September 1, 1961 – Eritrean nationalists attack Ethiopian police posts
On September 1, 1961, insurgents of the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) stormed a number of police posts in western Eritrea, marking the start of the Eritrean War of Independence, a protracted conflict that would last three decades. The insurgents subsequently carried out more attacks against security forces. In the period that followed, the ELF gained local support in its areas of operations in the rural Muslim-populated rural northern and western regions of Eritrea and increased its numbers with the inflow of many new recruits. The rebels also increased their frequency of attacks against police targets, primarily to capture much-needed weapons. By June 1962, the ELF had some 500 fighters, which included some police defectors who took along their weapons and ammunitions. At this time, Muslims formed the vast majority of the ELF, which also advocated a pro-Muslim, pro-Arab ideological and religious struggle against the predominantly Christian Ethiopia. Also for this reason, the ELF gained some military and financial support from a number of Muslim countries, including Syria, Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan.
On May 24, 1991, Eritrea
gained its independence from Ethiopia
following a 30-year armed revolution. Ethiopia
had annexed Eritrea
as a province in November 1962, inciting Eritrean nationalists to launch a
rebellion. Following the war, as Eritrea was still legally bound as part of
Ethiopia, in early July 1991, at a conference held in Addis Ababa, an interim
Ethiopian government was formed, which stated that Eritreans had the right to
determine their own political future, i.e. to remain with or secede from Ethiopia.
Then in a UN-monitored referendum held in April 23 and 25,
1993, Eritreans voted overwhelmingly (99.8%) for independence; two days later
(April 27), Eritrea
declared its independence. In May 1993, the new country was admitted as a
member of the UN.
Eritrea, Ethiopia and nearby countries(Taken from Eritrean War of Independence – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 4)
Background In
September 1948, a special body called the Inquiry Commission, which was set up
by the Allied Powers (Britain,
France, Soviet Union, and United States),
failed to establish a future course for Eritrea and referred the matter to
the United Nations (UN). The main obstacle to granting Eritrea its independence was that for much of
its history, Eritrea
was not a single political sovereign entity but had been a part of and
subordinate to a greater colonial power, and as such, was deemed incapable of
surviving on its own as a fully independent state. Furthermore, various
countries put forth competing claims to Eritrea. Italy
wanted Eritrea returned, to
be governed for a pre-set period until the territory’s independence, an
arrangement that was similar to that of Italian Somaliland.
The Arab countries of the Middle East pressed for self-determination of Eritrea’s large Muslim population, and as such,
called for Eritrea
to be granted its independence. Britain,
as the current administrative power, wanted to partition Eritrea, with the Christian-population regions
to be incorporated into Ethiopia
and the Muslim regions to be assimilated into Sudan. Emperor Haile Selassie, the
Ethiopian monarch, also claimed ownership of Eritrea, citing historical and cultural
ties, as well as the need for Ethiopia to have access to the sea through the
Red Sea (Ethiopia had been landlocked after Italy established Eritrea).
Ultimately, the United States
influenced the future course for Eritrea. The U.S. government saw Eritrea
in the regional balance of power in Cold War politics: an independent but weak Eritrea could potentially fall to communist
(Soviet) domination, which would destabilize the vital oil-rich Middle East. Unbeknown to the general public at the time,
a U.S. diplomatic cable from
Ethiopia to the U.S. State
Department in August 1949 stated that British officials in Eritrea believed that as much as
75% of the local population desired independence.
In February 1950, a UN commission sent to Eritrea to
determine the local people’s political aspirations submitted its findings to
the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). In December 1950, the UNGA, which
was strongly influenced by U.S.
wishes, released Resolution 390A (V) that called for establishing a loose federation
between Ethiopia and Eritrea to be facilitated by Britain and to be realized no later
than September 15, 1952. The UN plan, which subsequently was implemented,
allowed Eritrea
broad autonomy in controlling its internal affairs, including local administrative,
police, and fiscal and taxation functions. The Ethiopian-Eritrean Federation
would affirm the sovereignty of the Ethiopian monarch whose government would
exert jurisdiction over Eritrea’s
foreign affairs, including military defense, national finance, and transportation.
In March 1952, under British initiative, Eritrea elected
a 68-seat Representative Assembly, a legislature composed equally of Christians
and Muslim members, which subsequently adopted a constitution proposed by the
UN. Just days before the September 1952 deadline for federation, the Ethiopian
government ratified the Eritrean constitution and upheld Eritrea’s Representative Assembly
as the renamed Eritrean Assembly. On September 15, 1952, the Ethiopian-Eritrean
Federation was established, and Britain
turned over administration to the new authorities, and withdrew from Eritrea.
However, Emperor Haile Selassie was determined to bring Eritrea under Ethiopia’s full authority. Eritrea’s
head of government (called Chief Executive who was elected by the Eritrean
Assembly) was forced to resign, and successors to the post were appointed by
the Ethiopian emperor. Ethiopians were appointed to many high-level Eritrean
government posts. Many Eritrean political parties were banned and press censorship
was imposed. Amharic, Ethiopia’s
official language, was imposed, while Arabic and Tigrayan, Eritrea’s main languages, were
replaced with Amharic as the medium for education. Many local businesses were
moved to Ethiopia, while
local tax revenues were sent to Ethiopia.
By the early 1960s, Eritrea’s
autonomy status virtually had ceased to exist. In November 1962, the Eritrean
Assembly, under strong pressure from Emperor Haile Selassie, dissolved the
Ethiopian-Eritrean Federation and voted to incorporate Eritrea as Ethiopia’s
14th province.
Eritreans were outraged by these developments. Civilian
dissent in the form of rallies and demonstrations broke out, and was dealt with
harshly by Ethiopia,
causing scores of deaths and injuries among protesters in confrontations with
security forces. Opposition leaders, particularly those calling for
independence, were suppressed, forcing many to flee into exile abroad; scores
of their supporters also were jailed. In April 1958, the first organized
resistance to Ethiopian rule emerged with the formation of the clandestine
Eritrean Liberation Movement (ELM), consisting originally of Eritrean exiles in
Sudan.
At its peak in Eritrea, the ELM had some 40,000 members who organized in cells
of 7 people and carried out a campaign of destabilization, including engaging
in some militant actions such as assassinating government officials, aimed at
forcing the Ethiopian government to reverse some of its centralizing policies
that were undercutting Eritrea’s autonomous status under the federated
arrangement with Ethiopia. By 1962, the government’s anti-dissident campaigns
had weakened the ELM, although the militant group continued to exist, albeit
with limited success. Also by 1962, another Eritrean nationalist organization,
the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), had emerged, having been organized in July
1960 by Eritrean exiles in Cairo, Egypt which in contrast to the ELM, had as
its objective the use of armed force to achieve Eritrean’s independence.
In its early years, the ELF leadership, called the “Supreme
Council”, operated out of Cairo
to more effectively spread its political goals to the international community
and to lobby and secure military support from foreign donors.
