The Eritrean Long March: The Strategic Withdrawal of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF), 1978–1979

Abstract:This article explores the health service provided by the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) during the Eritrean Liberation War, and its political dimensions and implications. The EPLF used healthcare to define itself politically against its rivals and to penetrate communities. It aimed to incorporate population groups into the struggle, to inculcate EPLF ideology, and to transform the national community. EPLF practitioners were most successful when they cooperated with existing structures of power. The progressive, dynamic, and transformative nature of the healthcare system is inextricable from the coercion sometimes used to achieve the ideals of the EPLF, and the way in which healthcare became an instrument of biopolitical control.

Eritrea has had an unusually difficult recent past, and one of the lesser-acknowledged outcomes of the country’s travails is that its historical trajectory has been neglected by scholars in favor of presentist concerns with the incumbent regime. Joseph L. Venosa’s Paths toward the Nation: Islam, Community, and Early Nationalist Mobilization in Eritrea, 1941–1961 is a refreshing and innovative exception to that trend, a powerful exemplar of the insights which can be provided by sustained, cogent, and indeed courageous historical research into the most complex and shadowed of places. In Eritrea, the historical horizon has been dominated for a generation by the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) and its vision of the evolution of the nation, with a particular—if understandable—fixation with the era of the armed struggle against Ethiopia (1961–1991). The prevailing narrative describes how the EPLF, whose leadership was drawn mostly from the Christian highlands, fulfils Eritrea’s national destiny through its reorganization of the armed struggle and its achievement of independence. The EPLF’s victory sanctioned its right to govern the new nation, apparently in perpetuity. Other actors have been written out of the script. Venosa reassesses—and forcefully rehabilitates—the role of Islam in the nationalist movement of the 1940s and 1950s, and the social and political mobilization achieved by the Muslim League as a vanguard nationalist party against a backdrop of Ethiopian aggression and annexation. He argues, compellingly, that Muslim activists were pioneers of the nationalist movement, and in so doing, he has made a hugely important contribution to the history of Eritrea, and that of the wider Horn of Africa.

Health effects of the war have been identified since it ended in May 1991, including thousands of persons killed in new ethnic clashes and in insecure areas in southern Ethiopia. Severe epidemics of malaria, typhus, relapsing fever and AIDS have also been reported in 1991, and famine conditions persist in the war-torn country. Three major effects of the war on government health services in Ethiopia since the revolution have been reduced per capita health spending, damage to and destruction of health facilities as well as interruption of services, and development of separate health services by the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) and Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). The development of separate health services by the EPLF in Eritrea and by the TPLF in Tigray was a response to the oppressive Haile Selassie and Mengistu governments. Refugees and displaced populations are particularly vulnerable to malnutrition and infectious diseases.

Eritrea looks back on a long history of colonialism, occupation and military conflicts which have always found expression in the performing arts. Of particular importance remains the war of independence against Ethiopia (1961–91), which broke out in response to mounting Ethiopian domination in the 1950s and 1960s. After half a century of Italian colonialism (1890–1941) followed by a British Military ‘care-taker’ Administration (BMA, 1941–52), Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia in 1952 as the result of a UN resolution. Her constitutionally guaranteed autonomy, however, was systematically undermined by the Ethiopian crown until the country was annexed to Ethiopia in 1962 as an ordinary province. The already-fraught political situation was complicated still further in 1974 when Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie was ousted, and eventually killed, by a Marxist military junta known as the Derg. Eritrean opposition became ever more radical and resulted in a ferocious 30-year liberation struggle, with the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) and the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) as the two major liberation movements. Both used performance as a tool for entertainment, propaganda and nation-building, but also to boost morale and develop stamina in the protracted battle for sovereignty and survival.

Eritrea, the youngest sub-Saharan African nation, became a sovereign state in 1993 after a thirty-year war for national liberation, which has become known as the longest liberation struggle in Africa. The Eritrean people resisted the Ethiopian occupation by peaceful means until 1 September 1961. On that day the revolutionary vanguard, under the direction of the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), decided to begin the armed struggle, with martyr Hamed Idris Awate as its leader. They numbered twelve people, with only ten old Italian rifles. By 1965 the ELF had about 1,000 fighters in the field. In 1970 the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) emerged as an intellectual left-wing group that split from the ELF after large numbers of Christian highlanders had joined its ranks. By 1976 the ELF and EPLF had a combined force of 20,000 troops. They were making significant advances in controlling the rural and less populated regions of the country. The Christian-dominated EPLF and the mainly Muslim ELF struggled among themselves in a contested civil war (1972-74 and 1981), which ended after the EPLF had crushed its mother organization, the ELF, in 1981. The EPLF succeeded in liberating the country in 1991.1Given the historical background of Eritrea, this chapter analyses diversity issues in the Eritrean armed forces in the context of two phases: during the liberation war (1961-93) and after independence (1993-2004). This is because the legacy of the Eritrean liberation struggle has considerably affected the current Eritrean armed forces. For each phase, diversity will be dealt with in terms of ethnicity and gender. In particular, the integration of women in the armed forces has drawn much attention as a cause celebre within the war for independence. Besides ethnicity and gender, religion will be touched upon in this chapter as well, albeit more briefly. After each of the two descriptive analyses, a number of general conclusions will be drawn. The chapter will be rounded off with an afterword that briefly assesses the present state of civil-military relations in Eritrea.

The Eritrean state is born out of thirty-year liberation struggle. Following the demise of Italian colonialism, instead of exercising the right to self-determination and decolonisation, it was forcibly tied with Ethiopia through UN-sponsored federation. The Emperor Haile Selassie aborted the federation that was put in force in 1952, just after ten years, in 1962. The Eritreans embarked on protracted liberation war in 1961 to exercise the right of self-determination. Thirty years of bloody war against twenty times bigger enemy, supported, first by the USA and later by the USSR, ended when the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF), victoriously marched into Asmara the capital of Eritrea in May 1991, wiping out the 2nd Division of the Ethiopian army based in Eritrea. After two years of interim period, popular referendum was held and with resounding, yes vote, Eritrea became de jure independent in 1993.

Civil wars that end in rebel victory follow distinct war-to-peace transitions compared to the more often analyzed cases of negotiated settlement and internationally supported peacebuilding. In many cases, strong authoritarian parties dominate post-war politics insurgent triumph. Four cases in East Africa illustrate this pattern. The victorious Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF), Uganda’s National Revolutionary Army (NRA), and Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), all remade themselves into authoritarian parties that dominated post-conflict politics. How is war termination by rebel victory linked to post-conflict authoritarian regimes? This paper proposes a mechanism that explains this pattern that emphasizes characteristics of the insurgent movement and the distinct characteristics of transition following victory.

The Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF), which successfully brought about the country’s independence, was expected by the overwhelming majority of the country’s citizens to build a democratic state that liberates and transforms society. As the authors of this book note, many observers also saw the country* during the early years of its independence as a promising “model of African renaissance”.Roughly two decades later, however, Eritrea is widely regarded as one of the most repressive authoritarian states in the world.

The Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), and by extension the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the multi-ethnic coalition that it established and still dominates, is frequently considered to be a creation of, and beholden to, the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front (EPLF). From this perspective the foreign loyalties of the TPLF made it an unsuitable, if not illegitimate, movement to lead the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE) in 1991, and since 1995, the newly created Federal Democratic Republic. By way of contrast, this article attempts to demonstrate that the developing relationship between the TPLF and the EPLF during the course of their respective revolutionary struggles has been far more problematic and beset with tensions than critics are either aware of, or acknowledge, and that an understanding of their nature casts light on present and possible future differences between the respective regimes of Ethiopia and Eritrea.

During nearly three decades of struggle, the Eritrean People’s LiberationFront (EPLF) appeared to represent a model of a new kind of national-ism that was built from the bottom up by women and men together.EPLF was exemplary in terms of breaking down gender barriers in anumber of key respects. For one thing, while women in many othersocial movements participated as supporters, auxiliaries, or irregulars,in EPLF, women were integrated into the ranks as bona fide fighters intheir own right. Thus, Eritrean women, perhaps as none others beforethem, participated extensively and intensively in the armed strugglealongside Eritrean men. EPLF fighters appeared to transcend gender, asmen and women performed the same tasks and lived communally ascomrades in mixed units. EPLF, moreover, was far more than simply amilitary organization; it was an incipient state, organized into variousdepartments that carried out numerous functions aside from that ofwaging war.

Eritrea's image in the early 1990s as a peaceful and well-ordered state was coloured by the euphoria of independence following a military victory over the formidable army of Ethiopia. Against all odds, the country seceded in 1991 and attained international recognition in 1993. Emphasis on self-reliance reliance and hard work made it easy to overlook the ingrained authoritarianism and basic intolerance of the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front (EPLF) leadership. Eritreans and foreign observers believed the promise made by the victorious guerilla leadership that Eritrea would learn the lessons of post-colonial African history and would not repeat its mistakes. The EPLF, renamed the Popular Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ) in February 1994, reiterated this promise so frequently and eloquently that even the most cynical of persons was inclined to hope Eritrea would be spared the nightmare of dictatorship.

This paper reflects on the ways in which Eritrea has been written about since circa 2001, the point at which the country entered a new phase of heightened authoritarianism and increased international isolation. It considers the ways in which Eritrea has been seen largely in “presentist” terms, due in no small way to the Eritrean government’s own intrinsic hostility to independent historical research, with an overwhelming fixation on its dire human rights and governance record, and on the nature of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF), which governs in all but name. The paper urges a more historical approach, beginning with the critical three decades that preceded the emergence of the EPLF in the early 1970s.

Italy was the colonial ruler from 1890 until 1941 when Eritrea fell to British forces. A British protectorate ended in 1952 when the UN sanctioned federation with Ethiopia. In 1962 Ethiopia became a unitary state and Eritrea was incorporated as a province. Eritreans began an armed struggle for independence under the leadership of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) which culminated successfully in the capture of Asmara on 24 May 1991. Thereafter the EPLF maintained a de facto independent administration recognized by the Ethiopian government. Sovereignty was proclaimed on 24 May 1993. In 1999 fighting broke out along the border with Ethiopia, following a series of skirmishes the previous year. After the failure of international mediation, the 13-month long-truce between Eritrea and Ethiopia ended in May 2000. Ethiopia launched a major offensive. In June both sides agreed to an Organization of African Unity peace deal.

Italy was the colonial ruler from 1890 until 1941 when Eritrea fell to British forces and a British protectorate was set up. This ended in 1952 when the UN sanctioned federation with Ethiopia. In 1962 Ethiopia became a unitary state and Eritrea was incorporated as a province. Eritreans began an armed struggle for independence under the leadership of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) which culminated successfully in the capture of Asmara on 24 May 1991. Thereafter the EPLF maintained a de facto independent administration recognized by the Ethiopian government. Sovereignty was proclaimed on 24 May 1993. In 1999 fighting broke out along the border with Ethiopia. After the failure of international mediation, the 13-month long-truce between Eritrea and Ethiopia ended in May 2000. Ethiopia launched a major offensive in the ongoing war over territorial disputes and claimed victory. In June both sides agreed to an Organization of African Unity peace deal to end the two-year border war.KeywordsTerritorial DisputeMain PortArmed StruggleEthiopian GovernmentBorder DisputeThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Italy was the colonial ruler from 1890 until 1941 when Eritrea fell to British forces and a British protectorate was set up. This ended in 1952 when the UN sanctioned federation with Ethiopia. In 1962 Ethiopia became a unitary state and Eritrea was incorporated as a province. Eritreans began an armed struggle for independence under the leadership of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) which culminated successfully in the capture of Asmara on 24 May 1991. Thereafter the EPLF maintained a de facto independent administration recognized by the Ethiopian government. Sovereignty was proclaimed on 24 May 1993. In 1999 fighting broke out along the border with Ethiopia. After the failure of international mediation, the 13-month long-truce between Eritrea and Ethiopia ended in May 2000. Ethiopia launched a major offensive in the ongoing war over territorial disputes and claimed victory. In June both sides agreed to an Organization of African Unity peace deal to end the two-year border war.