Eritrean Civil Wars

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Eritrean Civil War

Part of the Eritrean War of Independence

Map of Eritrea

Date	February 1972 - 1974-10-13 February 1980 - 1981-03-24
Location	Eritrea
Result	ELF defeat

Belligerents

ELF

EPLF

Commanders

Unknown

Isaias Afewerki

Strength

Recent conflicts in the Horn of Africa

Eritrean War of Independence – Eritrean Civil War – Ethiopian Civil War – Ogaden War – 1982 Border War - Somali Civil War – Djiboutian Civil War – Insurgency in Ogaden - Hanish islands crisis – Eritrean-Ethiopian War – OEF-Horn of Africa - Ethiopian war in Somalia

The Eritrean Civil Wars^[1] were a combination of two conflicts that were fought between competing organizations for the liberation of Eritrea. From 1972 to 1974 and continued from 1980 to 1981. The earlier conflict was between the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) and the groups that would become the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), namely the two branches of the Popular Liberation Forces (the Ala and Shaebia) and Obel. The final conflict resulted in the defeat of the ELF and their withdrawal from the theater.

1 Background
2 First Civil War
3 Second Civil War
4 References
5 See also

[edit] Background

In 1952 Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia under great domestic controversy. Throughout the federation the autonomy of Eritrea was whittled away until it was no longer legal to teach in all of Eritrea's tongues. With increasing divisiveness being sown in the local press between Christians and Muslims the ELF was formed in Cairo, Egypt by a number of Eritrean Muslim intellectuals in 1960.

This organization was socialist in nature however, attracted mostly Muslim fighters in the early 1960's. By the late 1960's however, the frustration with the dissolution of the federation had pushed Eritrean Christians to join the fight for Independence. Integration of Christian fighters under Muslim commanders did not go well and the regional emphasis of the ELF caused friction between the old guard and the new radical students.

This friction lead to the separation of parts of ELF from the ELF Command, sparking a military conflict. In the words of the ELF command, the purpose of the conflict was, "...to assert the continuation of the revolution through the liquidation of counter-revolution..."^[2]

[edit] First Civil War

The First Civil War^[3] was fought by the ELF against the nascent organizations of the Popular Liberation Forces that were formerly under the command of the ELF and the Obel group. Fighting began in February of 1972 and spread through lowlands, particularly the Red Sea coast. Eventually this conflict spread further into the highlands until in 1974 calls for the conflict to stop were finally heeded. These calls for peace came from local villagers at a time when the independence movement was close to victory over Ethiopia.^[4]

[edit] Second Civil War

The Second Civil War^[3] was executed by the EPLF against the ELF in a bid to protect the flanks of the Front under tremendous pressure from a resurgent Ethiopia. In 1980 the ELF had entered into secret negotiations with the Soviet Union to end the war. Furthermore, on defense of the Sahel stronghold of the EPLF, ELF units withdrew from the lines in August of the same year.^[5] This created tremendous friction between the fronts which eventually led to the resumption of conflict. By this point the ELF had been drained during the Ethiopian resurgence after Soviet assistance was leveraged, and were eventually defeated by the EPLF forces in 1981. They were pushed across the border into the Sudan.^[6]^[5]

[edit] References

^ Cousin, Tracey L.. Eritrean and Ethiopian Civil War. ICE Case Studies. Retrieved on 2007-09-03.
^ "Liquidation of Counter-Revolution" (1973). The Eritrean Struggle (3): 8.
^ ^a ^b Pool, David (2001-12-01). From Guerrillas to Government: The Eritrean People's Liberation Front. Ohio University Press. ISBN 0821413872.
^ Harris, Paul. "Eritrea: A Small War in Africa". Combat & Survival 10 (7): October 1998.
^ ^a ^b Killion, Tom (1998). Historical Dictionary of Eritrea. ISBN 0-8108-3437-5.
^ "Eritrea—Hope For Africa’s Future" . Kurdistan Report 9 (10): 1996.