Causes of the Eritrean war of Independence (1961-1993).
1.
Ethiopia's annexation of Eritrea in 1962 provoked the Ezitrean
secession struggle. In 1950, the United Nations General Assembly ruled
that Eritrea becomes part of Ethiopia, but govern itself. From 1952 up
to 1962, Eritrea enjoyed self-government.
2. The 1960 referendum organised for the people of Eritrea to choose
between complete independence and federation with Ethiopia but with
autonomy, was rigged by Emperor Haile Selassie in favour of federation.
In 1962, Selassie violated Eritrea's autonomy and reduced her to a mere
province of Ethiopia, This was unbearable for the Eritreans, who took
up arms to fight Ethiopia,
3. Emperor Haile Selassie's autocracy led to the outbreak of the
secession. Selassie ruled Eritrea as a despot. He forced Eritrean
nationalists in exile, banned Eritrean media and press and trade
unions. He also banned the Eritrean flag and ruthlessly suppressed
workers' and students' protests and demonstrations, leaving many dead
and wounded. Since the people of Eritrea were accustomed to democracy,
which had been developed during Italian and British control, they could
not be subdued by Selassie's autocracy. They therefore took up arms and
fought for their independence.
4. Tribalism and nepotism as" practiced by Emperor Haile Selassie,
contributed to the outbreak of the Eritrean struggle for independence.
Selassie favoured his Ambara tribe at the expense of other smaller
tribes such as the Wollo, Somali, Tigre and Galla. He made Amharic the
official language of Ethiopia and Eritrea and his government was
dominated by fellow tribesmen. The Eritreans felt marginalised and
therefore took up arms to defend their own interest.
5. Religious differences also led to the outbreak of the Eritrean
struggle for independence. Ethiopia was predominantly Christian while
majority Eritrean were Muslims. Selassie declared Christianity the
official state religion and Christians dominated government.
Predominantly Muslim Eritrea was governed by Christians who insulted
Muslims and disrespected Islamic values and norms.
6. Majority Christians isolated and clashed with minority Muslims and
Christian landlords openly exploited peasants of minority religious
denominations. Therefore, the Eritrean struggle broke out partly to
protect Islam, which Selassie infringed upon.
7. The famine and hunger disaster also led to the outbreak of the
Eritrean secession struggle. Between 1972 and 1974, Ethiopia suffered a
major famine that left about 200,000 Eritreans dead. Instead of helping
the suffering people of Eritrea, the government of Haile Selassie
ignored all warnings of the possibility of famine. Anybody who talked
about famine was suppressed. The Emperor also reftised foreign
assistance to combat famine. This aroused deep anger and discontent
among the Eritreans, leading to the secession struggle.
8. The discovery of valuable minerals in Eritrea. In 1963, Asbestos and
other valuable minerals were discovered in Eritrea, This triggered off
a contest between Eritrea and Ethiopia for the control of the minerals.
The mineral wealth encouraged Eritrea to demand independence since the
minerals would be exploited to sustain her. On the other hand, Ethiopia
wanted to continue controlling Eritrea so as to exploit her mineral
wealth. Therefore, the ELF launched a struggle in order to protect the
mineral wealth of Eritrea from Ethiopian exploitation.
9. The need to protect Eritrea's economic developments paved way for
the outbreak of the Eritrean struggle for independence. During Italian
and British rule, Eritrean infrastructure such as schools, hospitals,
roads, railway network, etc were built. The two Eritrean ports of Assab
and Massawa had been granted to Israel by Ethiopia, On one hand,
Ethiopia held onto Eritrea to continue using her economic
infrastructure, and on the other, Eritrea wrestled to control her
developments This led to the outbreak of the Eritrean struggle for
independence.
10. The cold war between the super power also led to die outbreak of
the Eritrean secession. The cold war hijacked the politics of the Horn
of Africa, Between 1961 and 1974, the former USSR supported Eritrea,
while the USA backed Ethiopia's right to control Eritrea. Later in
1974, when Selassie was overthrown and replaced by the Marxist Mariam
Mengistu, the USSR changed to support Ethiopia while the USA supported
Eritrea. With support from the USSR and later the USA Eritrea was
encouraged to fight for independence from Ethiopia that was first
supported by the USA and later USSR.
11. The interference of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the affairs of the
Horn of Africa, made the Eritrean struggle inevitable. Israel increased
its presence in Ethiopia. On top of giving military, technical and
financial support, Israel maintained her physical presence in the Red
Sea ports of Massawa and Assab that belonged to the predominantly
Muslim Eritreans. Israel's presence in the horn naturally attracted
Arab nations such' as Sudan, Iraq and Libya to support Eritrea against
Zionist occupation. The Eritrean struggle partly broke out because of
the Arab-Israeli conflict.
12. The weakness of the UNO also led to the outbreak of the Eritrean
struggle for independence. The UNO took over Eritrea as a trusteeship
territory to prepare her for independence. However, in 1952, the UNO
made Eritrea part of Ethiopia instead of granting her independence.
Then in 1960, the UNO organised a referendum for the people of Eritrea
to choose between independence and a merge with Ethiopia. Eritreans
voted for independence but Emperor Haile Selassie rigged the referendum
in favour of a merger. Shockingly, the United Nations turned a deaf ear
to the people of Eritrea; who resorted to war to liberate themselves
from Ethiopian colonial rule.
13. The emergence of the ELF in 1961 provoked the outbreak of the war.
Selassie's rigging of the 1960 referendum was proof to the Eritreans
that armed struggle was the only option left to liberate Eritrea. In
1961, Eritreans began a movement called the ELF,' which mobilised and
politicised the masses in preparation for war. In 1961, the ELF
declared war against the Ethiopian government. In 1972, the EPLF was
also founded and declared war against Ethiopia.
14. The presumption of military superiority of Ethiopia made her to
cause war with Eritrea. Following the bitter experience of Italian
aggression and occupation, Selassie underscored the importance of
military strength. He therefore modernized the army by buying new and
modern military equipment. He sent army officers for training to
military academies in Israel, Britain, France and USA. Besides,
Ethiopia acquired military support from the USA and Israel. This
strengthened Ethiopia and made her confident to attack Eritrean hoping
for easy victory. The ELF put up resistance, leading to war.
15. The control of Eritrea by Italy and Britain and yet Ethiopia almost
escaped colonial rule. Italian and British control of Eritrea witnessed
the granting of freedom and democratic rule. Eritreans were allowed to
form political parties and were granted freedom of expression and the
press. Social and economic infrastructure such as schools, hospitals
and roads were constructed to benefit the Eritreans. On the other hand,
Ethiopia was a backward, feudal and authoritarian society. This made
Eritrea to agitate for separate existence, instead of being handed to
Ethiopia. .
16. The weakness of the Organisation of African Unity. Upon its
formation in 1963, the OAU condemned Eritrea's struggle and regarded
her as part of Ethiopia, Instead of understanding the unique history of
Eritrea, the OAU chose to please Emperor Haile Selassie by supporting
him against Eritrea. This let down the aspirations of the people of
Eritrea to self-rule. This left Eritreans with one option - the use of
force against Ethiopia to liberate their country.
17. The I960 political turmoil in Ethiopia was taken advantage of by
Eritrea to break away. In 1960, Selassie survived a military coup while
in the United States. Selassie resorted to terror and violence against
his opponents and to destroy students' riots and demonstrations that
followed the unsuccessful coup. A cloud of uncertainty loomed over
Ethiopia over what would happen if the aging Selassie died. Ethiopia
was backward and the socio-economic conditions were worsening. This
encouraged the people of Eritrea to declare a war of liberation.
18. The attempted break away of other regions from Ethiopia too,
encouraged Eritrea to declare a war of independence. The Ogaden
province of Ethiopia sought to transfer territory to Somalia, The Tigre
and Oromo started new separatist movements. This too encouraged Eritrea
to seek separate existence by declaring war.
19. The 1974, military coup in Ethiopia added fuel in the Eritrea's
struggle for independence. Emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown and
replaced by Mariam Mengtstu. The ELF and EPLF placed a lot of hope in
politically resolving the problem of Eritrea with the new government.
The two political movements declared a ceasefire to allow peace an
opportunity. The new government of Mengistu refused to grant
independence to Eritrea and fell short of ELF and EPLF expectation.
This triggered off a fresh wave of fighting between the ELF and EPLF on
one hand and Ethiopia on the other.
20. The failure by Ethiopia to liberate Eritrea from Italian
colonialism. During the battle of Adowa of 1986, Ethiopia liberated her
territory from Italian occupation but failed to help Eritrea liberate
herself. Again during the Italo-Ethiopia crisis of 1934 - 1941,
Selassie liberated Ethiopia from Italy in 1941 but refused to liberate
Eritrea, This became proof to Eritreans that Ethiopia did not care
about them and that they had a separate destiny from that of Ethiopia.
This encouraged Eritrea to declare a war of liberation in 1961.
21. The divergence in the interpretation of Eritrean history. Ethiopia
and Eritreans interpreted their history differently, leading to
conflict. The ELF preferred to link Eritrea to Italian colonial rule
and rejected Ethiopia. The ELF therefore rejected the 1950 UNO
resolution to hand Eritrea to Ethiopia. Quite different from this view,
Ethiopia regarded Eritrea as part of her territory and regarded any
talk of Eritrea's independence as separatism. Therefore, the failure to
come to a common understanding about the history of Eritrea made the
war between Eritrea and Ethiopia inevitable.
22. Corruption and inefficiency in Selassie's government. The Emperor,
the royal family and government officials plundered and misappropriated
public resources to lead wasteful and extravagant life. Stolen millions
of dollars and precious metals were locked up in Swiss and other
European banks. The people of Eritrea could not afford to be part of a
corrupt Ethiopia. They took up arms to liberate Eritrea and establish
an incorruptible society.
23. The extension of the Arab-Israelite conflict made the war
inevitable. There were a number of Israelites in the Ethiopian
government advising and militarily assisting the Emperor. It was the
Arab support from Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Sudan etc that made Eritreans
fight to the end.
24. It can therefore be concluded that the divergent interpretation of
Eritrea's history, the growth of Eritrean nationalism, the wind of
change which was sweeping across African and other factors led to the
Eritrean war uf Liberation that succeeded in 1993.
National Movements and New States in Africa