1890 – 1941: Eritreans chafed under the rule of colonial Italy.
1941 – 1951: Eritreans, then administered by the WWII-victors, Britons, attempted to influence international opinion to secure independence.
1951 – 1961: Eritreans, then federated with Ethiopia, struggled peacefully to compel Ethiopia to live by the terms of the Federal Act, which was authorized by the United Nations.
1961 – 1991: Eritreans waged a revolution, referred to as armed struggle or The Struggle, to resist Ethiopia’s unilateral annexation of Eritrea in defiance of the Federal Act. The Struggle succeeded, and Eritreans took control of their capital city on May 24, 1991.
On April 25, 1993, Eritreans concluded a 2-day referendum to formalize their independence: 99.8% of those who participated (98% of the eligible voters) voted for independence. No wonder: for five decades, tens of thousands of Eritreans had been killed, wounded, exiled for this cause and hundreds of thousands of Eritreans had contributed materially and morally for its success.
Now, twenty-five years later, Eritreans find themselves in a bittersweet spot. Eritreans did not struggle for five decades just because they wanted their own flag; they did it because they wanted political autonomy, based on the belief that only if they were allowed to govern themselves can they produce a nation at peace with itself and its neighbors; a stable country and a force for stability in the region; just and guided by justice; democratic, where the people are sovereign.
It is bittersweet because Eritreans have, at long last, won what they cherished most: independent decision-making. Sweet. However, power remains highly centralized and concentrated in the hands of a handful of Eritreans. Bitter. And after decades of fighting, Eritreans appear too exhausted to fight, choosing instead to abandon their country in boatloads, as the narrow clique holding power continues to tighten its vise, all the while arguing that it is doing so to ensure that Eritreans maintain independence. Even if it is the independence to be unfree.
[tweetthis] Eritrea:The Independence To Be Unfree [/tweetthis]