Why did Eritrea become independent?

Résumé du document

In 1993, the whole world was impressed by the state-of-the-art independence of Eritrea. Everything seemed to have been done by the rules : a declaration of independence in 1991, a notification to the UN and a referendum two years later. Being the last war of independence of Africa, it is tempting to assume that Eritreans would learn the lessons from the past and present themselves from adopting an authoritarian, post-independence regime such as the FLN in Algeria. However, the current situation contradicts such an optimistic prediction : since 1993 the same president (Isaias Afewerki) and the same party (Popular Front for Democracy and Justice) are in power. There is indeed a national assembly, but since Eritrea's independence the elections have always been postponed. Eritrea is considered one of the worst countries concerning freedom of the press, and seems to contribute to destabilization in East Africa.

Extraits

[...] Those measures, unacceptable for both the population and the political elites, put the moderates in an awkward spot, between collaboration and clandestineness, and give impetus to nationalist movements. The Ethiopian authoritarianism dashes the unionist hopes of equality and economic development, especially after a tremendous famine in The violation of Eritrea political and social specificities fuels an overwhelming feeling of resentment, even among the partisans of the unionist party, which had put forward the Eritrean specificity within the Ethiopian federation and begins to formulate harsh criticisms. The turning point in this reversal of the Eritrean opinion is 1958[6], when occurs a large scaled general strike. [...]

[...] First, it eradicates definitively its rival ELF, which split up after 1982 and is compelled to withdraw its fighters from Eritrea to the neighbouring Sudan. Managed by exile leaders, the ELF is left without any military apparatus. Secondly, it gains a sweeping victory in 1988 when some of its commando fighters take control of Afabet, headquarters of the Ethiopian army in Northern Eritrea, and then move to Keren, the second largest city of Eritrea, making 4 soviet generals prisoners and destroying several soviet leased airplanes. These first landslide military victories show the extreme efficiency of EPLF military strategists. [...]

[...] Furthermore, the Eritrean state would have had its own administrative and judicial structures, as well as a flag. Control over domestic affairs, including police, local administration and local taxation fuelling its own budget, would have been exercised by an elected Eritrean assembly of 68 members, made up of equal numbers of Christians and Muslim, on the parliamentary model. This legal framework would have protected the Eritrean specificity and certainly soften or even stifle any claim for independence or any attempt to develop a nationalist stance. [...]

[...] When Mussolini decided to invade Ethiopia, economic development programs were inaugurated as a part of war preparation, with special stress on improving the Massawa harbour and on enlarging the road network. With the arrival of a large number of Italian invasion troops, Asmara and other towns underwent considerable expansion. The best Italian colonial troops were the Eritrean A lot of Italian settled in Asmara and some areas of the city started to be built by Italian architecture. The colony's most important function was to serve as a strategic base for Italian interests. [...]

[...] In fact the British were not neutral at all in this issue. Then the United States managed to get round the reports of the Eritrea Commision which were favourable to the independence of Eritrea and, as expected, the United Nations general assembly picked up the American project, that is to say a federation of Eritrea with Ethiopia, on the 2nd december of 1950. Following the United Nations plebiscite in 1950, the resolution 390 was adopted to have Eritrea enter into a federation with Ethiopia in 1952. [...]