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Eritrea---Waiting for the World to Act
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16294 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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3 / 1989 |
2,581 Words |
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Aradom Tedla
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The loneliest war in Africa, which has been fiercely fought in Eritrea for over a century, surfaced in the U.S. media in March 1988, when more than 18,000 Ethiopian troops were captured or killed in Afabet. The capture of three high-ranking Soviet military staff highlighted the success of the Eritrean guerrillas and confirmed the participation of the Moscow military.
Furthermore, the hideous government order that international relief agencies leave the area and stop distributing food to the drought-affected people in Eritrea and Tigre placed a famine-stricken population of more than three million at immediate risk of death by starvation. The Washington Times correctly headlined its editorial response, "Ethiopia's Auschwitz."
In their vigorous protest and condemnation of this order, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and UNICEF representatives warned the world of the scorched-earth policy that the Ethiopian army was preparing to launch. Ethiopian troops have also engaged in mass arrests, extra judicial execution of detainees, and worst of all, massacre of civilians and carpet bombing of villages.
The latest mobilization for total war against Eritrea comes as the culmination of 27 years of war, intensified by massive military offensives in the last 14 years, since the Soviet-backed government seized power. These years have caused incalculable loss of lives and property destruction. This proves beyond any doubt that the Eritrean conflict cannot be solved by military intransigence but must be resolved through a peaceful political solution.
Historically, Eritrea has been occupied by a number of foreign powers. In the sixteenth century, the key port of Massawa and its coastal plain along the Red Sea were part of the Ottoman Empire. As the Ottoman Empire declined in power in the nineteenth century, control of this territory was yielded to Egypt in 1865.
During their rule the Egyptians extended their control to the lowlands and part of the plateau. In the meantime, the Italians bought sovereignty of the port city of Assab from the sultan of that area. In 1885, the Italian government took Massawa from Egypt and later occupied all of the Eritrea. In 1890 Eritrea became an Italian colony. Eritrea's status as a colony was recognized by Menelik II, the then-ruling emperor of Ethiopia, who was receiving arms and money from Italy to expand his empire southward in the Oromo region. Immediately after his decisive 1896 victory against Italian troops in Adua, a mere 40 miles from the Eritrean border, Menelik stopped his advancing troops, reconfirming Italy's sovereignty in Eritrea.
With the defeat of Italy in World War II, the future of its three former colonies--Libya, Somalia, and Eritrea--was decided by the United Nations. Libya and Somalia gained their independence, but Eritrea's demand for independence was rejected. Instead, a U.S.-sponsored solution was adopted. This called for a federation with Ethiopia under the imperial crown of Ethiopia, effective in September 1952.
Ten years later, all local rights and powers of the Eritrean government were abrogated by the Ethiopian government in favor of direct rule from Addis Ababa. The Eritreans at first reacted with peaceful protests and rallies. When these proved ineffective,
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