The struggle for national liberation in
ERITREA
Sudan. Out of three groups which split from the ELF in 1969, two joined together in April 1970 to form the Eritrean People's Liberation Front
To begin with the EPLF was very small and had to contend, not only with the Ethiopian army, but also the ELF (whose leadership named itself
ELF-Revolutionary its twenty-fifth year which launched the first of two civil wars against it in 1972. The conservative Arab states which backed the
ELF (RC) were terrified of the in-
IN THE midst of the barrage of media reporting on the appalling drought and famine in Ethiopia, one aspect of the region's politics has been almost totally ignored - that of the wars being waged against the Ethiopian regime by the Sidamo and Oromo ethnic groupings inside Ethiopia, by the Tigreans in Tigre province, and by the
Eritreans in what is currently the province of Eritrea. (1) The latter war is now in its twenty-fifth year, making it the longest running war on the continent. The Eritrean revolution has, against all odds, been developing rapidly, a fact which probably accounts for the continued wall of silence from most of the world press. The author of the following article has recently returned from working on an education project in the country.
PAUL WORCESTER
The Eritrean fight for the right to self-determination goes back a long way and involved a struggle against both Italian and British imperialism.
Economically and socially, developed in a radically direction from the rest of Ethiopia colonisation of this former Ethiopian territory had been formally recognised in 1889.
British defeated the Italians and administered until 1952. They were supposed to of the allied powers, but they pushed their own plan forward - partition between the Sudan, which they ruled, and Ethiopia. Britain was in the powerful position the Sudan, and Aden [now South
Yemen], plus
Ethiopia. Control of the Suez Canal, the Red Sea and thereby the trade routes to India and the Far East were
British imperialism's main
Given that Eritrea occupied such a strategic position on the Red Sea, with a 1,500 kilometre coastline, plus the only two ports between Sudan and present day Djibouti, imperialism the luxury of could not
Eritrean independence, political parties
All the Eritrean favoured a unified Eritrea and were to partition even though some wanted union with Ethiopia, others independence and others an trusteeship. Since the powers (Britain, the USSR, the USA and France) could not agree among themselves on Eritrea's future, the issue finally went to the United eventual outeome of the United Nations discussion federation. Nevertheless according to institutions, tradition, religions, and as well as the widest posof self-government'. What actually
1962 Eritrea annexed to
The Eritrean Liberation Movement Severe repression led many Eritrean workers to emigrate to the Sudan and
These exiles founded Front (ELF). Egypt's Nasser welcomed the Muslimdominated front, and provided mililine was unclear, and discipline very weak. No attempts were made develop a programme on such crucial issues as land reform, and there was no internal democracy under Idris Mohammed Adem's dictatorial leadership. New members from among the young educated Eritreans of the urban centres reacted against this, and they were persecuted and expelled but not before the Ethiopian army had launched a devastating military offensive which drove tens of thousands of Eritrean peasants into exile in the creasingly revolutionary policies of the
Tensions developed EPLF itself, and an opposition group was expelled in 1975. Following this the EPLF's foreign bureau Osman Salih Sabbe, signed an unauthorised unity agreement with the ELF in 1976, and was expelled. He set up the Eritrean Liberation Front - People's Liberation Forces (ELF-PLF). The rift important issue; Sabbe was worried
EPLF's Marxist alienate support the conservative states. The EPLF, on the other hand, did not trust the ELF and its backers, political independence, even if that meant losing the support of countries who might have otherwise supported it.
Until 1981 the ELF (RC) and the considerable influence with the former having substantial great concern from the Arab states at the increasing Soviet, and Cuban, involvement in Ethiopia. They pressurised the EPLE, ELF and ELF-PLF to unite in considering an autonomous Eritrea as part arrangement with Ethiopia. EPLF refuse to compromise
The EPLF could not agree with their framework for this. Their conditions for negotiations were that the Dergue [the military body ruling Ethiopia] must agree to "resolve the Eritrean question peacefully and begin negotiations without pre-conditions." They opposed regional autonomy and demanded that negotiations should be held with the "joint supreme leadership" of the ELF and EPLF.
It became clear to all that the EPLF would not compromise its political line, and since 1981 intense efforts have been made by the conservative Arab states to unity the non-
1. Tigre is in the North of Ethiopia. In 1983/4 the Tigrean People's Liberation Front has made some important advances. Other liberation movements include the Oromos, the Afars and the Somalis. International Viewpoint 9 December 1985
/ Addis Ababa
EPLF factions. Early this year a without much It remains the case that the various their shifting backers [in the region] to continue their diplomatic activities, the case of the the BPLE, possible. A positive development took
1982 when oppositionists among the ELF who had been driven into the Sudan by the EPLF in 1981 formed a new body, the ELF (Central Command), with the name meaning "We shall return". After discussions with the BPLF, they returned Eritrea and carried out joint activities with the EPLF, whilst maintaining their own organisation. At the time further talks have taken place between the a complete merger seems likely.
acknowledges unspecified support from the Somali government, at war with the Dergue over the huge disputed Ogaden region of southern Ethiopia. The Sudanese government tolerate EPLF presence the Sudan and use of Sudanese territory to transport supplies from Port Sudan into Eritrea, although there have been talks between the Dergue and the new Sudanese regime. The Dergue would like to see Sudan close Port Sudan to the Eritrean Relief Association for the importing of food aid; this would be a big blow, and could only be overcome by expensive camel trains across the extensive border. In return, the that it would stop supplying the Sudan People's
Army led by Colonel John Garang in the South, which is fighting for some form of indepen-
The EPLA, the military wing of
However the almost totally conscript Ethiopian army, with its many demoralised recruits, inflict a long term defeat on the highly
Recent very large shipments artillery and from the Soviet Union have probably replaced those lost to EPLA forces over the past 18 months. One third of the Dergue's budget is spent on it owes the Eastern bloc three billion dollars. ratio is one of the highest in the world in a country whose national income per head is only 111 dollars, making it one of the world's poorest.
Strategic interests are behind the
Union's blank toward the Dergue. It has no other ally bases on the Eritrean Red Sea islands are crucial for its Indian Ocean fleet, with the Red Sea also providing access to the Indian Ocean and beyond for all Soviet ships based at the Black Sea bases. The Soviet Union has switfrom actively supporting the Somali government against the Ethiopians up till 1977, (and supporting Eritrean independence in the 1950s and 1960s) to being the Dergue's principal backer, and ruthlessly supporting it against the Eritreans.
The position of Cuba is that until 1975 the Cubans provided training facilities for the Eritrean liberation movements. This support for Eritrean self determination changed, however, 0 miles 200 after 1977, when Cuba sent several thousand troops to Ethiopia to assist in the Ogaden war, once the USSR had switched sides away from Somalia. Castro refused to commit Cuban troops to Eritrea, saying that Eritrea was an internal Ethiopian problem which needed a political solution, not a military one. However, •this position contains grave problems. Cuban troops are highly trained and disciplined; by stationing several thousand in Ethiopia, this released the equivalent number of crack Ethiopian troops (a rare commodity) to fight against the Eritreans. This is why the EPLF, whilst acknowledging the domestic gains of the Cuban revolution, are highly critical of their presence in Ethiopia. The programme of the EPLF
The ELF's programme has concentrated on land reform; women's rights; literacy and education; and health care. Land reform efforts are aimed at redistributing land from landlords and the rich peasantry. In one area captured from the ELF in 1981, all previously landless people have received land with areas set aside for communal cultivation. However, the drought and famine have wreaked havoc, and many peasants in the drought areas have been put in temporary displacement camps, with the Eritrean Relief Association (linked the EPLF, now operates at division
Keren Massawa level, and in terms of experience and strategy is somewhat exceptional for a non professional army.
now controls about
75-80% of Eritthe EPLA defeated 20,000 Ethiopian troops in a 49-hour battle on the
Red Sea coast, taking 3,000 prisonand followed this up in April of that year with a commando raid on
•
Asmara •
Kassala
E R
SUDAN
/ GONDAR
A
TIGRE
Assabs the Dergue's force at Asmara
ETHIOPIA airport, destroying 33 planes and helicopters. In its current new offensive, the Dergue has withdrawn troops from Tigre and the East and, as well
Djibouti
WOLLO as attacking the EPLA, has carried out large scale bombings against the local peasantry, maintaining its scorched earth policy of driving the peasantry off the land in terror and thus trying to weaken the EPLF's support base.
GOJAM
SHOA
The recent retaking by Ethiopian forces of Tessenei also constitutes a big, hopefully temporary, setback.
International Viewpoint 9 December 1985
HARER
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SOMALI WOLLEGA
International Viewpoint 9 December 1985
EPLF literacy of integrating the at women's rights cadres having mittee; and of Mass sion. However,
15,000 students curricula are underway camps.
barrier to rooms, as ighted
14 first ing
Youth as are women,
There are also massive
Village nomads is the route
Eritrea roads
45% of particiincluding have been an extremely
Sections of the ed in ivities aimed at hostile male victory, are
EPLE's aircraft.
slow.
Aid the
It is from
Port
200-250 about distance kilometres one four days take can displaced to reach of the some
Until this whole camps.
number.
Eritrea starved of aid
Aid in
May 1984 within economy that aid was witheld which developed to Ethiopia), caused by the extension of
Eastern bloc and very firmly priorities.
the to of tegi for internationally, and and
If done, place
(although then rapidly overcome.
November.
xpects further
Dergue, the pting to destthe two lara,
Mitsiwa, and
Dergue ich the out is carried settlement, to discuss
Addis
EPLF, what masses class be must