Eritrean War of Independence

Not to be confused with Eritrean–Ethiopian War.

Eritrean War of Independence
Part of Opposition to Haile Selassie, the Ethiopian Civil War, the Cold War, the Sino-Soviet split, the conflicts in the Horn of Africa, and the Revolutions of 1989

Military situation during the Eritrean War of Independence
Date1 September 1961 – 24 May 1991
(29 years, 8 months and 4 weeks)
Location
Predominantly: Eritrea Province
Result

EPLF victory[27]

Territorial
changes

Independence of Eritrea

Belligerents
ELF (1961–1981)
Supported by:
EPLF (since 1973)
Tigray Region TPLF (since 1975)
Supported by:
 1961–1974
Ethiopian Empire
Supported by:
1974–1991
Derg (1974–1987)
PDR Ethiopia (1987–1991)
Supported by:
Commanders and leaders
Hamid Idris Awate †
Ahmed Nasser
Isaias Afewerki
Romodan M. Nur
Petros Solomon
Sebhat Ephrem
Mesfin Hagos
Tigray Region Meles Zenawi		 Haile Selassie I
Abiye Abebe
Mengistu H. Mariam
Tesfaye Gebre Kidan
Fisseha Desta
Merid Negussie Executed
Berhanu Bayeh
Abebe Haile
Strength
2,000 (1970)[28]
30,000 (1975)[29]
110,000 (1990)[30]		 11,000 (1970)[31]
120,000 (1984)[32]
Ethiopia 123,000 (1990)[33]
Casualties and losses
65,000–70,000 killed[34] 103,682 killed[a][35]
33,895 captured[36]
150,000–280,000 civilians killed[b][37][38]
440,000–600,000+ displaced[c][39][40]

The Eritrean War of Independence was an armed conflict and 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.

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-Leninist communist 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.

As the Mengistu regime declined at the end of the 1980s and was overwhelmed by Ethiopian insurgents groups, the EPLF decisively defeated Ethiopian forces deployed in Eritrea during May 1991.[42] The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), with the help of the EPLF, defeated the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) when it took control of the capital Addis Ababa a month later.[43] In April 1993, the Eritrean people voted almost unanimously in favour of independence in the Eritrean independence referendum, with formal international recognition of an independent, sovereign Eritrea in the same year.

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