Abstract
Contrariamente à vasta maioria de Estados africanos, que adquiriram independência por meio de processos de descolonização de potências coloniais europeias, a Eritreia obteve a condição de Estado independente ao se retirar formalmente de um Estado africano soberano já estabelecido. Tal evento representa um desenvolvimento político memorável na África pós-colonial devido a ao menos duas razões: (i) foi a primeira vez que um movimento de secessão obteve sucesso na sua busca por independência; (ii) a luta por independência ocorreu em meio a um contexto continental particularmente hostil ao surgimento de novos Estados. Baseando-se em fontes de dados qualitativos secundários, o presente estudo examina a secessão da Eritreia contra o pano de fundo acadêmico que enfatiza o contexto social, político e econômico no qual as lutas secessionistas ocorrem. Argumenta-se que a secessão bem-sucedida da Eritreia se baseia na intersecção entre a política doméstica e a política global, combinando fatores como as históricas e legais reivindicações por autodeterminação territorial da região, as políticas de alienação do Estado de origem, a efetividade das estratégias operadas pelos movimentos de secessão, o fim da Guerra Fria, bem como o papel de apoio desempenhado pela superpotência vitoriosa do referido conflito. O estudo também adiciona novas e sistemáticas contribuições ao debate acerca dos determinantes para a secessão bem-sucedida na África pós-colonial.
Highlights
Secessionist conflicts are not a novel occurrence in the African continent
The discussion proceeds in the following manner: the first section provides a theoretical overview of secession; the second section reflects on the root-causes of secessionist demands in Africa; the third section looks at the political geography and history of Eritrea; the fourth section describes the dynamics of secessionist alienation and armed resistance in Eritrea; while the final section expounds on the determinants of Eritrea’s successful secession
To this end three main strategies were implemented: firstly, the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front’s strategies (EPLF) reframed the nature of its armed struggle from anti-colonial war to a war for the exercise of the right to self-determination (Negash 1997:163); secondly, the EPLF issued a referendum document stating that Eritreans should be given the option to choose from one of the three alternatives: a) union; b) federation within a regional autonomy framework; or, c) independence; thirdly, the EPLF sought African support for Eritrean self-determination pointing to parallelisms between Eritrea and the historical and legal arguments used the to justify the cases for Namibia and Western Sahara’s independence
Summary
Secessionist conflicts are not a novel occurrence in the African continent. Since the dawn of independence in the 1960s, a number of countries have been home to rebellions involving marginalized communities or ethno-linguistic groups demanding territorial separation from existing states with the goal to create new independent states. Nental framework that was hostile to the emergence of new states outside the colonial context (Troco 2018, 55)3 From this perspective, this study contributes to debates on the determinants of successful secessions with particular reference to the African continent. Its central argument is that the successful outcome of the secessionist struggle in Eritrea is the result of a tight combination of domestic and external factors These include Eritrea’s historical and legal claims for territorial self-determination, the Dergue’s policies of alienation, the effectiveness of the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front’s strategies (EPLF), the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, and the supportive role of the United States of America. The discussion proceeds in the following manner: the first section provides a theoretical overview of secession; the second section reflects on the root-causes of secessionist demands in Africa; the third section looks at the political geography and history of Eritrea; the fourth section describes the dynamics of secessionist alienation and armed resistance in Eritrea; while the final section expounds on the determinants of Eritrea’s successful secession
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