrea became a constituent state of the Federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea. The federation was intended to last for ten years, during which Eritrea would have limited autonomy, such as its own parliament, while remaining under the Ethiopian crown. However, Eritrea's autonomy was curtailed and the region was effectively governed as a police state by imperial authorities during the 1950s. As popular dissatisfaction with Ethiopian rule grew, an independence movement emerged under the banner of the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) in 1961.[41]
In September 1961, ELF head Hamid Idris Awate launched the Eritrean armed struggle for independence. During 1962, the federation was dissolved by the imperial government and Eritrea was formally annexed by the Ethiopian Empire. The dissolution of the federation resulted in many Eritreans supporting the ELF's armed struggle to achieve freedom. Ethiopian imperial army counterinsurgency campaigns against the ELF during the 1960s terrorized the civilian population, leading to greater local support for the insurgency and great international attention being brought to the war.[41] Following the Ethiopian Revolution in 1974, the Derg lead by Mengistu abolished the Ethiopian Empire and established a Marxist-Leninistcommunist state. The Derg enjoyed support from the Soviet Union and other communist nations in fighting against the Eritreans. The ELF was also supported diplomatically and militarily by various countries. During the Eritrean Civil Wars, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) emerged as the primary liberation group in 1977, after expelling the ELF from Eritrea. The EPLF then took advantage of the Ogaden War to intensify its war of attrition against Ethiopia.
The Italians colonised Eritrea in 1882 and ruled it until 1941.[44] In 1936, Italy invaded Ethiopia and declared it part of their colonial empire, which they called Italian East Africa. Italian Somaliland and Eritrea were also part of that entity, ruled by a Governor-General or Viceroy.[45]
Conquered by the Allies in 1941, Italian East Africa was sub-divided. Ethiopia liberated its formerly Italian occupied land in 1941. Italian Somaliland remained under Italian rule, but as a United Nations protectorate not a colony, until 1960 when it united with British Somaliland, to form the independent state of Somalia.[46]
Eritrea was made a British protectorate from the end of World War II until 1951. However, there was debate as to what should happen with Eritrea after the British left. The British delegation to the United Nations proposed that Eritrea be divided along religious lines with the Christians to Ethiopia and the Muslims to Sudan.[46] In 1952, the United Nations decided to federate Eritrea to Ethiopia, hoping to reconcile Ethiopian claims of sovereignty and Eritrean aspirations for independence. About nine years later, Ethiopian EmperorHaile Selassie dissolved the federation and annexed Eritrea, triggering a thirty-year armed struggle in Eritrea.[47][48]
Revolution
Map of Ethiopia while Eritrea was still attached as a federation, and later as an annexation.
During the 1960s, the Eritrean independence struggle was led by the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF). The independence struggle can properly be understood as the resistance to the annexation of Eritrea by Ethiopia long after the Italians left the territory. Additionally, one may consider the actions of the Ethiopian Monarchy against Muslims in the Eritrean government as a contributing factor to the revolution.[49] At first, this group factionalized the liberation movement along ethnic and geographic lines. The initial four zonal commands of the ELF were all lowland areas and primarily Muslim. Few Christians joined the organization in the beginning, fearing Muslim domination.[50]
After growing disenfranchisement with Ethiopian occupation, highland Christians began joining the ELF.[51] This growing influx of Christian volunteers prompted the opening of the fifth (highland Christian) command.[51] Internal struggles within the ELF command coupled with sectarian violence among the various zonal groups splintered the organization.[51]
The war started on 1 September 1961 with the Battle of Adal, when Hamid Idris Awate and his companions engaged the occupying Ethiopian Army and police.[52] In 1962, Emperor Haile Selassie unilaterally dissolved the federation and the Eritrean parliament and annexed the country.[53][54]
War (1961–1991)
1960s
The Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) was founded in 1961 by a handful of exiled Eritreans, and began guerrilla operations against the Imperial Government in the fashion of the traditional bandits of that province. By 1966, it had a free hand in much of the barren lowlands in western and coastal Eritrea. The movement enjoyed military aid from various Arab countries as virtually all of its leaders were Muslims from the Beni Amer tribe. However, the leadership of the ELF was often inept; and communications between roving guerrilla bands and the exiled leaders were sporadic at best. Nonetheless, it was able to infiltrate small arms and returning trainees by way of Sudan and harass Imperial forces in Eritrea. The ELF was mostly made up of Muslims, as the ELF perceived itself as an Islamic organization engaged in freeing Eritrea, which it described as predominantly Muslim and Arab. However, it was unable to gain the support of the Christian Eritreans, who perceived it an Islamist movement attempting to turn Eritrea into an Arab Muslim state.[28][55]
The Imperial Ethiopian Army, whose Second Division was based in Eritrea, made periodic sweeps through the countryside. The Israeli trained commando police were more efficient than the army. But the commando police was too few in number to protect important installations and also pursue the insurgents. And the 6,000 man strong Second Division, although better equipped and numerically superior, was less efficient than the Eritrean police. It was mostly composed of Ethiopians from the provinces outside of Eritrea, the Ethiopian soldiers lacked knowledge of the area and of the people. Their normal tactics were to burn villages, shoot suspects and destroy livestock—the traditional Ethiopian response to dissidence.[28][56]
In 1970, members of the ELF had a falling out, and three smaller groups broke away from the group to form the Popular Liberation Forces (PLF) jointly represent by Osman Saleh Sabbe. The first group, led by Romodan Mohammed Nur, was made up of Tigre fighters who felt pushed aside by the Beni Amer dominated leadership of the ELF. The second led by Isaias Afwerki, was composed of Christian fighters who broke off from the ELF in 1969 due to their pro-Arab and Islamist stance. The third and final group led by former Sudanese army NCO Abu Tayyara, was called the Obel Group, and consisted of long-time veterans who resented the decline of their power in the ELF, and broke off due to personal ambitions. In August 1973, the leaders of the first two groups agreed to join together to form the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF).[57] The leader of the umbrella organization was Secretary-General of the EPLF Romodan Mohammed Nur, while the Assistant Secretary-General was Isaias Afewerki.[58] The EPLF began to fight a bitter civil war against the ELF. The two organizations were forced by popular will to reconcile in 1975 and participate in joint operations against Ethiopia. The ELF was supported diplomatically and militarily by various countries, particularly China, which supplied the ELF with weapons and training until 1972, when Ethiopia recognized Beijing as the legitimate government of China.[5]
In 1974, Emperor Haile Selassie was ousted in a coup. The collapse of the Ethiopian Empire coincided with the end of the Eritrean civil war.[59] The new Ethiopian government, called the Derg, was a Marxist military junta. Between June and mid-November 1974, the Derg, then under the control of the Eritrean-born General Aman Andom, declared a cease-fire in Eritrea. The cease-fire aimed to persuade Eritreans to lay down their arms and find a political solution to the conflict. Despite this, conflicting policies emerged within the Ethiopian leadership: one advocating for a military solution in Eritrea and the other supporting a political solution by granting substantial concessions to the Eritreans. However, the assassination of Andom and other officials by the Derg regime on November 24, 1974, marked the end to the pursuit of a political resolution. Subsequently, under Vice Chairman Lt. Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam, the Ethiopian government shifted towards pacifying the Eritreans with brute force. This shift led to a period of terror in Asmara, with more than 50 individuals killed by the military by the end of 1974, fostering an atmosphere of fear.[60]
In 1975, the Derg dispatched a peasant army of 100,000 to crush the Eritrean rebels. The army was largely routed after it had crossed into Eritrea. In the ensuing years the Derg suffered back-to-back defeats against the insurgency.[59] During this time, the Derg could not control the population by force alone. To supplement its garrisons, forces were sent on missions to instill fear in the population, including massacres which took place in primarily Muslim parts of Eritrea, including the villages of She'eb, Hirgigo, Elabared, and the town of Om Hajer; massacres also took place in predominantly Christian areas as well.[50] The advent of these brutal killings of civilians regardless of race, religion, or class was the final straw for many Eritreans who were not involved in the war, and at this point many either fled the country or went to the front lines.[61]
From 1975 to 1977, the ELF and EPLF outnumbered the Ethiopian army, and managed to overrun an Ethiopian garrison at the Siege of Nakfa. This heavily demoralized the Ethiopian garrisons throughout Eritrea and within the next few months, the EPLF took control of Afabet, Keren, Elabored, and Dekemhare. Similarly, the ELF seized control of Omhajer, Teseney, Agordat, Mendefera, and Adi Quala. All of Eritrea was liberated with the exception of Asmara, Massawa, Assab and Barentu.[62] By 1977, the EPLF was poised to drive the Ethiopians out of Eritrea, by utilizing a simultaneous military invasion from the east by Somalia in the Ogaden to siphon off Ethiopian military resources. But in a dramatic turnaround, the Derg managed to repulse the Somali invasion, thanks mainly to a massive airlift of Soviet arms. After that, using the considerable manpower and military hardware available from the Somali campaign, the Ethiopian Army regained the initiative. This was most notable in the Siege of Barentu and the First Battle of Massawa.[63]
In May 1978, using a newly completed airfield in Mekelle in neighboring Tigray, the Ethiopian Air Force began a campaign of saturation bombing of positions in Eritrea held by the ELF and EPLF. While many of the targets hit were military, the bombers also attacked towns, villages and animal herds. The ground offensive started in July, and in a few weeks captured all the towns that the ELF and EPLF had held in southern and central Eritrea. The second offensive began in November 1978, aimed at the relief of Massawa and the recapture of Keren. An even larger army was deployed, including large contingents of armor. On November 25–26, there was a huge two-day battle with the EPLF at Elabored, which ended inconclusively. However, the EPLF was badly mauled and decided to abandon Keren and the nearby towns, and withdraw to the mountains of Sahel, where the terrain was appropriate for a last stand. This was called the "strategic withdrawal." The ELF, which had taken the brunt of the first offensive, refused to pull out of the newly liberated areas. By continuing to engage the Ethiopian army, rather than retreat, the ELF ensured its military defeat.[32]
The third offensive took place in January–February 1979, and consisted in a three-pronged attack on Nakfa, the headquarters of Sahel district, where the EPLF had set up its "liberated area" and was beginning to construct defensive lines. More areas were evacuated in the face of the assault, and the EPLF was able to dismantle and remove the infrastructure more systematically.[32]
The fourth offensive was launched towards Nakfa in March 1979, the fifth offensive was then launched in July. The army Chief of Staff wrote a newspaper article anticipating total victory, entitled: "Days of remnants of secessionist bandits lurking in bushes numbered." Over 50,000 troops were deployed in the attacks, together with large amounts of armor. Most of the attacks were destroyed well short of their target. Between July 14 and 22, the army lost an estimated 6,000 dead while the guerrillas lost around 2,500.[32]
Another offensive, launched towards Nakfa in December 1979, ended in a disaster and rout for government forces. The EPLF was able to counter-attack and push the army back as far as its headquarters at Afabet.[32]
1980s
Wider view of the Asmara tank graveyard.
In December 1980, the government launched a relatively small attack, which petered out without military gains to either side. 1981 passed without a major military offensive.[32]
The alliance between the EPLF and the ELF which had held since 1975 began to break, and quickly developed into an irrevocable split. There were some armed clashes between the groups, for instance in August 1980, but large-scale civil war was avoided in part because of military weakness of the ELF. The Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) assisted the EPLF in its attacks on ELF positions. Most of the ELF fighters retreated into Sudan, where they were detained and disarmed by the Sudanese government. The last major group arrived in Karakon, eastern Sudan, in 1981.[50][64]
After the comparative lull of 1980–81, 1982 was to be the worst year of war in Eritrea to date, in which the government made an all-out attempt to crush the EPLF. It was named the Red Star Campaign in response to the planned US "Bright Star" exercises in the Middle East. Mengistu Haile Mariam then went to Asmara to personally oversee the offensive himself. The Red Star Campaign involved the largest number of troops ever deployed in Eritrea—more than 80,000 were involved in the attacks on the EPLF base areas. The forcefully conscripted soldiers in the Ethiopian ranks were used for massive assaults on the EPLF positions around Nakfa, in the hope that sheer weight of numbers would overrun the rebel lines. The offensive involved an unprecedented use of air power and toxic gas. The EPLF had to equip its fighters with homemade gas masks. Despite inflicting devastating casualties on the EPLF, the Ethiopians failed to breakthrough the rebel lines. The Red Star offensive failed. By May 1982, it had failed to capture Nakfa, and it was unofficially abandoned on June 20. The EPLF was even able to counter-attack and push government lines back. Having been launched with huge publicity, the offensive ended in complete silence from the government media.[32][65][66][67]
In 1983, the government launched an offensive in March on the Halhal front, north of Keren. Known as the "Stealth Offensive" because of the lack of publicity surrounding it, government forces succeeded in overrunning EPLF lines, but not in inflicting a significant defeat on the rebels. By this point, Ethiopian forces had suffered 90,000 casualties.[32]
In early 1984, the EPLF went on the offensive, making some significant gains. The government responded by another round of aerial bombardment, and by an offensive launched on 27 October which inflicted heavy casualties on the Eritreans and forced them to retreat back to their original lines.[32]
In the summer of 1985, the EPLF again went on the offensive and expelled the Ethiopians from the town of Barentu. The Derg then sent freshly conscripted recruits and threw them at the entrenched Eritreans to force them out of Barentu, the result was a costly victory for the Ethiopians as they were able to push out the Eritreans but not after talking significant casualties.[68]
In 1986, the Derg launched the “Red Sea Offensive” and attacked the frontlines of the EPLF with the aim of capturing Nakfa. Despite extensive air support and the use of airborne troops in the Sahel, the Ethiopians were repelled. As insurgencies in Tigray, Wollo and other parts of Ethiopia began to grow worse, the government no longer had the resources to conduct massive offensives in Eritrea and had to focus on other regions as well.[69]
In 1988, with the Battle of Afabet, the EPLF captured Afabet and its surroundings, then headquarters of the Ethiopian Army in northeastern Eritrea, prompting the Ethiopian Army to withdraw from its garrisons in Tessenei, Barentu and Agordat leaving all of western and northern Eritrea into EPLF hands. EPLF fighters then moved into position around Keren, Eritrea's second-largest city.
1990s
The Soviet Union informed Mengistu that it would not be renewing its defence and cooperation agreement. With the cessation of Soviet support and supplies, the Ethiopian Army's morale plummeted, and the EPLF, along with other Ethiopian rebel forces, began to advance on Ethiopian positions.[70]
In February 1990, the EPLF launched Operation Fenkil to capture the city of Massawa. The Ethiopian garrison initially put up fierce resistance until the EPLF used naval units to flak the Ethiopians. The Eritreans were able to overcome the Ethiopian defences and capture the city. Following the capture of Massawa by the EPLF, the Ethiopian government launched a devastating air raid on the city. The use of cluster bombs killed hundreds of civilians.[71][72]
In 1991, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) had begun advancing towards the capital, forcing Mengistu Haile Mariam to flee the country. By May 1991, the rebels had captured Addis Ababa and overthrown the government. Around the same time, the Ethiopian garrison in Asmara disintegrated, with tens of thousands of fighters surrendering or deserting, allowing the EPLF fighters to enter the city on May 24th. The last battle took place on May 25 in Assab, when the EPLF defeated the last remnants of government loyalists.[69]
Commemorative poster in 2023, celebrating the anniversary of Eritrea's vote for independence.
After the end of the Cold War, the United States played a facilitative role in the peace talks in Washington, D.C. during the months leading up to the May 1991 fall of the Mengistu regime. In mid-May, Mengistu resigned as head of the Ethiopian government and went into exile in Zimbabwe, leaving a caretaker government in Addis Ababa. A high-level U.S. delegation was present in Addis Ababa for the 1–5 July 1991 conference that established a transitional government in Ethiopia. Having defeated the Ethiopian forces in Eritrea, the EPLF attended as an observer and held talks with the new TPLF-led transitional government regarding Eritrea's relationship to Ethiopia. The outcome of those talks was an agreement in which the Ethiopians recognized the right of the Eritreans to hold a referendum on independence. The referendum was held in April 1993 and the Eritrean people voted almost unanimously in favour of independence, with the integrity of the referendum being verified by the UN Observer Mission to Verify the Referendum in Eritrea (UNOVER). On 28 May 1993, the United Nations formally admitted Eritrea to its membership.[80] Below are the results from the referendum:
The Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) Is the military force of Ethiopia.
Mengistu Haile Mariam is an Ethiopian former politician and former military officer who was the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 and General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia from 1984 to 1991. He was the chairman of the Derg, the Marxist-Leninist military junta that governed Ethiopia, from 1977 to 1987, and the president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) from 1987 to 1991.
Tesfaye Gebre Kidan Geletu was an Ethiopian general who was the acting president of Ethiopia for one week in late May 1991.
The flag of Eritrea is the national flag of Eritrea. It was adopted on 5 December 1995. The flag combines the basic layout and colors from the flag of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front with an emblem of a wreath and an upright olive branch derived from the Eritrean flag from 1952 to 1962.
Aman Mikael Andom was an Eritrean general, and the first post-imperial acting head of state of Ethiopia. Aman was also the first Chairman of the Derg. He was appointed to this position following the coup d'état that ousted Emperor Haile Selassie on 12 September 1974, and served until his assassination in a shootout with his former supporters.
The Derg, officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the military dictatorship that ruled Ethiopia, then including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when the military leadership or junta formally "civilianized" the administration but stayed in power until 1991.
The Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), colloquially known as Shabia, 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 Tigray People's Liberation Front, also known as the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a left-wing ethnic nationalist, paramilitary group, and the former ruling party of Ethiopia. It was classified as a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian government during the Tigray War until its removal from the list in 2023. In older and less formal texts and speech it is known as Woyane or Weyané.
The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP), informally known as Ihapa, is the first modern political party in Ethiopia. Established in April 1972, it aimed to turn Ethiopia into a democratic republic.
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.
Petros Solomon is an Eritrean politician. He was an Eritrean People's Liberation Front commander and played a key role during the Eritrean War of Independence, following independence he served in several positions in the Cabinet, including Minister of Defense and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The Ethiopian Civil War was a civil war in Ethiopia and present-day Eritrea, fought between the Ethiopian military junta known as the Derg and Ethiopian-Eritrean anti-government rebels from 12 September 1974 to 28 May 1991.
The Battle of Afabet was a three-day battle fought from 17 March through 20 March 1988 in and around the town of Afabet, as part of the Eritrean War of Independence. The battle has been described as being the largest battle in Africa since the Second Battle of El Alamein. It has been described as the most significant battle in terms of military and political consequences since the Ethio-Somali War, alongside the 1989 Battle of Shire of the Ethiopian Civil War.
The First Battle of Massawa took place from 1977 to 1978 in and around the coastal city of Massawa. The port was besieged by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) against the forces of Ethiopia and was one of two battles in and around the city.
The Ethiopian Navy, known as the Imperial Ethiopian Navy until 1974, is the naval branch of the Ethiopian National Defense Force founded in 1955. It was disestablished in 1996 after the independence of Eritrea in 1993, which left Ethiopia landlocked. However, the Ethiopian Navy was re-established in 2019 as a brown water navy and is based in Lake Tana in Bahir Dar, Amhara region.
Ethiopia–Israel relations are foreign relations between Ethiopia and Israel. Both countries re-established diplomatic relations in 1992. Ethiopia has an embassy in Tel Aviv. Israel has an embassy in Addis Ababa.
Tigrayan nationalism is an ethnic nationalism that advocates the interests of Tigrayan people in Ethiopia. Inspired predominantly by the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) with its predecessor Tigray Liberation Front (TLF), this type of nationalism holds that Tigrayans are an independent group with unique ancestry, heritage, history and culture outside Ethiopia. As such, they claim Tigray is the source of Ethiopian civilization and utterly a benefactor of state-building without other local ethnic groups. Tigrayan nationalists accuse Amharas of imposing their cultural, economic and political hegemony over Tigrayans.
The fallof the Derg was a military campaign that resulted in the defeat of the ruling Marxist–Leninist military junta, the Derg, by the rebel coalition Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) on 28 May 1991 in Addis Ababa, ending the Ethiopian Civil War. The Derg took power after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie and the Solomonic dynasty, an imperial dynasty of Ethiopia that began in 1270. The Derg suffered from insurgency with different factions, and separatist rebel groups since their early rule, beginning with the Ethiopian Civil War. The 1983–1985 famine, the Red Terror, and resettlement and villagization made the Derg unpopular with the majority of Ethiopians tending to support insurgent groups like the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF).
This list details about chronological aspect of the Derg, the military junta that ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987 by decade.
Red Star Campaign, officially known as the Red Star Multifaceted Revolutionary Campaign was a 1982 Ethiopian Army offensive and operation during the Ethiopian Civil War aimed at eliminating separatist forces, specifically the EPLF from Eritrea. From February to June of 1982, more than 80,000 Ethiopian troops attempted to crush the EPLF in a series of offensives. Despite the operation, the government made no significant gains in Eritrea. Contrary to crushing the Eritrean will to resist, the unsuccessful operation actually strengthened it, prompting the people to rally behind the EPLF with increased fervor. Red Star dealt a personal and political blow to the regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam.
1 2 The maverick state: Gaddafi and the New World Order, 1996. Page 71.
1 2 Schmidt, Elizabeth (2013). Foreign intervention in Africa: From the Cold War to the War on Terror. Cambridge. p.158. ISBN9780521882385. China assisted the ELF with weapons and military training until 1972, when Ethiopian recognition of Beijing as the legitimate Chinese government led to China's abandonment of the Eritrean struggle.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
↑ Chinese and African Perspectives on China in Africa 2009, Page 93
1 2 Daniel Kendie, The Five Dimensions of the Eritrean Conflict 1941–2004: Deciphering the Geo-Political Puzzle. United States of America: Signature Book Printing, Inc., 2005, pp.17–8.
↑ Hickman Cutter, Charles (2001). Africa, 2001. Stryker-Post Publications. p.177. ISBN9781887985314. When Emperor Haile Selassie unilaterally dissolved the Eritrean parliament and annexed the country in 1962...
↑ "Famine Relief in Ethiopia: An Update"(PDF). Hearing Before the International Taskforce of the Select Committee on Hunger House of Representatives (101st Congress, 2nd Session). Washington DC: US Government Printing Office. 8 May 1990. p.75. Archived from the original(PDF) on 23 July 2007. Retrieved 27 December 2006.
Charles G. Thomas and Toyin Falola. 2020. "The Anomaly of Eritrean Secession, 1961-1993." in Secession and Separatist Conflicts in Postcolonial Africa. University of Calgary Press.
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ELF (1961–1981)
EPLF (since 1973)
TPLF (since 1975)
Ethiopian Empire 
Derg (1974–1987)
PDR Ethiopia (1987–1991)
