History
Brief geo-political history of Eritrea
Eritrea is one of the newest and most promising nations in
Africa. Eritrea recently fought and won one of the longest wars in the world.
Following thirty years of bitter armed struggle, Eritrea gained total national
independence and became self-governing in 1991 in a stunning defeat of the
occupying Ethiopian forces which also helped liberate Ethiopia from the
Soviet-backed Ethiopian Regime, Mengistu’s Derg, the last in a series of
forceful hindrances (10-years of British occupation, coerced federation with
Ethiopia, and the subsequent 30-years of forceful annexation by Ethiopia) to
its legitimate quest for de-colonization.
Like all African countries as we know
them today, Eritrea was established definitively as a separate Nation State as
a result of Colonialism: End of Feudalism and ethnic territorialization, and
the emergence of Nation States and National identity. There existed no Nation
States or countries in Africa prior to the advent of Colonialism (The Scramble
for Africa).
Eritrea was first established as a Nation
State by Italian Colonialism together with its sister Italian colonies of
Somalia and Libya. At the end of Italian colonialism and at the time when the
fate of former Italian colonies was decided, Somalia and Libya were granted
national independence while the question of the Italian colony Eritrea remained
unresolved because of the geo-political and strategic significance of Eritrea to
the global strategy of The Arabian Peninsula, where 2/3 of world oil reserves
lied. Hence, Eritrea was denied national independence; instead Eritrea was
transferred by the colonial powers to British colonialism for the period 1941 –
1951. At the end of British colonialism, in light of the strategic
significance, and against the expressed will and wishes of the people of
Eritrea, the UN decided in 1952 to federate Eritrea with Ethiopia for a period
of 10 years, at the end of which the people of Eritrea would be given a chance
to decide over their political fate via a referendum. In 1962, with the silent
consent of the UN and USA, and again against the expressed will of the people
of Eritrea, Ethiopia unilaterally dissolved the “Federation”, forcefully annexed
Eritrea and declared it to its 14th province, similar to the way
Iraq attempted to annex Kuwait and declare it to its province in 1991.
In fact, according to colonialists’
agreements at “The Conference of Berlin (1884-1885)”, annexing a territory,
putting up occupier’s flag, effective administration, and defense of the
territory meet the requirements for a colonial territory. That is what Ethiopia
accomplished in Eritrea. Faced with the deaf ears of the international
community, the USA and the UN, Eritrea was left with the only option of waging
a 30-year war for national independence and self-government, which was
effectively attained in 1991. The referendum of 1993 was nothing but a pro
forma and a sheer diplomatic courtesy to bring “formal”closure to the UN
resolution that forcefully federated Eritrea with Ethiopia, [UNGA Res.390 A
(V)].
Geography: Eritrea occupies a strategic
position along the world’s busiest shipping lanes and the Middle East oil
fields, and is also a major factor in the stability of the socio-politically
volatile region of the Horn of Africa. Eritrea is borderd to the North and West
by Sudan; South by Ethiopia; South-East by Djibouti, and to the North-East by
the Red Sea.
