Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Democracy
Simmering Ethnic Conflicts: Ethiopia and Eritrea
Italian Colonialism
•	Treaty of Addis Ababa (1896)
–	Signed by Ethiopian Emperor Manelik II 
–	Recognized the Italian territory in Eritrea
–	Expanded Italy’s territory in the region
–	With the signing of this treaty the Italians broke the cultural link between Eritreans and Ethiopians 
•	They created the Eritrean ethnic group
•	Increased in the second half of the 1930s
•	Mussolini’s army defeated the Ethiopian forces
–	This expanded Italian territory
–	That victory led to the acquisition of the northern Tigre province
–	It doubled the size of the Italian territory
•	British North African battles
–	British drove the Italians out of Eritrea and Ethiopia
World War II Aftermath
•	End of World War II
–	Allied Powers failed to come to an agreement on Eritrea
–	US initially proposed a collective trusteeship of the Allied Powers over Eritrea for a decade
–	The proposal would grant Ethiopia access to the Red Sea
–	After the 10-year period, Eritrea would be granted sovereignty
•	The USSR opposed the idea
–	Why?
•	In 1948, the United States changed its position on the issue
•	Instead, it offered support to Ethiopia in its acquisition of Eritrea in return for some favors:
–	i.e.: the U.S. was granted access to airfields and ports in the areas of Asmara and Massawa
•	The UN annexed Eritrea to Ethiopia
–	The UN passed a resolution that asserted that Eritrea should “constitute an autonomous unit federated with Ethiopia under the sovereignty of the Ethiopian crown”
•	Why was this supported by the US and Western Powers?
Two Significant Isms
•	Pan-Africanism:
–	An ideological movement led by Ethiopian Emperor Heile Selassie
–	It called for a coerced African unity
•	Pan-Ethiopianism: 
–	A guiding ideology of Emperor Selassie’s vision of expanding Ethiopia’s post-colonial borders to secure control over Eritrea 
The Federation
•	Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia
–	Authoritarian ruler
–	Ignored Eritrea’s democratic constitution 
–	Stripped the province of its powers (1956)
•	By 1962, 
–	Eritrean political autonomy ended
–	The region was fully incorporated under the Ethiopian government
Unified Ethiopia
•	In 1974
–	Union of progressive forces and Muslim peoples attempted to overthrow the emperor
–	Ethiopian armed forces created a coordinating council that became known as “The Dergue”
•	It became a provisional military government 
•	It took control of the country
•	It replaced Selassie regime
Ethiopia under the Dergue
•	Leader: 
–	Colonel Mengistu Heile Mariam
–	He was able to maintain the Dergue’s power until 1991 by playing off ethnic groups against each other
•	Main Focus of the Dergue:
–	Fight Eritrean secessionism 
Eritrean Secessionist Forces
•	Two main groups:
–	Eritrean People’s Liberation Front
–	Eritrean Liberation Front
•	Began coordinating resistance struggle when Colonel Mariam resumed a military assault on the separating region
Ethiopia and Soviet support
•	Because of Colonel Mengistu’s Marxist credentials, the USSR offered to support him
•	The growing dependence of the Dergue on help from the USSR sped the internationalization of the Ethiopian conflict 
Ethiopia’s Collapse

•	Two key developments brought down the Dergue
–	The loss of the USSR as a patron
–	A deal struck between the six main rebel groups
Eritrea’s Independence 
•	Two reasons why they were able to gain independence:
–	Capture of Asmara, the Eritrean capital
–	Seizure of the two main ports of Assab and Massawa
•	Allowed the rebel forces to satisfy a major criteria for  diplomatic recognition:
–	Exercising de facto control over the territory to which they lay claim
Eritrea’s Referendum
•	Independence referendum
–	About 1.2 million Eritreans registered to vote for the referendum held in 1993
–	Voters gave an overwhelming endorsement of independence in the referendum 
•	Officially announced as 99.8 percent
–	Member of  Organization of African Unity (OAU) as its 52nd member 
–	Observer in Arab League (2003)
Building Eritrea
•	President Issais Afwerki’s priorities
–	Building a democratic system 
–	Ensuring political stability
•	To the point that Afwerki said that he would call off the election if it seemed the type of government that would destabilize the young state
•	Sudanese conflict effect
–	It showed how quickly divided communities could resort to war:
•	Thus, holding an election could prematurely polarize the population in Eritrea
•	But:
–	Outbreak of hostilities with Ethiopia in 1998 persuaded Afwerki to indefinitely postpone elections
War: Ethiopia vs. Eritrea
•	Border dispute
–	Conflict began with an exchange of fire over a sliver of borderland, with the Eritrean army attacking first
–	Ethiopia still relatively weak
–	Ethiopia was on the defense and quickly accepted a peace plan proposed by the OAU
–	Eritrea rejected the peace plan
•	Ethiopia began to gain strength
–	Eritrea accepted the peace plan 
–	Ethiopia was no longer interested 
•	For two years, the countries waged an intermittent war
–	Neither side gained much territory, but many soldiers were killed in
skirmishes 
•	May 2000
–	Ethiopia launched an invasion 
–	Eritrea was overwhelmed
–	Ethiopia had established a foothold in Eritrean territory by the end of the month and agreed to cease fire
–	Approximately 120,000 deaths
–	Cost $1 million a day
Today
•	Eritrean and Ethiopian border remains undemarcated
–	UN peacekeepers on the border
•	UNMEE
–	Ethiopia has violated the UN border
•	Eritrea and the US
–	US supports Eritrea’s work in the War on Terror
–	But, Eritrea allows Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys protection in Eritrea
•	The Sheikh is an Islamicist opposition leader in Somalia