Historical independence

History: Eritrea

From Italian colony to independent state: federation with Ethiopia, annexation, the EPLF-led independence struggle, the 1993 referendum, and relations with Ethiopia since.

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Colonial rule, federation and annexation

Eritrea was an Italian colony and later came under British administration; its federation with Ethiopia took place in 1952 under the sovereignty of the Ethiopian crown.[1] That arrangement ended in 1962, when Eritrea's federal status was abrogated and the territory was incorporated into Ethiopia as a province.[1] For three decades afterwards, Eritreans pursued self-determination, first within a federation and then in full independence.[1]

The ELF, the EPLF and the end of the war

The Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), founded in 1960, launched the armed independence struggle on 1 September 1961 under Hamid Idris Awate.[2] The Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) split from the ELF in 1970 and, after periods of open conflict between the two fronts, became the dominant nationalist force and led the later phase of the armed independence struggle.[3]

· Other

Eritrean War of Independence begins, 1961

The Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), founded 1960, launched the armed independence struggle against Ethiopian rule under Hamid Idris Awate; the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) split from the ELF in 1970 and later became the dominant nationalist force.

In May 1991 the EPLF took control of Asmara and established the Provisional Government of Eritrea, with legislative, executive and judicial bodies.[4]

The Provisional Government met Ethiopian delegations in London that same month and committed to holding a referendum on Eritrea's future within two years; a Conference on Peace and Democracy at Addis Ababa in July 1991 formally recognised Eritreans' right to determine their political future through an internationally supervised referendum.[5]

The 1993 referendum

The General Assembly authorised the UN Observer Mission to Verify the Referendum in Eritrea (UNOVER) in December 1992, at the request of both the Eritrean and Ethiopian authorities.[6] Voting took place over three days in April 1993 on a single question: whether Eritrea should become an independent sovereign state.[7]

· Referendum or popular consultation

Eritrean independence referendum, 1993

Eritreans voted 23–25 April 1993 on whether Eritrea should become an independent sovereign state; the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative called the process free and fair.

Turnout was 98.24% of registered voters, and 99.805% of those who cast a vote voted for independence.[8][9] The Secretary-General's Special Representative announced the process free and fair, and Eritrea declared independence on 24 May 1993.[10]

United Nations membership

Four days after the declaration of independence, the General Assembly admitted Eritrea as the 182nd member of the United Nations, following a Security Council recommendation.[11]

The border war and the path to peace with Ethiopia

Five years after independence, a border war broke out between Eritrea and Ethiopia in 1998, centred on the town of Badme, and continued until a Cessation of Hostilities Agreement was signed in Algiers on 18 June 2000.[12]

· Conflict episode

Eritrean–Ethiopian border war, 1998–2000

A border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia, fought mainly around the town of Badme, lasted from 1998 until a Cessation of Hostilities Agreement in June 2000.

The war was formally ended by the Algiers Agreement, signed in December 2000, which established a Boundary Commission to delimit the border on the basis of colonial-era treaties.[13][14] The Commission's 2002 decision was reported to have placed Badme on the Eritrean side, but Ethiopia accepted the ruling only "in principle" and did not withdraw its forces, producing a long stand-off before a new government in Addis Ababa and Asmara signed a joint declaration of peace in July 2018.[15][16]

· Agreement

Algiers Agreement, 2000

Eritrea and Ethiopia signed a peace agreement in Algiers ending the border war and establishing a Boundary Commission to delimit and demarcate their shared border.

Sources for this page

Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.

  1. 1.

    Claim: Eritrea was an Italian colony and later under British administration; it was federated with Ethiopia in 1952 under the sovereignty of the Ethiopian crown, and that federal status was abrogated in 1962 when the territory was incorporated into Ethiopia as a province, beginning three decades of struggle for self-determination.

    • United Nations Secretary-General, United Nations Observer Mission to Verify the Referendum in Eritrea: Report of the Secretary-General (United Nations General Assembly, 11 August 1993) link, para. 3. Source record
  2. 2.

    Claim: The Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), founded in 1960, launched the Eritrean armed independence struggle on 1 September 1961 under the leadership of Hamid Idris Awate.

    • Eritrean War of Independence (Wikipedia) link, Founding and 1 September 1961 launch section. Source record
  3. 3.

    Claim: The Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) split from the ELF in 1970; the two fronts fought each other at points in the 1970s-80s before the EPLF, which held its first Congress in January 1977, became the dominant nationalist force. Isaias Afwerki, who had joined the ELF in 1967, helped found the EPLF and was elected its Assistant Secretary-General in 1977.

    • Eritrean People's Liberation Front (Wikipedia) link, EPLF founding and leadership section. Source record
  4. 4.

    Claim: In May 1991 the Eritrean People's Liberation Front took control of the Eritrean capital, Asmara, and established itself as the Provisional Government of Eritrea, consisting of legislative, executive and judicial bodies.

    • United Nations Secretary-General, United Nations Observer Mission to Verify the Referendum in Eritrea: Report of the Secretary-General (United Nations General Assembly, 11 August 1993) link, para. 4. Source record
  5. 5.

    Claim: In May 1991 the Provisional Government of Eritrea met Ethiopian delegations in London and committed to holding a referendum on Eritrea's future within two years; in July 1991 a Conference on Peace and Democracy at Addis Ababa formally recognised the Eritrean people's right to determine their political future by an internationally supervised referendum.

    • United Nations Secretary-General, United Nations Observer Mission to Verify the Referendum in Eritrea: Report of the Secretary-General (United Nations General Assembly, 11 August 1993) link, paras. 5–6. Source record
  6. 6.

    Claim: The UN General Assembly authorised, by consensus, the establishment of the United Nations Observer Mission to Verify the Referendum in Eritrea (UNOVER) in resolution 47/114 of 16 December 1992, taking into account that both authorities directly concerned had requested UN involvement and registered their commitment to respect the results.

    • United Nations Secretary-General, United Nations Observer Mission to Verify the Referendum in Eritrea: Report of the Secretary-General (United Nations General Assembly, 11 August 1993) link, para. 1. Source record
  7. 7.

    Claim: Under article 3 of the Eritrean Referendum Proclamation, the referendum put a single question to the electorate: "Do you approve that Eritrea should become an independent sovereign State?"

    • United Nations Secretary-General, United Nations Observer Mission to Verify the Referendum in Eritrea: Report of the Secretary-General (United Nations General Assembly, 11 August 1993) link, para. 23. Source record
  8. 8.

    Claim: Of 1,174,654 registered voters, 1,154,001 participated in the referendum voting, a turnout of 98.24%.

    • United Nations Secretary-General, United Nations Observer Mission to Verify the Referendum in Eritrea: Report of the Secretary-General (United Nations General Assembly, 11 August 1993) link, para. 52. Source record
  9. 9.

    Claim: Of votes cast, 1,098,015 (99.805%) were for Eritrean independence and 1,825 (0.17%) against, with 323 invalid votes and 53,838 tendered ballots.

    • United Nations Secretary-General, United Nations Observer Mission to Verify the Referendum in Eritrea: Report of the Secretary-General (United Nations General Assembly, 11 August 1993) link, para. 53. Source record
  10. 10.

    Claim: On 27 April 1993, on the basis of UNOVER's information and observations, the Secretary-General's Special Representative officially announced that "on the whole, the referendum process in Eritrea can be considered to have been free and fair at every stage, and that it has been conducted to my satisfaction." Attributed to UN Secretary-General's Special Representative (1993)

    • United Nations Secretary-General, United Nations Observer Mission to Verify the Referendum in Eritrea: Report of the Secretary-General (United Nations General Assembly, 11 August 1993) link, para. 56. Source record
  11. 11.

    Claim: The UN General Assembly decided to admit Eritrea to membership in the United Nations at its 104th plenary meeting on 28 May 1993, following the Security Council's recommendation of 26 May 1993; Eritrea became its 182nd member state.

    • United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly resolution 47/230: Admission of Eritrea to membership in the United Nations (United Nations, 16 July 1993) link, operative paragraph and meeting note. Source record
    • United Nations Secretary-General, United Nations Observer Mission to Verify the Referendum in Eritrea: Report of the Secretary-General (United Nations General Assembly, 11 August 1993) link, para. 84. Source record
  12. 12.

    Claim: A border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia broke out in 1998 and was ended by a Cessation of Hostilities Agreement signed in Algiers on 18 June 2000; the Security Council resolution establishing a UN mission to support that agreement refers to the OAU Framework Agreement of 1998 on the conflict.

    • United Nations Security Council, Security Council resolution 1312 (2000) (United Nations, 31 July 2000) link, preambular paragraph and para. 6. Source record
  13. 13.

    Claim: The Algiers Agreement, signed on 12 December 2000, provides that "the parties shall permanently terminate hostilities between themselves" and that each party shall refrain from the threat or use of force against the other.

    • Government of the State of Eritrea and Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Agreement between the Government of the State of Eritrea and the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (Algiers Agreement) (United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), 12 December 2000) link, art. 1. Source record
  14. 14.

    Claim: Article 4 of the Algiers Agreement established a neutral Boundary Commission of five members with a mandate "to delimit and demarcate the colonial treaty border based on pertinent colonial treaties (1900, 1902 and 1908) and applicable international law," seated at The Hague and without power to decide ex aequo et bono.

    • Government of the State of Eritrea and Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Agreement between the Government of the State of Eritrea and the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (Algiers Agreement) (United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), 12 December 2000) link, art. 4. Source record
  15. 15.

    Claim: In April 2002 the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission ruled that disputed towns along the border, including Badme, fell on the Eritrean side of the line; Ethiopia accepted the ruling only "in principle" and did not withdraw its forces, producing a prolonged "no peace, no war" stand-off. Attributed to The Borgen Project

    • The Borgen Project, A Resolution at Last? The Ethiopian-Eritrean Border Dispute (The Borgen Project) link, article text. Source record
  16. 16.

    Claim: On 9 July 2018 in Asmara, President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea and Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali of Ethiopia signed a Joint Declaration of Peace and Friendship stating that "the state of war between Ethiopia and Eritrea has come to an end," that transport, trade, communications and diplomatic ties would resume, and that "the decision on the boundary between the two countries will be implemented."

    • Government of the State of Eritrea and Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Joint Declaration of Peace and Friendship between Eritrea and Ethiopia (Ministry of Information, State of Eritrea, 9 July 2018) link, numbered points 1, 3 and 4. Government perspective or primary official source Source record

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