Editing History of Eritrea (section)

==War for independence==
{{main|Eritrean War of Independence}}
[[Image:Ethiopia and Eritrea attatched (Derg, PDR).png|thumb|right|Map of Eritrea attached to Ethiopia]]
Militant opposition to the incorporation of Eritrea into Ethiopia had begun in 1958 with the founding of the [[Eritrean Liberation Movement]] (ELM,{{langx|ar|حركات تحرير إريتريا}} (Movements for liberation of Eritrea), {{langx|ti|ማህበር ሸውዓተ}} ''Mahber showate'' (Association of Seven)), an organization made up mainly of students, intellectuals, and urban wage laborers. The ELM, under the leadership of the [[Eritrea]]n 
[[Hamid Idris Awate]], engaged in clandestine political activities intended to cultivate resistance to the centralizing policies of the imperial Ethiopian state. By 1962, however, the ELM had been discovered and destroyed by imperial authorities.

Emperor [[Haile Selassie]] unilaterally dissolved the Eritrean parliament and illegally  annexed the country in 1962. The war continued after Haile Selassie was ousted in a coup in 1974. The [[Derg]], the new Ethiopian government, was a [[Marxist]] military [[military dictatorship|junta]] led by [[strongman (political)|strongman]] [[Mengistu Haile Mariam]].

In 1960 Eritrean exiles in [[Cairo]] founded the [[Eritrean Liberation Front]] (ELF), which led the Eritrean independence struggle during the 1960s. In contrast to the ELM, from the outset the ELF was bent on waging armed struggle on behalf of Eritrean independence. The ELF was composed mainly of Eritrean Muslims from the rural lowlands on the western edge of the territory. In 1961 the ELF's political character was vague, but radical Arab states such as [[Syria]] and [[Iraq]] saw Eritrea as a predominantly Muslim region struggling to escape Ethiopian oppression and imperial domination. These two countries therefore supplied military and financial assistance to the ELF.

The ELF initiated military operations in 1961 and intensified its activities in response to the dissolution of the federation in 1962. By 1967 the ELF had gained considerable support among peasants, particularly in Eritrea's north and west, and around the port city of [[Massawa]]. Haile Selassie attempted to calm the growing unrest by visiting Eritrea and assuring its inhabitants that they would be treated as equals under the new arrangements. Although he doled out offices, money, and titles mainly to Christian highlanders in the hope of co-opting would-be Eritrean opponents in early 1967, the imperial secret police of Ethiopia also set up a wide network of informants in Eritrea and conducted disappearances, intimidations and assassinations among the same populace driving several prominent political figures into exile. Imperial police fired live ammunition killing scores of youngsters during several student demonstrations in Asmara in this time. The imperial army also actively perpetrated massacres until the ousting of the Emperor by the Derg in 1974.
[[File:Eritrean Independence War.gif|thumb|left|Map of the [[Eritrean War of Independence]]]]
By 1971 ELF activity had become enough of a threat that the emperor had declared [[martial law]] in Eritrea. He deployed roughly half of the Ethiopian army to contain the struggle. Internal disputes over strategy and tactics eventually led to the ELF's fragmentation and the founding in 1972 of the [[Eritrean People's Liberation Front]] (EPLF). The leadership of this multi-ethnic movement came to be dominated by leftist, Christian dissidents who spoke Tigrinya, Eritrea's predominant language. Sporadic armed conflict ensued between the two groups from 1972 to 1974, even as they fought Ethiopian forces.  By the late 1970s, the EPLF had become the dominant armed Eritrean group fighting against the Ethiopian Government, and [[Isaias Afewerki]] had emerged as its leader. Much of the material used to combat Ethiopia was captured from the army.

By 1977 the EPLF seemed poised to drive the Ethiopians out of Eritrea. However, that same year a massive airlift of [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] arms to Ethiopia enabled the Ethiopian Army to regain the initiative and forced the EPLF to retreat to the bush. Between 1978 and 1986 the Derg launched eight unsuccessful major offensives against the independence movement. In 1988 the EPLF captured [[Afabet]], headquarters of the Ethiopian Army in northeastern Eritrea, putting approximately a third of the Ethiopian Army out of action and prompting the Ethiopian Army to withdraw from its garrisons in Eritrea's western lowlands. EPLF fighters then moved into position around [[Keren, Eritrea|Keren]], Eritrea's second-largest city. Meanwhile, other dissident movements were making headway throughout Ethiopia. At the end of the 1980s the Soviet Union informed Mengistu that it would not renew its defense and cooperation agreement. With the withdrawal of Soviet support and supplies, the Ethiopian Army's morale plummeted, and the EPLF, along with other Ethiopian rebel forces, began to advance on Ethiopian positions. In 1980 the [[Permanent Peoples' Tribunal]] determined that the right of the Eritrean people to self-determination does not represent a form of secession.<ref name="TheEritreanCase">
{{cite conference
|title= Proceedings of the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal of the International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples
|book-title= Session on Eritrea|publisher=Research and Information Centre on Eritrea
|year=1984|location=Rome, Italy}}</ref>

===Provisional Government and People's Front for Democracy and Justice===
[[File:Asmara panorama, Eritrea.jpg|thumb|right|A view over [[Asmara]] ]]
The [[United States]] played a facilitative role in the peace talks in [[Washington, DC|Washington]] during the months leading up to the May 1991 fall of the Mengistu regime. In mid-May, Mengistu resigned as head of the Ethiopian Government and went into exile in [[Zimbabwe]], leaving a caretaker government in [[Addis Ababa]]. Having defeated the Ethiopian forces in Eritrea, EPLF troops took control of their homeland. Later that month, the United States chaired talks in [[London]] to formalize the end of the war. These talks were attended by the four major combatant groups, including the EPLF.

Following the collapse of the Mengistu government, Eritrean independence began drawing influential interest and support from the United States.  [[The Heritage Foundation|Heritage Foundation]] Africa expert Michael Johns wrote that "there are some modestly encouraging signs that the front intends to abandon Mengistu's autocratic practices."<ref>[http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r102:E06MY2-393: "Does Democracy Have a Chance?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823083654/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r102:E06MY2-393: |date=2013-08-23 }} by Michael Johns, ''The World and I'' magazine, August 1991 (entered in ''The Congressional Record'', May 6, 1992).</ref>

A high-level U.S. delegation was also present in Addis Ababa for the July 1–5, 1991 conference that established a transitional government in Ethiopia. The EPLF attended the July conference as an observer and held talks with the new transitional government regarding Eritrea's relationship to Ethiopia. The outcome of those talks was an agreement in which the Ethiopians recognized the right of the Eritreans to hold a referendum on independence.

Although some EPLF cadres at one time espoused a Marxist ideology, Soviet support for Mengistu had cooled their ardor. The fall of [[communist]] regimes in the former Soviet Union and the [[Eastern Bloc]] convinced them it was a failed system. The EPLF expressed its commitment to establishing a democratic form of government and a free-market economy in Eritrea. The United States agreed to provide assistance to both Ethiopia and Eritrea, conditional on continued progress toward democracy and human rights.

In May 1991 the EPLF established the Provisional Government of Eritrea (PGE) to administer Eritrean affairs until a referendum was held on independence and a permanent government established. EPLF leader Afewerki became the head of the PGE, and the EPLF Central Committee served as its legislative body.

Eritreans voted overwhelmingly in favor of independence between 23 and 25 April 1993 in a UN-monitored [[Eritrean independence referendum, 1993|referendum]]. The result of the referendum was 99.83% for Eritrea's independence. The Eritrean authorities declared Eritrea an independent state on 27 April 1993. The government was reorganized and the National Assembly was expanded to include both EPLF and non-EPLF members. The assembly chose Isaias Afewerki as president. The EPLF reorganized itself as a political party, the [[People's Front for Democracy and Justice]] (PFDJ).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tesfanews.net/revisiting-eritrea-historic-1993-referendum/|title=A Look Back on Eritrea's Historic 1993 Referendum|date=23 April 2018|access-date=3 May 2021|archive-date=3 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503140034/https://tesfanews.net/revisiting-eritrea-historic-1993-referendum/|url-status=dead}}</ref>