Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T09:45:06.123Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Old Problems in New Conflicts: Some Observations on Eritrea and its Relations with Tigray, from Liberation Struggle to Inter-State War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Richard Reid
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines the problematic relationship between Eritrea and Tigray as represented by the Eritrean and Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Fronts. The EPLF won independence for Eritrea in 1991, at the same time as the TPLF seized power in Ethiopia; the two movements had had a difficult relationship, beginning in the mid-1970s, during their respective armed struggles, and the issues which had caused disagreement remained unresolved as the movements made the transition to government. This paper examines the nature of those issues and the degree to which the war of 1998-2000 between the two countries can be seen to have reflected much older tensions and indeed contradictions in the Eritrean–Tigrayan/Ethiopian relationship. Thus, the paper begins with an overview of Eritrean opinion, during the recent war, about the relationship in question, and then moves back in time to the era of the liberation struggle. Here, the author attempts to explain the complexities of the respective Eritrean and Tigrayan revolutions insofar as each impinged on and influenced the other, with particular reference to the issues of frontiers, nationality and ethnicity, and sovereignty. The paper, finally, considers the apparent paradoxes in the perceptions which Eritreans have of Tigray and Ethiopia, and suggests that changes in attitude are necessary on both sides of the Mereb river border if the relationship is not to be defined by perpetual confrontation.

Résumé

Cet article examine la relation problématique entre l'Erythrée et le Tigray, tel que les représentent l'EPLF et le TPLF. L'EPLF (Front populaire de libération de l'Erythrée) a obtenu l'indépendance de l'Erythrée en 1991, au moment où le TPLF (Front populaire de libération du Tigray) prenait le pouvoir en Ethiopie ; dès le milieu des années 1970, ces deux mouvements ont entretenu des rapports difficiles durant leurs luttes armées respectives, et les objets de désaccord étaient toujours irrésolus au moment où ces mouvements sont arrivés au pouvoir. Cet article examine la nature de ces désaccords et dans quelle mesure la guerre de 1998–2000 entre les deux pays a pu refléter des tensions beaucoup plus anciennes et des contradictions dans la relation Erythrée–Tigray/Ethiopie. L'article commence par étudier l'opinion érythréenne sur la relation en question au cours de la récente guerre, puis remonte jusqu’ à la période de la lutte pour la libération. L'auteur tente d'expliquer la complexité des révolutions érythréenne et tigréenne dans la mesure où chacune affecte et influence l'autre, concernant notamment les problèmes de frontières, de nationalité et ethnicité, et de souveraineté. Pour finir, l'article évoque les paradoxes apparents de l'idée que se font les Erythréens du Tigray et de l'Ethiopie, et suggère qu'un changement de comportement devra s'opérer de part et d'autre du Mereb, fleuve frontière, pour que la relation cesse de se définir par une confrontation perpétuelle.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 73 , Issue 3 , August 2003 , pp. 369 - 401
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alemseged Abbay, . 1998. Identity Jilted, or, Re-imagining Identity? The divergent paths of the Eritrean and Tigrayan nationalist struggles. Lawrenceville NJ: Red Sea Press..Google Scholar
Alemseged Tesfai, 1999. ‘“The March of Folly” re-enacted: a personal view’ Eritrean Studies Review 3 (2), 209–225..Google Scholar
Amare Tekle, 1994. ‘The Basis of Eritrean-Ethiopian Cooperation’ inAmare Tekle, (ed.), Eritrea and Ethiopia: from conflict to cooperation, pp. 1–19. Lawrenceville NJ: Red Sea Press..Google Scholar
Clapham, C. 1988. Transformation and Continuity in Revolutionary Ethiopia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press..Google Scholar
Connell, D. 1999. ‘Against more odds: the second siege of Eritrea’ Eritrean Studies Review 3 (2), 191–207..Google Scholar
Dines, M. 1988. ‘Ethiopian violation of human rights in Eritrea’ in Cliffe, L. and Davidson, B.(eds), The Long Struggle of Eritrea for Independence and Constructive Peace, pp. 139–161. Trenton NJ: Red Sea Press..Google Scholar
Gilkes, P. 1983. ‘Centralism and the PMAC’ in Lewis, I. M.(ed.), Nationalism and Self-Determination in the Horn of Africa, pp. 195–211.. London: Ithaca Press..Google Scholar
Harding, J. 1993. Small Wars, Small Mercies: journeys in Africa's disputed nations. London: Viking..Google Scholar
Jordan Gebre-Medhin, 1999. ‘Eritrea (Mereb-Melash) and Yohannes IV of Abyssinia: background to impending TPLF tragedy’ Eritrean Studies Review 3 (2), 1–42.Google Scholar
Keller, E. J. 1988. Revolutionary Ethiopia: from Empire to People's Republic. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press..Google Scholar
Kidane Mengisteab, 1999. ‘some latent factors in the Ethio-Eritrean conflict’ Eritrean Studies Review 3 (2), 89–106.Google Scholar
Matsuoka, A. K., and Sorenson, J. 2001. Ghosts and Shadows: construction of identity and community in an African diaspora. Toronto: University of Toronto Press..CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pateman, R. 1998 [1990]. Eritrea: even the stones are burning. 2nd edn. Trenton NJ: Red Sea Press..Google Scholar
Pool, D. 1983. ‘Eritrean Nationalism’ in Lewis, I. M. (ed.), Nationalism and Self-Determination in the Horn of Africa, pp. 175–193. London: Ithaca Press..Google Scholar
Pool, D. 1998. ‘The Eritrean People's Liberation Front’ in Clapham, C.(ed), African Guerrillas, pp. 19–35. Oxford: James Currey..Google Scholar
Pool, D. 2001. From Guerrillas to Government: the Eritrean People's Liberation Front.Oxford: James Currey..Google Scholar
Portal, G. 1892. My Mission to Abyssinia. London: Edward Arnold. Reprinted 1969 New York: Negro Universities Press..Google Scholar
Reid, R. J. 2000. ‘A Fierce Race’ History Today 50 (6).Google Scholar
Reid, R. J. 2001. ‘The Challenge of the Past: the quest for historical legitimacy in independent Eritrea’ History in Africa 28, 239–272.Google Scholar
Reid, R. J. (forthcoming). ‘The Trans-Mereb Experience: perceptions of the historical relationship between Eritrea and Ethiopia’ in Reid, R. J. and Uoldelul Chelati, (eds), Nationalisms and Identities, Time and Space: studies from eastern and northeastern Africa. Oxford: James Currey..Google Scholar
Ruth Iyob, 1995. The Eritrean Struggle for Independence: domination, resistance, nationalism, 1941–1993.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press..Google Scholar
Ruth Iyob, 2000. ‘The Ethiopian-Eritrean conflict: diasporic vs. hegemonic states in the Horn of Africa, 1991–2000’ Journal of Modern African Studies 38 (4), 175–193.Google Scholar
Tekeste Negash, and Kjetil Tronvoll, 2000. Brothers at War: making sense of the Eritrean-Ethiopian war. Oxford: James Currey..Google Scholar
Tekie Fessehatzion, 1999. ‘Eritrea and Ethiopia: from conflict to co-operation to conflict’ Eritrean Studies Review 3 (2), iii-xii.Google Scholar
Young, J. 1996. ‘The Tigray and Eritrean Peoples’ Liberation Fronts: a history of tensions and pragmatisms’ Journal of Modern African Studies 34 (1 ), 105–120..Google Scholar
Young, J. 1997. Peasant Revolution in Ethiopia: the Tigray People's Liberation Front 1975–1991. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press..Google Scholar
Young, J. 1998. ‘The Tigray People's Liberation Front’ in Clapham, C.(ed.), African Guerrillas, pp. 36–52. Oxford: James Currey..Google Scholar