Eritrean War of Independence
Encyclopedia
The Eritrean War of Independence (1 September 1961 – 24 May 1991) was a conflict fought between the Ethiopia
n government and Eritrea
n separatists
, both before and during the Ethiopian Civil War
. The war started when Eritrea’s autonomy within Ethiopia, where troops were already stationed, was unilaterally revoked. Eritrea had become part of Ethiopia after World War II
, when both territories were liberated from Italian occupation. Ethiopia claimed that Eritrea was part of Ethiopia, especially wanting to maintain access to the Red Sea
. Following the Marxist-Leninist coup in Ethiopia in 1974 which toppled its ancient monarchy, the Ethiopians enjoyed Soviet Union
support until the end of the 1980s, when glasnost
and perestroika
started to impact Moscow’s foreign policies, resulting in a withdrawal of help. The war went on for 30 years until 1991 when the Eritrean People's Liberation Front
(EPLF), having defeated the Ethiopian forces in Eritrea, took control of the country. In April 1993, in a referendum
supported by Ethiopia, the Eritrean people voted almost unanimously in favor of independence. Formal international recognition of an independent and sovereign Eritrea followed later the same year. The two main rebel groups, the Eritrean Liberation Front
(ELF) and the Eritrean People's Liberation Front
(EPLF) fought two Eritrean civil wars
during the war of liberation.
in 1890. In 1935, Ethiopia
was added to their colonial empire, which they called Italian East Africa
. Italian Somaliland
was also part of that entity. There was a unified administration. Liberated by Allied troops in 1941, Italian East Africa was sub-divided. Ethiopia regained independence. Italian Somaliland remained under Italian rule until 1960 but as a United Nations
protectorate, not a colony, when it united with British Somaliland
, also granted independence in 1960, to form the independent state of Somalia
. Eritrea was made a British protectorate from the end of World War II until 1951. However, there was debate as to what should happen with Eritrea after the British left. The British proposed that Eritrea be divided along religious lines with the Christians to Ethiopia and the Muslims to Sudan
. This however caused great controversy.
(ELF). The independence struggle can properly be understood as the resistance to the annexation of Eritrea by Ethiopia long after the Italians left the territory. At first, this group factionalized the liberation movement along ethnic and geographic lines. The initial four zonal commands of the ELF were all lowland areas and primarily Muslim. Few Christians joined the organization in the beginning, fearing Muslim domination. After growing disenfranchisement with Ethiopian occupation, highland Christians began joining the ELF. Typically these Christians were part of the upper class or university-educated. This growing influx of Christian volunteers prompted the opening of the fifth (highland Christian) command. Internal struggles within the ELF command coupled with sectarian violence among the various zonal groups splintered the organization.
The war started on 1 September 1961 when Hamid Idris Awate
and his companions fired the first shots against the occupying Ethiopian Army and police. In 1962, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia unilaterally dissolved the federation and the Eritrean parliament and annexed the country.
(EPLF) fought a bitter civil war. The two organizations were forced by popular will to reconcile in 1974 and participated in joint operations against Ethiopia.
In 1974, Emperor Haile Selassie was ousted in a coup. The new Ethiopian government, called the Derg
, was a Marxist military junta
, which eventually came to be controlled by strongman Mengistu Haile Mariam
. With this change of government, Ethiopia came under the influence of the Soviet Union
.
Many of the groups that splintered from the ELF joined together in 1977 and formed the EPLF. By the late 1970s, the EPLF had become the dominant armed Eritrean group fighting against the Ethiopian government. The leader of the umbrella organization was Secretary-General of the EPLF Ramadan Mohammed Nur, while the Assistant Secretary-General was Isaias Afewerki
. Much of the equipment used to combat Ethiopia was captured from the Ethiopian Army.
During this time, the Derg could not control the population by force alone. To supplement its garrisons, forces were sent on missions to instill fear in the population. An illustrative example of this policy was the village of Basik Dera in northern Eritrea. On 17 November 1970, the entire village was rounded up into the local mosque and the mosque's doors were locked. The building was then razed and the survivors were shot. Similar massacres took place in primarily Muslim parts of Eritrea, including the villages of She'eb, Hirgigo
, Elabared, and the town of Om Hajer; massacres also took place in predominately Christian areas as well.
By 1977, the EPLF was poised to drive the Ethiopians out of Eritrea, by utilizing a predetermined, simultaneous invasion from the east by Somalia to siphon off Ethiopian military resources. But in a dramatic turnaround, the Derg managed to repulse the Somalian incursion, thanks mainly to a massive airlift of Soviet arms. After that, using the considerable manpower and military hardware available from the Somali campaign, the Ethiopian Army regained the initiative and forced the EPLF to retreat to the bush. This was most notable in the Battle of Barentu and the Battle of Massawa
. Between 1978 and 1986, the Derg launched eight major offensives against the independence movements, and all failed to crush the guerrilla movement. In 1988, with the Battle of Afabet
, the EPLF captured Afabet
and its surroundings, then 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.
Throughout the conflict Ethiopia used "anti-personnel gas", napalm
, and other incendiary devices.
At the end of the 1980s, the Soviet Union informed Mengistu that it would not be renewing its defense and cooperation agreement. With the cessation of Soviet support and supplies, the Ethiopian Army's morale plummeted, and the EPLF, along with other Ethiopian rebel forces, began to advance on Ethiopian positions.
played a facilitative role in the peace talks in Washington, D.C.
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
. A high-level U.S. delegation also was present in Addis Ababa for the July 1–5, 1991 conference that established a transitional government in Ethiopia. Having defeated the Ethiopian forces in Eritrea, the EPLF attended 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. The referendum
helped in April 1993 when the Eritrean people voted almost unanimously in favour of independence and this was verified by the UN Observer Mission to Verify the Referendum in Eritrea (UNOVER). On 28 May 1993, the United Nations
formally admitted Eritrea to its membership. Below are the results from the referendum:
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
n government and Eritrea
Eritrea
Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...
n separatists
Separatism
Separatism is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. While it often refers to full political secession, separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy...
, both before and during the Ethiopian Civil War
Ethiopian Civil War
The Ethiopian Civil War began on September 12, 1974 when the Marxist Derg staged a coup d'état against Emperor Haile Selassie, and lasted until the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front , a coalition of rebel groups, overthrew the government in 1991. The war overlapped other Cold War...
. The war started when Eritrea’s autonomy within Ethiopia, where troops were already stationed, was unilaterally revoked. Eritrea had become part of Ethiopia after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, when both territories were liberated from Italian occupation. Ethiopia claimed that Eritrea was part of Ethiopia, especially wanting to maintain access to the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
. Following the Marxist-Leninist coup in Ethiopia in 1974 which toppled its ancient monarchy, the Ethiopians enjoyed Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
support until the end of the 1980s, when glasnost
Glasnost
Glasnost was the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s...
and perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
started to impact Moscow’s foreign policies, resulting in a withdrawal of help. The war went on for 30 years until 1991 when the Eritrean People's Liberation Front
Eritrean People's Liberation Front
The Eritrean People's Liberation Front was an armed organization that fought for the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia. It emerged in 1970 as an intellectual left-wing group that split from the Eritrean Liberation Front .-Background:...
(EPLF), having defeated the Ethiopian forces in Eritrea, took control of the country. In April 1993, in a referendum
Eritrean independence referendum, 1993
An independence referendum was held in Eritrea between 23 and 25 April 1993. The result was 99.83% in favour, with a 93.9% turnout. Independence was declared on 27 April.-Results:-By area:...
supported by Ethiopia, the Eritrean people voted almost unanimously in favor of independence. Formal international recognition of an independent and sovereign Eritrea followed later the same year. The two main rebel groups, the Eritrean Liberation Front
Eritrean Liberation Front
The Eritrean Liberation Front was the main independence movement in Eritrea which sought Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia during the 1960s and 1970s. In the very late 1950s unorganized political movement seeking independence was secretly active as small cells...
(ELF) and the Eritrean People's Liberation Front
Eritrean People's Liberation Front
The Eritrean People's Liberation Front was an armed organization that fought for the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia. It emerged in 1970 as an intellectual left-wing group that split from the Eritrean Liberation Front .-Background:...
(EPLF) fought two Eritrean civil wars
Eritrean Civil Wars
The Eritrean Civil Wars were two conflicts that were fought between competing organizations for the liberation of Eritrea.The First Eritrean Civil War was fought from 1972 to 1974. The Eritrean Liberation Front tried to suppress dissident groups that disliked the ELF leadership and wished to break...
during the war of liberation.
Background
The Italians colonised EritreaEritrea
Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...
in 1890. In 1935, Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
was added to their colonial empire, which they called Italian East Africa
Italian East Africa
Italian East Africa was an Italian colonial administrative subdivision established in 1936, resulting from the merger of the Ethiopian Empire with the old colonies of Italian Somaliland and Italian Eritrea. In August 1940, British Somaliland was conquered and annexed to Italian East Africa...
. Italian Somaliland
Italian Somaliland
Italian Somaliland , also known as Italian Somalia, was a colony of the Kingdom of Italy from the 1880s until 1936 in the region of modern-day Somalia. Ruled in the 19th century by the Somali Sultanate of Hobyo and the Majeerteen Sultanate, the territory was later acquired by Italy through various...
was also part of that entity. There was a unified administration. Liberated by Allied troops in 1941, Italian East Africa was sub-divided. Ethiopia regained independence. Italian Somaliland remained under Italian rule until 1960 but as a United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
protectorate, not a colony, when it united with British Somaliland
British Somaliland
British Somaliland was a British protectorate in the northern part of present-day Somalia. For much of its existence, British Somaliland was bordered by French Somaliland, Ethiopia, and Italian Somaliland. From 1940 to 1941, it was occupied by the Italians and was part of Italian East Africa...
, also granted independence in 1960, to form the independent state of Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
. Eritrea was made a British protectorate from the end of World War II until 1951. However, there was debate as to what should happen with Eritrea after the British left. The British proposed that Eritrea be divided along religious lines with the Christians to Ethiopia and the Muslims to Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
. This however caused great controversy.
Revolution
During the 1960s, the Eritrean independence struggle was led by the Eritrean Liberation FrontEritrean Liberation Front
The Eritrean Liberation Front was the main independence movement in Eritrea which sought Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia during the 1960s and 1970s. In the very late 1950s unorganized political movement seeking independence was secretly active as small cells...
(ELF). The independence struggle can properly be understood as the resistance to the annexation of Eritrea by Ethiopia long after the Italians left the territory. At first, this group factionalized the liberation movement along ethnic and geographic lines. The initial four zonal commands of the ELF were all lowland areas and primarily Muslim. Few Christians joined the organization in the beginning, fearing Muslim domination. After growing disenfranchisement with Ethiopian occupation, highland Christians began joining the ELF. Typically these Christians were part of the upper class or university-educated. This growing influx of Christian volunteers prompted the opening of the fifth (highland Christian) command. Internal struggles within the ELF command coupled with sectarian violence among the various zonal groups splintered the organization.
The war started on 1 September 1961 when Hamid Idris Awate
Hamid Idris Awate
Hamid Idris Awate was an Eritrean independence leader and the creator of the Eritrean Liberation Army .-Early Life:...
and his companions fired the first shots against the occupying Ethiopian Army and police. In 1962, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia unilaterally dissolved the federation and the Eritrean parliament and annexed the country.
Struggle
In 1970 members of the group had a falling out, and several different groups broke away from the ELF. During this time, the ELF and the groups that later joined together to form the Eritrean People's Liberation FrontEritrean People's Liberation Front
The Eritrean People's Liberation Front was an armed organization that fought for the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia. It emerged in 1970 as an intellectual left-wing group that split from the Eritrean Liberation Front .-Background:...
(EPLF) fought a bitter civil war. The two organizations were forced by popular will to reconcile in 1974 and participated in joint operations against Ethiopia.
In 1974, Emperor Haile Selassie was ousted in a coup. The new Ethiopian government, called the Derg
Derg
The Derg or Dergue was a Communist military junta that came to power in Ethiopia following the ousting of Haile Selassie I. Derg, which means "committee" or "council" in Ge'ez, is the short name of the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, a committee of...
, was a Marxist military junta
Military dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a form of government where in the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
, which eventually came to be controlled by strongman Mengistu Haile Mariam
Mengistu Haile Mariam
Mengistu Haile Mariam is a politician who was formerly the most prominent officer of the Derg, the Communist military junta that governed Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987, and the President of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia from 1987 to 1991...
. With this change of government, Ethiopia came under the influence of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
Many of the groups that splintered from the ELF joined together in 1977 and formed the EPLF. By the late 1970s, the EPLF had become the dominant armed Eritrean group fighting against the Ethiopian government. The leader of the umbrella organization was Secretary-General of the EPLF Ramadan Mohammed Nur, while the Assistant Secretary-General was Isaias Afewerki
Isaias Afewerki
Isaias Afewerki is the first and current President of Eritrea, attaining that status when he led the Eritrean People's Liberation Front to victory in May 1991, thus ending the 30-year old armed liberation struggle that the Eritrean people refer to as "Gedli".-Early life and rise to power:Afewerki...
. Much of the equipment used to combat Ethiopia was captured from the Ethiopian Army.
During this time, the Derg could not control the population by force alone. To supplement its garrisons, forces were sent on missions to instill fear in the population. An illustrative example of this policy was the village of Basik Dera in northern Eritrea. On 17 November 1970, the entire village was rounded up into the local mosque and the mosque's doors were locked. The building was then razed and the survivors were shot. Similar massacres took place in primarily Muslim parts of Eritrea, including the villages of She'eb, Hirgigo
Arkiko
Arkiko is a town in the Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea. Situated on the Red Sea, it lies on the mainland across from the island of Massawa.-Overview:...
, Elabared, and the town of Om Hajer; massacres also took place in predominately Christian areas as well.
Battle of Massawa (1977)
The Battle of Massawa took place from 1977 to 1978 in and around the coastal city of Massawa in Eritrea...
. Between 1978 and 1986, the Derg launched eight major offensives against the independence movements, and all failed to crush the guerrilla movement. In 1988, with the Battle of Afabet
Battle of Afabet
The Battle at Afabet was a watershed battle in the Eritrean War of Independence. The Battle occurred from March 17 through March 20, 1988 in and around the town of Afabet. This was Mengistu Haile Mariam's first humiliating defeat at the hands of the Eritreans....
, the EPLF captured Afabet
Afabet
-Overview:Afabet is the capital of the Afabet district.The site of a major battle in the Eritrean War of Independence, the city is still surrounded by trenches but has been largely rebuilt.-References:*...
and its surroundings, then 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
Keren, Eritrea
Keren is the second largest city in Eritrea. It is situated about 91 kilometers northwest of Asmara. The town serves as the capital of the Anseba region, and is home to the Bilen ethnic group.-History:...
, Eritrea's second-largest city. Meanwhile, other dissident movements were making headway throughout Ethiopia.
Throughout the conflict Ethiopia used "anti-personnel gas", napalm
Napalm
Napalm is a thickening/gelling agent generally mixed with gasoline or a similar fuel for use in an incendiary device, primarily as an anti-personnel weapon...
, and other incendiary devices.
At the end of the 1980s, the Soviet Union informed Mengistu that it would not be renewing its defense and cooperation agreement. With the cessation of Soviet support and supplies, the Ethiopian Army's morale plummeted, and the EPLF, along with other Ethiopian rebel forces, began to advance on Ethiopian positions.
Recognition
After the end of the Cold War, the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
played a facilitative role in the peace talks in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
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
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
, leaving a caretaker government in Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
. A high-level U.S. delegation also was present in Addis Ababa for the July 1–5, 1991 conference that established a transitional government in Ethiopia. Having defeated the Ethiopian forces in Eritrea, the EPLF attended 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. The referendum
Eritrean independence referendum, 1993
An independence referendum was held in Eritrea between 23 and 25 April 1993. The result was 99.83% in favour, with a 93.9% turnout. Independence was declared on 27 April.-Results:-By area:...
helped in April 1993 when the Eritrean people voted almost unanimously in favour of independence and this was verified by the UN Observer Mission to Verify the Referendum in Eritrea (UNOVER). On 28 May 1993, the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
formally admitted Eritrea to its membership. Below are the results from the referendum:
| Region | Do you want Eritrea to be an independent and sovereign country? | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes | No | uncounted | ||
| Asmara Asmara Asmara is the capital city and largest settlement in Eritrea, home to a population of around 579,000 people... |
128,443 | 144 | 33 | 128,620 |
| Barka Barka (Eritrea) Barka was a province of Eritrea until 1996, when it was divided between present day Gash-Barka and Anseba regions. Its capital was Agordat.... |
4,425 | 47 | 0 | 4,472 |
| Denkalia Denkalia Denkalia was a province of Eritrea until 1996, when it was divided between present day Northern Red Sea and Southern Red Sea regions. Its capital was Assab.... |
25,907 | 91 | 29 | 26,027 |
| Gash-Setit Gash-Setit Gash-Setit is a designated national wildlife reserve and historical area of western Eritrea. It is located in much of Omhajer District and Haykota District south west of Haykota between the market town of Tesseney in the Gash-Barka region. The name is derived from the two rivers, the Gash and the... |
73,236 | 270 | 0 | 73,506 |
| Hamasien Hamasien Hamasien was the name of an histoical province including and surrounding Asmara, now part of modern Eritrea. The region has been divided and distributed amongst the modern Maekel, Debub, Northern Red Sea, Gash-Barka and Anseba regions.... |
76,654 | 59 | 3 | 76,716 |
| Akkele Guzay Akkele Guzay Akkele Guzay was a province in the interior of Eritrea until 1996, when the newly independent government of Eritrea consolidated all provinces into six regions. Akkele Guzay's population predominantly consisted of followers of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church. Traditionally being part of the... |
92,465 | 147 | 22 | 92,634 |
| Sahel Sahel The Sahel is the ecoclimatic and biogeographic zone of transition between the Sahara desert in the North and the Sudanian Savannas in the south.It stretches across the North African continent between the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea.... |
51,015 | 141 | 31 | 51,187 |
| Semhar Semhar Semhar is the name of an area near the Red Sea Province of Eritrea, which has now become almost incorporated into the Northern Red Sea Region of Eritrea and Massawa was the capital city of the province. The population is mainly Tigre and Saho. The Tigre & Arabic languages are mainly spoken... |
33,596 | 113 | 41 | 33,750 |
| Seraye | 124,725 | 72 | 12 | 124,809 |
| Senhit Senhit Senhit was a former province of Eritrea until 1996, when it was absorbed into the present day Anseba region. Its capital was Keren.... |
78,513 | 26 | 1 | 78,540 |
| Freedom fighters | 77,512 | 21 | 46 | 77,579 |
| Sudan Sudan Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the... |
153,706 | 352 | 0 | 154,058 |
| Ethiopia Ethiopia Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2... |
57,466 | 204 | 36 | 57,706 |
| Other | 82,597 | 135 | 74 | 82,806 |
| % | 99.79 | 0.17 | 0.03 | |
See also
- Eritrean Civil War
- List of massacres committed during the Eritrean War of Independence
Further reading
- Country profile: Eritrea BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
4 November 2005 - Ethiopia Eritrea Independence War 1961–1993
- Eritrean War for Independence