Eritrea
Eritrea is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered on the
northeast and east by the Red Sea, on the west and northwest by
Sudan, on the south by Ethiopia, and on the southeast by Djibouti.
The country has a high central plateau that varies from 1,800 to
3,000 meters (6,000-10,000 ft.) above sea level. A coastal plain,
western lowlands, and some 300 islands comprise the remainder of
Eritrea's landmass. Eritrea has no year-round rivers.
The climate is temperate in the mountains and hot in the lowlands.
Asmara, the capital, is about 2,300 meters (7,500 ft.) above sea
level. Maximum temperature is 26o C (80o F). The weather is usually
sunny and dry, with the short or belg rains occurring February-April
and the big or meher rains beginning in late June and ending in
mid-September.
Eritrea's population comprises nine ethnic groups, most of which
speak Semitic or Cushitic languages. The Tigrinya and Tigre make up
four-fifths of the population and speak different, but related and
somewhat mutually intelligible, Semitic languages. In general, most
of the Christians live in the highlands, while Muslims and adherents
of traditional beliefs live in lowland regions. Tigrinya and Arabic
are the most frequently used languages for commercial and official
transactions. In urban areas, English is widely spoken and is the
language used for secondary and university education. |
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Prior to Italian colonization in 1885, what is now Eritrea had been
ruled by the various local or international powers that successively
dominated the Red Sea region. In 1896, the Italians used Eritrea as
a springboard for their disastrous attempt to conquer Ethiopia.
Eritrea was placed under British military administration after the
Italian surrender in World War II. In 1952, a UN resolution
federating Eritrea with Ethiopia went into effect. The resolution
ignored Eritrean pleas for independence but guaranteed Eritreans
some democratic rights and a measure of autonomy. Almost immediately
after the federation went into effect, however, these rights began
to be abridged or violated.
In 1962, Emperor Haile Sellassie unilaterally dissolved the Eritrean
parliament and annexed the country, sparking the Eritrean fight for
independence from Ethiopia that continued after Haile Sellassie was
ousted in a coup in 1974. The new Ethiopian Government, called the
Derg, was a Marxist military junta led by Ethiopian strongman
Mengistu Haile Miriam.
During the 1960s, the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) led the
Eritrean independence struggle. In 1970, some members of the group
broke away to form the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF). By
the late 1970s, the EPLF had become the dominant armed Eritrean
group fighting against the Ethiopian Government, with Isaias Afwerki
as its leader. The EPLF used material captured from the Ethiopian
Army to fight against the government.
By 1977, the EPLF was poised to drive the Ethiopians out of Eritrea.
That same year, however, a massive airlift of Soviet arms to
Ethiopia enabled the Ethiopian Army to regain the initiative and
forced the EPLF to retreat to the bush. Between 1978 and 1986, the
Derg launched eight major offensives against the independence
movement--all of which failed. In 1988, the EPLF captured Afabet,
headquarters of the Ethiopian Army in northeastern Eritrea,
prompting the Ethiopian Army to withdraw from its garrisons in
Eritrea's western lowlands. EPLF fighters then moved into position
around Keren, Eritrea's second-largest city. Meanwhile, other
dissident movements were making headway throughout Ethiopia. At the
end of the 1980s, the Soviet Union informed Mengistu that it would
not be renewing its defense and cooperation agreement. With the
withdrawal of Soviet support and supplies, the Ethiopian Army's
morale plummeted, and the EPLF--along with other Ethiopian rebel
forces--advanced on Ethiopian positions.
The United States played a facilitative role in the peace talks in
Washington during the months leading up to the May 1991 fall of the
Mengistu regime. In mid-May, Mengistu resigned as head of the
Ethiopian Government and went into exile in Zimbabwe, leaving a
caretaker government in Addis Ababa. Later that month, the United
States chaired talks in London to formalize the end of the war. The
four major combatant groups, including the EPLF, attended these
talks.
Having defeated the Ethiopian forces in Eritrea, EPLF troops took
control of their homeland. In May 1991, the EPLF established the
Provisional Government of Eritrea (PGE) to administer Eritrean
affairs until a referendum could be held on independence and a
permanent government established. EPLF leader Isaias became the head
of the PGE, and the EPLF Central Committee served as its legislative
body.
A high-level U.S. delegation was present in Addis Ababa for the July
1-5, 1991 conference that established a transitional government in
Ethiopia. The EPLF attended the July conference as an observer and
held talks with the new transitional government regarding Eritrea's
relationship to Ethiopia. The outcome of those talks was an
agreement in which the Ethiopians recognized the right of the
Eritreans to hold a referendum on independence.
Although some EPLF cadres at one time espoused a Marxist ideology,
Soviet assistance for Mengistu limited the level of Eritrean
interest in seeking Soviet support. The fall of communist regimes in
the former Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc convinced them it was a
failed system. The EPLF (and later its successor, the PFDJ)
expressed its commitment to establishing a democratic form of
government and a free-market economy in Eritrea. The United States
agreed to provide assistance to both Ethiopia and Eritrea,
conditional on continued progress toward democracy and human rights.
On April 23-25, 1993, Eritreans voted overwhelmingly for
independence from Ethiopia in a UN-monitored free and fair
referendum. The Eritrean authorities declared Eritrea an independent
state on April 27, and Eritrea officially celebrated its
independence on May 24, 1993. |
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