The Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF; ; ; ), colloquially known as Jebha, was the main independence movement in Eritrea which sought Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia during the 1960s and the early 1970s.
After the Ethiopian Empire violated a 1952 UN resolution that guaranteed Eritrea the right to an autonomous government, the ELF was established in 1960 in order to wage an armed struggle for independence. Under Emperor Haile Selassie, the Ethiopian government banned Eritrean political parties, free press and right to assembly. During 1961, the ELF began the Eritrean War of Independence. Idris Muhammad Adam and other Eritrean intellectuals founded the ELF as a primary Pan Arab movement in Cairo, but the first act of armed resistance was led by Hamid Idris Awate. Over the course of the 1960s, the ELF was able to obtain support from Arab countries such as Egypt and Sudan. However, tensions between Muslims and Christians in the ELF along with the failure of the ELF to ward off Ethiopia's 1967–1968 counter offensive internally fractured the ELF, causing it to split.
By the mid 1970s, the ELF and the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), an ideologically Maoist liberation movement, were the key liberation movements in Eritrea. The EPLF ultimately overtook the ELF as the primary Eritrean independence movement by 1977, and the ELF was subsequently defeated in 1981.
History
Origins (1948–1959) After Italy was defeated in World War II, the fate of Ethiopia and Eritrea was left to the United Nations. A 1948 UN commission failed to agree on whether Eritrea would be independent. In 1952, Eritrea became officially part of Ethiopia under UN Resolution 390 A, which was passed on December 2, 1950. However, Eritrea would remain an autonomous government, meaning that the country could have their own government structures, flag, and official language. Ethiopia was also prohibited from forcibly intervening in Eritrea's domestic occurrences.
However, some Eritreans were not satisfied with the UN's decision to place Eritrea under Ethiopian control. Early independence movements can be traced back to 1949, when some Muslims living in Eritrea formed a group that would grow into the Eritrean Liberation Front. Nonetheless, in the early 1950s, this group remained relatively inactive.
Discontent with the Ethiopian government ensured as Emperor Haile Selassie took actions to destabilize Eritrea's autonomous government. As Ethiopia was more authoritarian than Eritrea, Selassie felt that increased freedom in Eritrea would destabilize Ethiopia. Consequently, the same year that the UN resolution went into effect, Selassie disposed of Eritrea's constitution. In 1953, the Eritrean Trade Union was outlawed. By 1955, Eritrea's president was removed and a year later, the Eritrean National Assembly ceased to exist. The year 1956 also marked the year that Amharic replaced Arabic and Tigrinya as the official language of Eritrea. The coming years also saw the suppression of insurgency movements against Ethiopia, the arrests of newspaper editors who spoke against the Ethiopian crown, the seizure of private Eritrean businesses, and the removal of the Eritrean flag.
The United States remained inactive despite the UN Resolution being flagrantly violated. This was due to a 1953 agreement signed between the United States and Ethiopia, which guaranteed access to the Kagnew Radiomarina in Asmara. This Red Sea military base was vital for the United States military since it enhanced overseas communication. Nonetheless, higher unemployment rates and taxes caused tens of thousands of Eritreans to emigrate to Saudi Arabia and Sudan. The Ethiopian army successfully suppressed protests that arose in Eritrea, including a 1958 trade union strike. The struggle for independence turned violent with this strike as many protesters were killed.
Founding and decline Eritrean Liberation Movement (1958–1959) In 1958, the Eritrean Liberation Movement (ELM) was founded. The ELM, which was composed primarily of students and laborers, focused on organizing demonstrations against Ethiopian occupation. ELM strongholds were located in the urban central highlands, where a large proportion of Christians lived. It organized Eritreans clandestinely and played a significant role in awakening nationalist sentiments in urban areas until a major police crackdown. While the ELM had played a positive role in working towards self-determination, the organization proved incapable of escalating to armed struggle against the Ethiopian Empire.
Formation of the Eritrean Liberation Front (1960–1962) After the Eritrean Liberation Movement demonstrated it wasn't ready to engage in war, a new liberation organization that could fight back against the Ethiopians was formed in order to fill the gap. In 1960, Egypt began to fund military training for Eritreans in Alexandria. Future revolutionary leaders such as Idris Muhammad Adam were trained at the Alexandria military camp. The tactics that this camp used were influenced by those of the national liberation front in Algeria. In addition to military training, Egypt also provided media resources for Eritreans to use to gain support for the independence movement. For instance, Woldeab Woldemariam used his Radio Cairo radio program to publicize anti-Ethiopian propaganda and encourage Eritreans to join the uprising against Ethiopia.
In July 1960, the ELF was openly established in Cairo by Idris Muhammad Adam and other Eritrean intellectuals and students. The founders of the ELF were primarily Muslim and the movement thus adopted Pan-Arabic beliefs. Some scholars argue that the Eritrean independence movement was religious in nature: by 1971, the majority of ELF army members were Muslim and the Ethiopian ruling class was Christian.
Egypt helped organize Arab support for the ELF. The Arab League countries such as Syria, Iraq, Libya, Kuwait, and Yemen pledged their support for the ELF in April 1962. These countries saw the economic potential of Arab control of the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. They also felt compelled to help their fellow Muslims attain independence from the Christian Ethiopians. Additionally, Sudan and Egypt worked together in attempt to prevent Ethiopian access to the Nile River. As a consequence, Sudan allowed the ELF to use their land to ship weapons to and organize military operations. However, despite the emergence of the ELF, the United States chose to remain loyal to Ethiopia as they signed a secret pact with Ethiopia affirming their opposition to Eritrean insurgency movements.
Beginning of Eritrean struggle for independence (1961–1962)
Hamid Idris Awate was a former soldier when the Italians controlled Eritrea and Ethiopia who had not joined the ELM or ELF. The ELF had purchased rifles that were used during the colonial era, leading them to have Awate initiate the first battle in the Eritrean independence movement. In August 1961, Awate had been hiding from Ethiopian authorities on Mount Abal. On September 1, 1961, Awate came into confrontation with the Ethiopian government, which is when he used guerilla war tactics to continue the ELF's struggle. The September 26, 1961 issue of the Ethiopian newspaper Zemen reported Awate's attacks for the first time, labeling him a bandit and giving the Eritrean liberation struggle public attention. In response, Awate motivated further military action by claiming that he was fighting "for the sake of the Eritrean flag and their homeland." Further 1961 attacks took place in Eritrea's western lowlands. These rural communities were composed of Muslims who had been oppressed by the Ethiopian government, thus exhibiting the greatest antagonism for Ethiopia. Also, the western lowlands were close to Sudan, the movement's safe haven. Awate's movement gained momentum when Eritrean members of the Sudan Defense Force joined his movement. By March 1962, the Ethiopian police force were no longer able to suppress Awate's movement, leading Ethiopian authorities to publicly announce that anyone supporting Awate or withholding information regarding Awate would be imprisoned. In June 1962, Awate died, which led to the merger of his group with the ELF. That, with the combination of the Ethiopian government's discovery and subsequent suppression of the ELM, led to the ELF emerging as the main independence movement in Eritrea. On November 14, 1962, Emperor Haile Selassie annexed Eritrea after the Eritrean Assembly voted in favor of annexation and dissolved itself. Selassie remarked that "We thank our people of Eritrea who, guided by a deep sense of patriotism and unity, have labored without crease to bring about this advancement. We vow before God, that, as we have repeatedly stated, we shall spare no effort to secure the happiness and advancement of our people."
Expansion of the ELF (1962–1966)
The ELF began to receive arms from Saudi Arabia and North Yemen in 1962. There were 250 members of the ELF in 1963. That was also the year when military aid in the form of weapons from China, Iraq, and Syria intensified. The ELF then raided several Ethiopian bases and military establishments with this aid between 1961 and 1965. This era was also when women also began to play a role in the ELF: they sent messages, obtained weapons, and served as cooks and nurses to the soldiers. In 1965, the ELF army grew to 2,000 members organized in seven platoons.
This led the president of the ELF, Idris Mohamed Adem, to meet with the leaders of each platoon to restructure the ELF in May 1965. They agreed in dividing Eritrea into four Zonal Commands with the Revolutionary Command located in Kassala. Like the Egyptian-funded military training, the organization of the ELF was inspired by the organization of the Algerian national liberation front. The first zone was located in western Eritrea and was populated by Muslims and Beni Amer. Their leader was Mahmoud Dinni. The second zone consisted of Eritrea's northern highlands, which was populated by Muslim nomads and led by Omer Hamed Ezaz. The third province included Eritrea's central plateau, which was populated by Tigrinya-speaking farmers and Muslim Saho pastoralists. Abdelkerim Ahmed was the leader of zone three. The fourth zone was the central and southern coast, consisting of Muslim nomads and led by Mohammed Ali Omero. As a consequence of this restructuring, the ELF was strong enough to prevent Ethiopia from entirely controlling Eritrea. They also maintained control through their "belief that they had the sole mandate of representing the Eritrean people." Therefore, they suppressed any other liberation movement.
As the ELF grew in strength, Ethiopia increased military spending by 68.2%. Also, the relationship between Ethiopia and Sudan fractured as each country supported the liberation movements in the other country. This weakened both countries militarily and politically. Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and President Nasser of Egypt also worked with the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in the early 1960s to ease hostility between the two nations. However, Egypt did not terminate its support for the ELF; they just moved their operations to Syria.
Internal problems (1966–1971)