Eritrea is another African country that we know relatively little about. Located in eastern Africa, we hear very little about it. This article therefore focuses on Eritrea.
History
Until the end of the nineteenth century, the high plateau of Eritrea was part of Ethiopia. This area was mainly populated by the Tigre ethnic group and fell under the Ethiopian throne, the surrounding areas were mostly independent. Late in the nineteenth century, the Italians colonized the area and formed the borders of modern-day Eritrea. In 1889, the presence of the Italians was formalized with the Treaty of Wuchale with the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II. The relationship between the emperor and Italy quickly deteriorated as the Italians attempted to further expand their influence in the area at the expense of the Ethiopian emperor. In 1896 the Ethiopians defeated the Italians at the Battle of Tigre.
Italy and Ethiopia
Source: Laurens, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA-3.0)
The Italians made improvements in Eritrea in agriculture and health care. They also ensured unity and order in the ethnically and religiously divided country. However, with the arrival of the fascists in Italy in 1922, the atmosphere changed. From now on, the Eritreans were considered second-class citizens, inferior to the Italians. Yet the idea of an independent state only emerged during the Second World War. In 1941, the British defeated Italian troops in Eritrea and the country came under a British military administration. This status continued until 1950, when various parties became involved in the country. The British wanted to divide it between Ethiopia and Sudan, the Soviets wanted to give it back to Italy (the Soviets foresaw a communist victory in the elections) and the Arab world felt that Eritrea was part of the Arab and Muslim world. The UN decided on some kind of association with Ethiopia, the British government had to be dissolved on September 15, 1952. The British therefore established a representative assembly, which approved a provisional constitution. Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia subsequently approved this constitution and the representative assembly became the Eritrean Assembly.
Haile Selassie
Ethiopia and Eritrea were intended to be loosely connected, but Haile Selassie undermined this from the start. He ignored the rather major differences between the two countries: the Eritreans had become accustomed to Italian and British influences and desired political freedom. The emperor declared Amharic the national language (instead of Tigre and Arabic), imposed censorship and banned the Eritrean flag. In 1962, he pressured the assembly to abandon the federation and become fully part of the Ethiopian empire.
ELM, ELF and EPLF
In 1958, the Eritrean Liberation Movement (ELM) had already been founded, a group of militant Eritreans who opposed the fact that Eritrea was part of the Ethiopian empire. By 1962, ELM had been discovered and destroyed, but a new group of Eritrean nationalists soon emerged. In 1960 in Cairo they founded the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF). This group wanted secession from Ethiopia and did not hesitate to use weapons to do so. Iraq and Syria, two radical Arab countries, supported ELF with money and weapons. ELF received support from the rural population, especially in the north and west, despite Haile Selassie’s frantic attempts to win over the Eritreans. In 1971, the unrest was so great that a state of emergency was declared in the country. However, ELF fell apart due to dissension in the ranks and the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) was founded.
In Ethiopia, the emperor had now been deposed and the Soviet-affiliated The RG had come to power. However, the Derg, like the emperor before them, had plans for a greater Ethiopia and continued the battle for Eritrea. This struggle continued throughout the 1970s and 1980s. By May 1991, the EPLF controlled almost all of Eritrea, and Tigrese and other rebels had removed Derg from power in Ethiopia.
Independence and Dictatorship
On May 24, 1993, a referendum was held and with almost 100% of the votes, Eritrea finally gained independence. Isaias Afwerki, leader of the EPLF, became the first president of an independent Eritrea. In 1994, the EPLF was renamed the Peoples Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ). In Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi had come to power, like Afwerki a Tigre and finally relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia were quite good. Five years later, conflicts over land and economic policy led to war between the two countries again. It took until June 2000 for a ceasefire to be reached, by which time a quarter of Eritrea’s population had been displaced. Peace was officially concluded on December 12, 2000, but both countries continued to argue over the exact border between the two. Eritrea was hit extremely hard by the war. The country was already poor and underdeveloped, but the war left little of the existing infrastructure and economy. The situation with neighboring country Ethiopia remains tense and relations with Sudan and the West are also not good. Afwerki has developed himself into an authoritarian president. Eritrea is sometimes called the North Korea of Africa, because of its isolated position and extremely harsh punishments. Doctors Without Borders ranked the country 179th out of 179 for freedom of expression.