Tuesday, May 24, 2011
On May 24, 1993, Eritrea formally declares its independence from Ethiopia after a succession referendum, thus ending a 40-year struggle for freedom. The struggle goes back to the end of World War II, when a 1952 United Nations resolution federates Eritrea with Ethiopia, ignoring Eritrea’s aspirations for independence. Ten years later, Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie unilaterally dissolves the Eritrean Parliament, and annexes the country as a province, sparking Eritrea’s fight for independence. Eritrea had been part of the Ethiopian Kingdom of Aksum in the 8th century. As the kingdom declined, Eritrea became part of the Ottoman Empire.
Last month, Eritrea criticized Ethiopia’s new stance on relations between the two countries as “pure aggression and a declaration of war.” The statement came in response to an April 15 announcement by the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry indicating increased support for Eritrean rebels seeking to overthrow the government of President Isaias Afewerki. In February, the Ethiopian government said it thwarted an attempt to bomb an African Union summit in Addis Ababa and accused Eritrea of backing the terrorist plot. The two countries fought a bloody war from 1998 to 2000 over border demarcation that left over 70,000 dead, according to the International Crisis Group. Both impoverished countries spent millions of dollars on weapons and warplanes to support the war effort.
