Roger Rabbit
10-05-2004, 04:28 AM
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/images/er-map.gif
History of Eritrea
Between 1000 and 400 BC, a semitic group of people known as the Sabeans crossed the Red Sea into the region known as present Eritrea, and intermingled with the Hamitic inhabitants who had migrated from the northern Sudan. The region was then controlled by various foreign invaders such as the Axumite kingdom, the Funji Sultans of Sudan, the Egyptians, the Portugese and the Turks. Each of these foreign occupiers had a distinct impact on the development of present day Eritrea as a nation and in the formation of an Eritrean identity.
The former Italian colony of Eritrea was merged into Ethiopia in a federal arrangement brokered by the UN in 1952 and incorporated fully into Ethiopia ten years later. An Eritrean Liberation Front emerged in exile in 1958 and later evolved into the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF). The EPLF led the fight against the communist government of Haile Mengistu Mariam which took control of Ethiopia from the Emperor Haile Selassi in 1974. After a decade of changing fortunes for both the Government and the EPLF, the guerrillas finally expelled government forces from Eritrea in early 1991.
The Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, which led the final assault which overthrew the Mengistu regime in 1991, was armed and trained by the EPLF, although relations between the two have not always been good. In 1992 the EPLF-controlled Provisional Government of Eritrea announced a referendum over the future status of the area. With 99.8% support registered in favour of independence at a UN-supervised referendum in April 1993, the EPLF made arrangements to move to full nationhood, which was declared the following month.
The EPLF inaugurated a 4-year transition period leading to a pluralistic political system and the establishment of a basic infrastructure to govern (state departments, legal system, banks and finance), as well as political parties to contest the eventual elections. The general secretary of the EPLF, Issaias Afewerki, became the President of the republic, and in February 1994, the EPLF reconstituted itself as the People's Front for Democracy and Justice. The government's principal task was the reconstruction of the economy. But things have not run smoothly, even for Eritrea's resourceful people.
Eritrea also entered into costly shooting wars with both Yemen and Djibouti. But by far the most serious threat to long term stability is the unexpected and catastrophic breakdown in relations with neighbouring Ethiopia. The two countries signed a number of economic and security agreements soon after independence, and relations were good - a legacy of the historical affinity between the EPLF and the Tigrayans who dominate the Ethiopian government. Fighting broke out between the two countries in May 1998, ostensibly over minor land disputes and border incursions each claimed against the other. However, Ethiopia is known to be unhappy with Eritrea's introduction of its own currency (the nakfa) in 1997; and Eritrea for its part voices fears that its hard-won independence might be infringed by an expansionist Ethiopia.
A truce brokered by US and Italian mediators brought the fighting to a temporary halt at the end of 1998, but further clashes - if anything more serious than before - have taken place during the spring and summer: tens of thousands of casualties were reported after one battle in June. Again, foreign mediation, this time involving the Algerian government, brought this spell of fighting to a halt. However, the fundamentals of the conflict, which are little understood by outsiders - one Western observer described it as "two bald men fighting over a comb" - were unresolved. In April 2000, heavy fighting resumed once again and an estimated half a million Eritreans were displaced. The conflict remains, it seems, not only inexplicable but intractable.
The 24th of May 1993, brought in the dawn of a new era for the Eritrean people. Having won the right to define their own future, they voted for Independence in a referendum held from the 23rd-25th of April 1993. On the 27th of April 1993, the Independent Eritrean Referendum Commission, the United Nations Observer Mission for the Eritrean Referendum (UNOVER), the OAU, the Arab League, the Non - Aligned Movement, the National Citizens Monitoring Group and numerous individual observers were unanimous in their conclusion, that the referendum had been unequivocally free and fair. In the words of the then Provisional Government of Eritrea (PGE) Secretary General; Issaias Afwerki; the referendum was "a delightful and sacrosanct historical conclusion to the choice of the Eritrean people. And although it has been decided that formal independence will be declared on 24 May 1993, Eritrea is a sovereign country as of today." (27 April 1993).
The Independence of Eritrea and its territorial sovereignty was immediately recognised by the world. Membership of the United Nations was granted in August 1993. In 1997 the Government established a temporary Constituent Assembly; and on May 23 adopted the Constitution, authorising political pluralism and instituting a presidential regime, with a President elected for a maximum of two five year terms. The President would appoint a Prime Minister and judges of the Supreme Court. A transitional National Assembly was empowered to act as the legislature until such time as legislative elections could be held.
http://www.africatravelling.net/eritrea/asmara/asmara_history.htm
History of the Eritrea-Ethiopian War
When Eritrea, formally a province of Ethiopia, gained its independence in 1993, after a long guerrilla war, parts of the border was never fixed with maps and surveying markers. It has always been in dispute, but a war broke out in May 1998 in a dispute about the exact location of their border. Ethiopia and Eritrea are fighting over an inconsequential piece of real estate. But it is highly charged with symbolism as the two nations sort out their relationship after a 20-year war that ended with Eritrea breaking off from the larger nation.
The war between Ethiopia and Eritrea has echoes of World War One in its bloody stalemate and trench warfare. Tens of thousands of people have been killed. The fighting has been going on, with some interruptions, for the better part of two years, and involves relatively sophisticated weaponry. Each side has some jet fighters that have attacked the other, and US television regularly shows long-range artillery of the two armies pounding each other. The border war has claimed the lives of an estimated 40-thousand soldiers, and has dragged down the economies of both countries. More than 300-thousand troops remain dug-in and deadlocked along an 800-kilometer front. All civilians in the area have fled, leaving the armies to fight over empty villages. A peace plan brokered by the Organization of African Unity has failed to stop the conflict, which is affecting the entire Horn of Africa.
Eritrean separatism had its roots in World War II. In 1941, in the Battle of Keren, the Allies drove Italian forces out of Eritrea, which had been under Italy's rule since the end of the nineteenth century. Administration of the region was then entrusted to the British military until its fate could be determined by the Allies. Britain, however, sought to divide Eritrea along religious lines, giving the coast and highland areas to Ethiopia and the Muslim-inhabited northern and western lowlands to British-ruled Sudan. In 1952 the United Nations (UN) tried to satisfy the demand for self-determination by creating an EritreanEthiopian federation. In 1962, however, Haile Selassie unilaterally abolished the federation and imposed imperial rule throughout Eritrea. In January 1974, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) handed Haile Selassie's forces a crushing defeat at Asmera, severely affecting the army's morale and exposing the crown's ever-weakening position.
On 29 May 1991, ISAIAS Afworki, secretary general of the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), which then served as the country's legislative body, announced the formation of the Provisional Government in Eritrea (PGE). Eritrea became an independent state on 24 May 1993, following an internationally monitored referendum in which citizens voted overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia. The Eritrean People's Liberation Front, which led the 30-year war for independence, has controlled the country since it defeated Ethiopian armed forces in 1991. With independence from Ethiopia on 24 May 1993, Eritrea faced the bitter economic problem of a small, desperately poor African country. The economy is largely based on subsistence agriculture, with over 70% of the population involved in farming and herding. The 30-year war for independence from Ethiopian rule left some 30 perccnt of all Eritrean households headed by women. Approximately 200 persons were injured or killed during 1998 in incidents involving unexploded ordinances including land mines. There are an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 land mines in the country, mostly laid by Ethiopia during the 1961-1991 war in which Eritrea fought for independence.
In May 1998 fighting broke out between Eritrean armed forces and Ethiopian militia along the border, in response to the movement of Eritrean forces into territory previously administered by Ethiopia. Eritrea responded to an escalating military conflict by calling up reserves and increasing its armed forces to approximately 100,000 to 120,000 soldiers. Eritrea and Ethiopia exchanged artillery fire and engaged in air attacks leading to numerous civilian casualties. In June 1998 Eritrean forces bombed the Ethiopian town of Mekele and killed 47 civilians, including children. In June 1998 and again in November 1998, Eritrean forces fired artillery shells at the Ethiopian town of Adrigat, killing six persons and wounding several others. By the end of 1998 approximately 250,000 Eritreans had been internally displaced as a result of the conflict with Ethiopia. At the outbreak of the war, Ethiopia detained and deported Eritreans and Ethiopian citizens of Eritrean origin. By the end of 1998, a total of 45,000 such persons of an estimated total population of up to 400,000 had left Ethiopia for Eritrea; the vast majority were deported. The nationality of Eritrean-origin Ethiopians had never been settled since the independence of Eritrea in 1993.
The heaviest fighting of 1999 came in February, when Ethiopia made a push to take the border town of Badame. Troops backed by jet fighters, tanks, and heavy artillery attacked Eritrean positions. Casualties were high, the dry, rocky terrain offering little cover, but Ethiopia did recapture the town. In March, there were more battles around the town of Zalambesa, but no clear winner.
Despite the massive weapons build-up, the fortified trenches, the harsh rhetoric, both countries insist they did not want this war, and each country blames the other for continuing it. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says his country wants peace, but accuses Eritrea of acting irrationally. Eritrea's president, Isays Afeworki, says Ethiopia is continuing the war to humiliate the Eritreans.
Regional groups have tried to mediate an end to the conflict. The Organization of African Unity spent months drawing up a peace plan, and negotiators shuttled between Addis Ababa and Asmara trying to persuade the two governments to agree to its terms. The OAU plan calls for both sides to pull back their troops, with international monitors controlling the disputed areas while a border commission draws up a new map.
At first it was Eritrea which rejected the accord, saying it did not want to withdraw from any territory. But shortly after the fighting at Badame, Eritrea said it would accept the OAU plan, and negotiators turned their attention to getting both countries to agree to a cease-fire. That ceasefire never happened. Minor skirmishes continue on the border, and each country accuses the other of using foreign mercenaries and mistreating refugees.
In September 1999, Ethiopia withdrew its support for the OAU plan. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said there could be no agreement unless land administered by Ethiopia before the outbreak of the war was returned to its control.
With the OAU plan on hold, and Ethiopian and Eritrean forces stalemated on the front, the conflict has spread into neighboring countries. Fighters from the Ethiopian rebel group, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), based themselves in parts of Somalia controlled by faction leader Hussein Aideed. Eritrea helped supply Mr. Aideed's fighters with weapons and training, and the OLF made raids on Ethiopia from their Somali bases. In retaliation, Ethiopia earlier this year sent some of its forces into southern Somalia to support groups hostile to Mr. Aideed.
In November 1999, the Ethiopian government and Mr. Aideed made a deal. He agreed to force the OLF out of Somalia, and Ethiopia agreed to withdraw its troops. The OLF has shut its office in Mogadishu, but there is some question as to whether it has actually disbanded and left Somalia.
The Eritrean Islamic Salvation (EIS), a small Sudan-based insurgent group, has mounted terrorist attacks in north and west Eritrea since 1993. Both Eritrea and Ethiopia have been critical of Islamic groups from Sudan, but the war with Eritrea has prompted Ethiopia to mend its relations with the government in Khartoum. Eritrea has condemned the new alliance, saying Ethiopia is encouraging opponents to the current Asmara government who operate out of Sudan.
Experts say perhaps the most damaging aspect of the war is the devastation it is causing to the economies of the two countries. As of early 1998 some 67 percent of Eritrea's external trade was with Ethiopia. The end of the use of the Ethiopian Birr note and the introduction of the new Eritrean currency "Nakfa" at the end of 1997r was a deliberate decision by the Eritrean leadership to take charge of their own monetary policy. Food purchases are a serious drain on Eritrea's limited foreign exchange reserves. Eritrea requires 600,000 to one million metric tons of cereal grains annually. In a good year, Eritrea is able to meet nearly one fourth of its food needs; imports from Ethiopia fill much of the rest of the shortfall.
Refugees from both countries are flooding into cities, trade is down, and military expenditures are up. But for now it appears both countries are determined to continue the war despite the costs.
The most recent fighting resumed on 11 May 2000 when the Ethiopian forces made a major advance and captured a key border town inside what was considered to be Eritrean territory.
In May 2000 Washington suggested a full arms embargo on the two countries, in the hope of starving their arsenals. Russia and China are skeptical of sanctions. Russia has urged continued diplomacy, which hasn't worked. Because Ethiopia rejected a UN deadline to resume peace talks, the United States would, as part of the sanctions, ban Ethiopian government officials from traveling outside their country. Eritrea accepted the UN offer, but whether that was out of a genuine desire to end the fighting or the need to buy time after recent setbacks is hard to say. A peace agreement was signed on December 12, 2000 between Ethiopia and Eritrea putting an end to their two-year border war.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/eritrea.htm
Past British involvement in Eritrea
Battling the Shifta in Eritrea
1948-1951
In 1941, the Italians were defeated by a British Commonwealth force in this small east African country sandwiched between Sudan and Ethiopia. The British army garrisoned the country from this point until independence.
The Shifta's were mainly bandits robbing travelers in the remote parts of the country; some Shiftas were defending their villages against other Shiftas. Some were politically motivated some were not.
The 2nd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment, moved to Eritrea in April 1948. While in Eritrea the battalion lost an officer and a soldier killed in battles with the Shiftas and a dozen others were wounded, while patrolling the rocks and hills of Eritrea. The Battalion was based at Keren, and staying in Eritrea until May 1949 when the battalion was disbanded and the troops departed to join the newly amalgamated 1st Battalion in Cyprus in August 1951.
No.39 (1PRU) squadron deployed to Eritrea in August 1947 supporting the British Army against the Shifta groups before moving to Fayid, Egypt in October 1947.
97 Company, RASC, moved to Eritrea in 1948 where it was based at Asmara supporting the Headquarters of RASC. The Company was equipped with Bedford 3-ton trucks and was deployed in the mountains operating against the Shiftas. The Company was withdrawn and disbanded when Ethiopia became independent.
The South Wales Borderers arrived in Eritrea on 4th January 1950, and participated in operations against the Shiftas until they left on 16th September 1952.
On 21st February 1950, British troops garrisoning Eritrea were deployed to assist hard-pressed local police as Muslims and Christians clashed in a bloody riot following the death of a minor Muslim official. At least eleven were killed and fifty wounded in the riot.
On 31st July, a British corporal was killed in an ambush near Obel by a band of about 40 Shiftas, who supported the union of Eritrea with Abyssinia. On the same day, a British firing squad executed Abraham Wolderfield, who had been convicted by a British General Court of the murder of two Italians and two Eritreans.
Eritrea became self-governing in September 1952.
http://www.britains-smallwars.com/RRGP/Shifta.html
I find it quite interesting that many of the places around the world that Britain has troops in or an interesting in have at some point had a past link with Britain.
The UN's role in Eritrea
Eritrea was born in a referendum held from 23 to 25 April, with the UN Observer Mission to Verify the Referendum in Eritrea (UNOVER) ensuring the impartiality of the process and helping to make the transition to independence smooth and peaceful.
"This was an example of a new generation of UN operations, combining peace, development and democracy", Samir Sanbar, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Eritrea, told the UN Chronicle.
The outcome of the referendum was hardly ambiguous: more than 90 per cent of those who registered had voted; 99 per cent of them said "yes" to the creation of an independent State. On 27 April, the Special Representative announced: "On the whole, the referendum process in Eritrea can be said to have been free and fair at every stage".
Investment in peace
Mr. Sanbar sees the UNOVER mission as an example of the new concept of post-conflict peace-building, developed by UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. "In practice it involves creating an investment in peace; to arrange things in such a way that countries in conflict find peace better and more profitable", he said.
The role of UNOVER was not only to observe the vote, he said, but to help in a peaceful transformation by installing a sense of free choice and participation in voters and helping, through that process, to establish good relations between Eritrea and its neighbouring States.
UNOVER, he said, was not a case of peace-keepers with blue helmets going in to separate hostile parties, but helping a new nation find the path to development and democracy in a region that has had more than its fair share of wars and calamities in the last few decades.
Verify referendum
UNOVER was established by the General Assembly on 16 December 1992, after the Transitional Government of Ethiopia had asked that the UN play an active role in verifying that the referendum would be free and fair.
A core team of 21 observers, headed by Mr. Sanbar, set up headquarters in Asmara, Eritrea's capital city. Regional offices were established in the towns of Keren and Mendefera. Another 86 observers arrived in April for the last phase of the referendum process.
UNOVER faced many practical problems in a country devastated by 30 years war, with a difficult terrain, low levels of literacy, and a historical absence of voting practice.
For example, in some places there was opposition for cultural reasons to women being photographed for voter identification. After UNOVER consultations, village elders allowed an exception, as they felt it would be for a good cause.
UNOVER also arranged for members of the Eritrean Popular Liberation Army (EPLA) to vote in their barracks, as the presence of uniformed men carrying arms in voting booths might be seen as intimidating by some.
An important part of UNOVER's work was to register voters outside o Eritrea, some 300,000 of the 1.1 million registered Eritreans.
All in all, without UNOVER, the process of nation-building - an ever-important UN task - would not have been successfully completed.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1309/is_n3_v30/ai_14667485
What British Troops are doing in Eritrea as part of UNOVER
KENYAN sappers face up to the realities of an exercise minefield, above, under the careful instructions of expert Royal Engineers.
Next stop for the African soldiers is the dangerous task of tackling Eritrea’s massive landmine problem.
British involvement in the life and limb-saving humanitarian mission was first reported in Soldier in June 2002. The latest batch of African de-miners was trained by a ten-man team from the Royal School of Military Engineering.
The Kenyan squadron will take over from colleagues carrying out humanitarian manual de-mining operations in Eritrea as part of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE).
There are 600 minefields and at least 100,000 mines contaminating Eritrea, a lethal legacy of recent conflict as well as the 30-year struggle for this country’s independence from Ethiopia.
Led by Capt Jim Webster RE from the UK Mine Information and Training Centre at Minley in Surrey, the Royal Engineers organised a five-week training package at the Kenyan Combat Engineering School at Archers Post in northern Kenya.
With temperatures topping 40C during the day, the desert-like terrain proved an ideal classroom for the Kenyans, who will encounter almost identical conditions in Eritrea.
One observer of the training was Maj Gen Robert Gordon, the UNMEE Force Commander, who was keen to see how his future de-mining asset was shaping up.
The Kenyan Army is now equipped with a world-class de-mining capability and its sappers are making a significant contribution to the international effort to rid the world of landmines.
http://www.soldiermagazine.co.uk/mag/feature6.htm
If anyone has any more infomation on what exactly British troops are doing in Eritrea then i'd be grateful for it.
Dutch Marines in Eritrea
http://pictures.werkenbijdemarine.nl/gallerie/powerpoint/58_marns-eritrea.jpg
Destroyed vehicle
http://digilander.libero.it/trovatomarco/Servizi/eritrea/Eritrea%20%2011.JPG
US Aid Relief unloaded in the Port of Massawa
http://www.heartsong3.com/Images%202003/IndianORedSea/USAidTruck.jpg
Eritrea soldiers in the Port of Massawa(anyone ID that rifle?)
http://www.heartsong3.com/Images%202003/IndianORedSea/Soldiers.jpg
Eritrean soldiers on the border with Ethiopia
http://home.wxs.nl/~hans.mebrat/ethiopia1.jpg
Female Eritrean soldier
http://home.wxs.nl/~hans.mebrat/ethiopia4.jpg
Ethiopian soldiers
http://www.geocities.com/~dagmawi/NewsMay2000/May26_Ethiopian_soldiers_zala.jpg
Ethiopian logistics
http://www.geocities.com/~dagmawi/NewsMay2000/May26_Ethiopian_logistics.jpg
Landmines laid by Eritrean soldiers
http://www.geocities.com/~dagmawi/NewsMay2000/May26_mine_clearance.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/~dagmawi/MAP_ERITREA_LARGE.GIF
History of Eritrea
Between 1000 and 400 BC, a semitic group of people known as the Sabeans crossed the Red Sea into the region known as present Eritrea, and intermingled with the Hamitic inhabitants who had migrated from the northern Sudan. The region was then controlled by various foreign invaders such as the Axumite kingdom, the Funji Sultans of Sudan, the Egyptians, the Portugese and the Turks. Each of these foreign occupiers had a distinct impact on the development of present day Eritrea as a nation and in the formation of an Eritrean identity.
The former Italian colony of Eritrea was merged into Ethiopia in a federal arrangement brokered by the UN in 1952 and incorporated fully into Ethiopia ten years later. An Eritrean Liberation Front emerged in exile in 1958 and later evolved into the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF). The EPLF led the fight against the communist government of Haile Mengistu Mariam which took control of Ethiopia from the Emperor Haile Selassi in 1974. After a decade of changing fortunes for both the Government and the EPLF, the guerrillas finally expelled government forces from Eritrea in early 1991.
The Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, which led the final assault which overthrew the Mengistu regime in 1991, was armed and trained by the EPLF, although relations between the two have not always been good. In 1992 the EPLF-controlled Provisional Government of Eritrea announced a referendum over the future status of the area. With 99.8% support registered in favour of independence at a UN-supervised referendum in April 1993, the EPLF made arrangements to move to full nationhood, which was declared the following month.
The EPLF inaugurated a 4-year transition period leading to a pluralistic political system and the establishment of a basic infrastructure to govern (state departments, legal system, banks and finance), as well as political parties to contest the eventual elections. The general secretary of the EPLF, Issaias Afewerki, became the President of the republic, and in February 1994, the EPLF reconstituted itself as the People's Front for Democracy and Justice. The government's principal task was the reconstruction of the economy. But things have not run smoothly, even for Eritrea's resourceful people.
Eritrea also entered into costly shooting wars with both Yemen and Djibouti. But by far the most serious threat to long term stability is the unexpected and catastrophic breakdown in relations with neighbouring Ethiopia. The two countries signed a number of economic and security agreements soon after independence, and relations were good - a legacy of the historical affinity between the EPLF and the Tigrayans who dominate the Ethiopian government. Fighting broke out between the two countries in May 1998, ostensibly over minor land disputes and border incursions each claimed against the other. However, Ethiopia is known to be unhappy with Eritrea's introduction of its own currency (the nakfa) in 1997; and Eritrea for its part voices fears that its hard-won independence might be infringed by an expansionist Ethiopia.
A truce brokered by US and Italian mediators brought the fighting to a temporary halt at the end of 1998, but further clashes - if anything more serious than before - have taken place during the spring and summer: tens of thousands of casualties were reported after one battle in June. Again, foreign mediation, this time involving the Algerian government, brought this spell of fighting to a halt. However, the fundamentals of the conflict, which are little understood by outsiders - one Western observer described it as "two bald men fighting over a comb" - were unresolved. In April 2000, heavy fighting resumed once again and an estimated half a million Eritreans were displaced. The conflict remains, it seems, not only inexplicable but intractable.
The 24th of May 1993, brought in the dawn of a new era for the Eritrean people. Having won the right to define their own future, they voted for Independence in a referendum held from the 23rd-25th of April 1993. On the 27th of April 1993, the Independent Eritrean Referendum Commission, the United Nations Observer Mission for the Eritrean Referendum (UNOVER), the OAU, the Arab League, the Non - Aligned Movement, the National Citizens Monitoring Group and numerous individual observers were unanimous in their conclusion, that the referendum had been unequivocally free and fair. In the words of the then Provisional Government of Eritrea (PGE) Secretary General; Issaias Afwerki; the referendum was "a delightful and sacrosanct historical conclusion to the choice of the Eritrean people. And although it has been decided that formal independence will be declared on 24 May 1993, Eritrea is a sovereign country as of today." (27 April 1993).
The Independence of Eritrea and its territorial sovereignty was immediately recognised by the world. Membership of the United Nations was granted in August 1993. In 1997 the Government established a temporary Constituent Assembly; and on May 23 adopted the Constitution, authorising political pluralism and instituting a presidential regime, with a President elected for a maximum of two five year terms. The President would appoint a Prime Minister and judges of the Supreme Court. A transitional National Assembly was empowered to act as the legislature until such time as legislative elections could be held.
http://www.africatravelling.net/eritrea/asmara/asmara_history.htm
History of the Eritrea-Ethiopian War
When Eritrea, formally a province of Ethiopia, gained its independence in 1993, after a long guerrilla war, parts of the border was never fixed with maps and surveying markers. It has always been in dispute, but a war broke out in May 1998 in a dispute about the exact location of their border. Ethiopia and Eritrea are fighting over an inconsequential piece of real estate. But it is highly charged with symbolism as the two nations sort out their relationship after a 20-year war that ended with Eritrea breaking off from the larger nation.
The war between Ethiopia and Eritrea has echoes of World War One in its bloody stalemate and trench warfare. Tens of thousands of people have been killed. The fighting has been going on, with some interruptions, for the better part of two years, and involves relatively sophisticated weaponry. Each side has some jet fighters that have attacked the other, and US television regularly shows long-range artillery of the two armies pounding each other. The border war has claimed the lives of an estimated 40-thousand soldiers, and has dragged down the economies of both countries. More than 300-thousand troops remain dug-in and deadlocked along an 800-kilometer front. All civilians in the area have fled, leaving the armies to fight over empty villages. A peace plan brokered by the Organization of African Unity has failed to stop the conflict, which is affecting the entire Horn of Africa.
Eritrean separatism had its roots in World War II. In 1941, in the Battle of Keren, the Allies drove Italian forces out of Eritrea, which had been under Italy's rule since the end of the nineteenth century. Administration of the region was then entrusted to the British military until its fate could be determined by the Allies. Britain, however, sought to divide Eritrea along religious lines, giving the coast and highland areas to Ethiopia and the Muslim-inhabited northern and western lowlands to British-ruled Sudan. In 1952 the United Nations (UN) tried to satisfy the demand for self-determination by creating an EritreanEthiopian federation. In 1962, however, Haile Selassie unilaterally abolished the federation and imposed imperial rule throughout Eritrea. In January 1974, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) handed Haile Selassie's forces a crushing defeat at Asmera, severely affecting the army's morale and exposing the crown's ever-weakening position.
On 29 May 1991, ISAIAS Afworki, secretary general of the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), which then served as the country's legislative body, announced the formation of the Provisional Government in Eritrea (PGE). Eritrea became an independent state on 24 May 1993, following an internationally monitored referendum in which citizens voted overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia. The Eritrean People's Liberation Front, which led the 30-year war for independence, has controlled the country since it defeated Ethiopian armed forces in 1991. With independence from Ethiopia on 24 May 1993, Eritrea faced the bitter economic problem of a small, desperately poor African country. The economy is largely based on subsistence agriculture, with over 70% of the population involved in farming and herding. The 30-year war for independence from Ethiopian rule left some 30 perccnt of all Eritrean households headed by women. Approximately 200 persons were injured or killed during 1998 in incidents involving unexploded ordinances including land mines. There are an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 land mines in the country, mostly laid by Ethiopia during the 1961-1991 war in which Eritrea fought for independence.
In May 1998 fighting broke out between Eritrean armed forces and Ethiopian militia along the border, in response to the movement of Eritrean forces into territory previously administered by Ethiopia. Eritrea responded to an escalating military conflict by calling up reserves and increasing its armed forces to approximately 100,000 to 120,000 soldiers. Eritrea and Ethiopia exchanged artillery fire and engaged in air attacks leading to numerous civilian casualties. In June 1998 Eritrean forces bombed the Ethiopian town of Mekele and killed 47 civilians, including children. In June 1998 and again in November 1998, Eritrean forces fired artillery shells at the Ethiopian town of Adrigat, killing six persons and wounding several others. By the end of 1998 approximately 250,000 Eritreans had been internally displaced as a result of the conflict with Ethiopia. At the outbreak of the war, Ethiopia detained and deported Eritreans and Ethiopian citizens of Eritrean origin. By the end of 1998, a total of 45,000 such persons of an estimated total population of up to 400,000 had left Ethiopia for Eritrea; the vast majority were deported. The nationality of Eritrean-origin Ethiopians had never been settled since the independence of Eritrea in 1993.
The heaviest fighting of 1999 came in February, when Ethiopia made a push to take the border town of Badame. Troops backed by jet fighters, tanks, and heavy artillery attacked Eritrean positions. Casualties were high, the dry, rocky terrain offering little cover, but Ethiopia did recapture the town. In March, there were more battles around the town of Zalambesa, but no clear winner.
Despite the massive weapons build-up, the fortified trenches, the harsh rhetoric, both countries insist they did not want this war, and each country blames the other for continuing it. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says his country wants peace, but accuses Eritrea of acting irrationally. Eritrea's president, Isays Afeworki, says Ethiopia is continuing the war to humiliate the Eritreans.
Regional groups have tried to mediate an end to the conflict. The Organization of African Unity spent months drawing up a peace plan, and negotiators shuttled between Addis Ababa and Asmara trying to persuade the two governments to agree to its terms. The OAU plan calls for both sides to pull back their troops, with international monitors controlling the disputed areas while a border commission draws up a new map.
At first it was Eritrea which rejected the accord, saying it did not want to withdraw from any territory. But shortly after the fighting at Badame, Eritrea said it would accept the OAU plan, and negotiators turned their attention to getting both countries to agree to a cease-fire. That ceasefire never happened. Minor skirmishes continue on the border, and each country accuses the other of using foreign mercenaries and mistreating refugees.
In September 1999, Ethiopia withdrew its support for the OAU plan. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said there could be no agreement unless land administered by Ethiopia before the outbreak of the war was returned to its control.
With the OAU plan on hold, and Ethiopian and Eritrean forces stalemated on the front, the conflict has spread into neighboring countries. Fighters from the Ethiopian rebel group, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), based themselves in parts of Somalia controlled by faction leader Hussein Aideed. Eritrea helped supply Mr. Aideed's fighters with weapons and training, and the OLF made raids on Ethiopia from their Somali bases. In retaliation, Ethiopia earlier this year sent some of its forces into southern Somalia to support groups hostile to Mr. Aideed.
In November 1999, the Ethiopian government and Mr. Aideed made a deal. He agreed to force the OLF out of Somalia, and Ethiopia agreed to withdraw its troops. The OLF has shut its office in Mogadishu, but there is some question as to whether it has actually disbanded and left Somalia.
The Eritrean Islamic Salvation (EIS), a small Sudan-based insurgent group, has mounted terrorist attacks in north and west Eritrea since 1993. Both Eritrea and Ethiopia have been critical of Islamic groups from Sudan, but the war with Eritrea has prompted Ethiopia to mend its relations with the government in Khartoum. Eritrea has condemned the new alliance, saying Ethiopia is encouraging opponents to the current Asmara government who operate out of Sudan.
Experts say perhaps the most damaging aspect of the war is the devastation it is causing to the economies of the two countries. As of early 1998 some 67 percent of Eritrea's external trade was with Ethiopia. The end of the use of the Ethiopian Birr note and the introduction of the new Eritrean currency "Nakfa" at the end of 1997r was a deliberate decision by the Eritrean leadership to take charge of their own monetary policy. Food purchases are a serious drain on Eritrea's limited foreign exchange reserves. Eritrea requires 600,000 to one million metric tons of cereal grains annually. In a good year, Eritrea is able to meet nearly one fourth of its food needs; imports from Ethiopia fill much of the rest of the shortfall.
Refugees from both countries are flooding into cities, trade is down, and military expenditures are up. But for now it appears both countries are determined to continue the war despite the costs.
The most recent fighting resumed on 11 May 2000 when the Ethiopian forces made a major advance and captured a key border town inside what was considered to be Eritrean territory.
In May 2000 Washington suggested a full arms embargo on the two countries, in the hope of starving their arsenals. Russia and China are skeptical of sanctions. Russia has urged continued diplomacy, which hasn't worked. Because Ethiopia rejected a UN deadline to resume peace talks, the United States would, as part of the sanctions, ban Ethiopian government officials from traveling outside their country. Eritrea accepted the UN offer, but whether that was out of a genuine desire to end the fighting or the need to buy time after recent setbacks is hard to say. A peace agreement was signed on December 12, 2000 between Ethiopia and Eritrea putting an end to their two-year border war.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/eritrea.htm
Past British involvement in Eritrea
Battling the Shifta in Eritrea
1948-1951
In 1941, the Italians were defeated by a British Commonwealth force in this small east African country sandwiched between Sudan and Ethiopia. The British army garrisoned the country from this point until independence.
The Shifta's were mainly bandits robbing travelers in the remote parts of the country; some Shiftas were defending their villages against other Shiftas. Some were politically motivated some were not.
The 2nd Battalion Royal Berkshire Regiment, moved to Eritrea in April 1948. While in Eritrea the battalion lost an officer and a soldier killed in battles with the Shiftas and a dozen others were wounded, while patrolling the rocks and hills of Eritrea. The Battalion was based at Keren, and staying in Eritrea until May 1949 when the battalion was disbanded and the troops departed to join the newly amalgamated 1st Battalion in Cyprus in August 1951.
No.39 (1PRU) squadron deployed to Eritrea in August 1947 supporting the British Army against the Shifta groups before moving to Fayid, Egypt in October 1947.
97 Company, RASC, moved to Eritrea in 1948 where it was based at Asmara supporting the Headquarters of RASC. The Company was equipped with Bedford 3-ton trucks and was deployed in the mountains operating against the Shiftas. The Company was withdrawn and disbanded when Ethiopia became independent.
The South Wales Borderers arrived in Eritrea on 4th January 1950, and participated in operations against the Shiftas until they left on 16th September 1952.
On 21st February 1950, British troops garrisoning Eritrea were deployed to assist hard-pressed local police as Muslims and Christians clashed in a bloody riot following the death of a minor Muslim official. At least eleven were killed and fifty wounded in the riot.
On 31st July, a British corporal was killed in an ambush near Obel by a band of about 40 Shiftas, who supported the union of Eritrea with Abyssinia. On the same day, a British firing squad executed Abraham Wolderfield, who had been convicted by a British General Court of the murder of two Italians and two Eritreans.
Eritrea became self-governing in September 1952.
http://www.britains-smallwars.com/RRGP/Shifta.html
I find it quite interesting that many of the places around the world that Britain has troops in or an interesting in have at some point had a past link with Britain.
The UN's role in Eritrea
Eritrea was born in a referendum held from 23 to 25 April, with the UN Observer Mission to Verify the Referendum in Eritrea (UNOVER) ensuring the impartiality of the process and helping to make the transition to independence smooth and peaceful.
"This was an example of a new generation of UN operations, combining peace, development and democracy", Samir Sanbar, the Secretary-General's Special Representative for Eritrea, told the UN Chronicle.
The outcome of the referendum was hardly ambiguous: more than 90 per cent of those who registered had voted; 99 per cent of them said "yes" to the creation of an independent State. On 27 April, the Special Representative announced: "On the whole, the referendum process in Eritrea can be said to have been free and fair at every stage".
Investment in peace
Mr. Sanbar sees the UNOVER mission as an example of the new concept of post-conflict peace-building, developed by UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. "In practice it involves creating an investment in peace; to arrange things in such a way that countries in conflict find peace better and more profitable", he said.
The role of UNOVER was not only to observe the vote, he said, but to help in a peaceful transformation by installing a sense of free choice and participation in voters and helping, through that process, to establish good relations between Eritrea and its neighbouring States.
UNOVER, he said, was not a case of peace-keepers with blue helmets going in to separate hostile parties, but helping a new nation find the path to development and democracy in a region that has had more than its fair share of wars and calamities in the last few decades.
Verify referendum
UNOVER was established by the General Assembly on 16 December 1992, after the Transitional Government of Ethiopia had asked that the UN play an active role in verifying that the referendum would be free and fair.
A core team of 21 observers, headed by Mr. Sanbar, set up headquarters in Asmara, Eritrea's capital city. Regional offices were established in the towns of Keren and Mendefera. Another 86 observers arrived in April for the last phase of the referendum process.
UNOVER faced many practical problems in a country devastated by 30 years war, with a difficult terrain, low levels of literacy, and a historical absence of voting practice.
For example, in some places there was opposition for cultural reasons to women being photographed for voter identification. After UNOVER consultations, village elders allowed an exception, as they felt it would be for a good cause.
UNOVER also arranged for members of the Eritrean Popular Liberation Army (EPLA) to vote in their barracks, as the presence of uniformed men carrying arms in voting booths might be seen as intimidating by some.
An important part of UNOVER's work was to register voters outside o Eritrea, some 300,000 of the 1.1 million registered Eritreans.
All in all, without UNOVER, the process of nation-building - an ever-important UN task - would not have been successfully completed.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1309/is_n3_v30/ai_14667485
What British Troops are doing in Eritrea as part of UNOVER
KENYAN sappers face up to the realities of an exercise minefield, above, under the careful instructions of expert Royal Engineers.
Next stop for the African soldiers is the dangerous task of tackling Eritrea’s massive landmine problem.
British involvement in the life and limb-saving humanitarian mission was first reported in Soldier in June 2002. The latest batch of African de-miners was trained by a ten-man team from the Royal School of Military Engineering.
The Kenyan squadron will take over from colleagues carrying out humanitarian manual de-mining operations in Eritrea as part of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE).
There are 600 minefields and at least 100,000 mines contaminating Eritrea, a lethal legacy of recent conflict as well as the 30-year struggle for this country’s independence from Ethiopia.
Led by Capt Jim Webster RE from the UK Mine Information and Training Centre at Minley in Surrey, the Royal Engineers organised a five-week training package at the Kenyan Combat Engineering School at Archers Post in northern Kenya.
With temperatures topping 40C during the day, the desert-like terrain proved an ideal classroom for the Kenyans, who will encounter almost identical conditions in Eritrea.
One observer of the training was Maj Gen Robert Gordon, the UNMEE Force Commander, who was keen to see how his future de-mining asset was shaping up.
The Kenyan Army is now equipped with a world-class de-mining capability and its sappers are making a significant contribution to the international effort to rid the world of landmines.
http://www.soldiermagazine.co.uk/mag/feature6.htm
If anyone has any more infomation on what exactly British troops are doing in Eritrea then i'd be grateful for it.
Dutch Marines in Eritrea
http://pictures.werkenbijdemarine.nl/gallerie/powerpoint/58_marns-eritrea.jpg
Destroyed vehicle
http://digilander.libero.it/trovatomarco/Servizi/eritrea/Eritrea%20%2011.JPG
US Aid Relief unloaded in the Port of Massawa
http://www.heartsong3.com/Images%202003/IndianORedSea/USAidTruck.jpg
Eritrea soldiers in the Port of Massawa(anyone ID that rifle?)
http://www.heartsong3.com/Images%202003/IndianORedSea/Soldiers.jpg
Eritrean soldiers on the border with Ethiopia
http://home.wxs.nl/~hans.mebrat/ethiopia1.jpg
Female Eritrean soldier
http://home.wxs.nl/~hans.mebrat/ethiopia4.jpg
Ethiopian soldiers
http://www.geocities.com/~dagmawi/NewsMay2000/May26_Ethiopian_soldiers_zala.jpg
Ethiopian logistics
http://www.geocities.com/~dagmawi/NewsMay2000/May26_Ethiopian_logistics.jpg
Landmines laid by Eritrean soldiers
http://www.geocities.com/~dagmawi/NewsMay2000/May26_mine_clearance.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/~dagmawi/MAP_ERITREA_LARGE.GIF