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Eritrea
Federated with Ethiopia by the UN in 1952 and annexed in 1962, Eritrea fought a thirty-year war until the EPLF took Asmara in May 1991; a UN-observed referendum in April 1993 voted 99.8 percent for independence, declared on 24 May 1993.
- Independence
- May 24, 1993
- Before
- Eritrea (Ethiopian province, formerly Italian colony and UN-federated territory)
- Metropole
- Ethiopia
- Leader
- Isaias Afwerki
- Transition
- Secession Referendum
- Movement
- Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF, 1961) and Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF, 1973), led from 1987 by Isaias Afwerki
Italy's First Colony and the UN Federation
Italy made Eritrea its first colony in 1890 and ruled it until British forces took Asmara in 1941; Britain then administered the territory on behalf of the Allies. With the powers unable to agree its future, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 390 A (V) on 2 December 1950, federating Eritrea as an autonomous unit with Ethiopia under the Ethiopian crown. The federation took effect on 15 September 1952, with an Eritrean assembly, constitution, flag and two official languages, Tigrinya and Arabic. Emperor Haile Selassie's government eroded that autonomy through the decade; by 1958 the constitution had effectively ceased to function.
Annexation and Thirty Years of War
On 1 September 1961 Hamid Idris Awate and a handful of companions fired the first shots of the Eritrean Liberation Front's war at Mount Adal. In November 1962 the Eritrean assembly, under pressure, voted to dissolve the federation and Eritrea became an Ethiopian province. The ELF was joined in 1973 by a breakaway that became the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, which survived Ethiopia's Soviet-backed Derg offensives, built a state in the field around Nakfa, and in March 1988 destroyed the Ethiopian army's northern headquarters at Afabet. On 24 May 1991, as the Derg collapsed, EPLF fighters entered Asmara.
The Referendum of 1993
Ethiopia's new government accepted the Eritreans' right to decide their status. Between 23 and 25 April 1993, under the UN Observer Mission to Verify the Referendum in Eritrea (UNOVER), 1,102,410 people voted: 99.83 percent chose independence, with only 1,822 votes against, on a turnout above 98 percent of those registered. UNOVER judged the process free and fair. Independence was declared on 24 May 1993, two years to the day after the fall of Asmara; the UN admitted Eritrea on 28 May 1993, and Isaias Afwerki, the EPLF secretary-general, became president.
Chronology
- 1890 — Italy proclaims the colony of Eritrea
- 1941 — British forces end Italian rule; British administration begins
- 2 December 1950 — UN Resolution 390 A (V) federates Eritrea with Ethiopia
- 15 September 1952 — Federation takes effect
- 1 September 1961 — Hamid Idris Awate opens the armed struggle
- November 1962 — Eritrean assembly votes to dissolve the federation; Eritrea annexed as a province
- 1973 — EPLF formed
- March 1988 — EPLF victory at Afabet
- 24 May 1991 — EPLF enters Asmara
- 23–25 April 1993 — UN-observed referendum: 99.83% for independence
- 24 May 1993 — Independence declared; UN admission 28 May
Aftermath
The EPLF, renamed the People's Front for Democracy and Justice, governed alone. A constitution ratified in 1997 was never implemented and national elections have never been held. A border war with Ethiopia over Badme from 1998 to 2000 killed tens of thousands and ended with the Algiers Agreement of 12 December 2000, but the two states remained frozen in hostility until Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed made peace with Isaias in 2018. Indefinite national service and the absence of elections have made Eritrea one of the most closed states in the world and a major source of refugees.
Legacy
Eritrea was the first African state to secede from another and win international recognition, its case resting on the argument that it was a colonial territory that had been federated and then absorbed rather than a region of Ethiopia; the price of the struggle was a state built entirely around the front that won it.