Ethiopia And Ethiopia Research Paper

The war between Ethiopia and Eritrea

Since its independence in 1993, Eritrean nation building is based on animosity towards the neighbouring countries particularly Ethiopia. This constitutes a major hindrance to peace and stability in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia and Eritrea belong to the same historical, cultural, language and religious groups. Until the Italians invasion, Eritrea remained as part of the Ethiopian imperial regimes. After the end of the Second World War, Ethiopia was federated with Ethiopia in 1952. The beginning of the conflict was rather a result of a naïve; too haste decision from the Ethiopian side to abolished this federal system that was arranged by the United Nations. This triggered the civil war in Eritrea in early 1960s. The civil war was used by super powers of the Cold War as proxy war and Arab nationalists and Egyptians utilize it to undermine the economic development of Ethiopia and thereby to ensure the exclusive utilization of the Nile waters. Neighbouring countries such Somalia and Sudan encouraged civil war to weaken the central government of Ethiopia due to border disputes that existed for long-time. The military junta in Ethiopia which hijacked the revolution in 1974 and took power from the Imperial regime lost the international support Ethiopian used to enjoy on its claim on Eritrea. The Eritrean conflict, for the Ethiopian governments, was a war to ensure the territorial integrity and unity; for the Eritreans, it became war for independence. Shaped by the consequences of thirty years of destructive war for independence, the Ethiopian-Eritrean relations is marked by a brief peaceful relation until the 1998 border war that led to a very high death toll both among combatants and civilians.

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...ple’s Liberation Front (TPLF), remains the same as their ‘underdog’. EPRDF led government in Ethiopia has been undergoing huge internal and external transformation as a new government facing pressure from the population at large on its stand vis-à-vis Eritrea and was under server criticism for making Ethiopia landlocked. To large extent both the rank-and-file members of the EPRDF and sizable members of its leadership have undergone self-introspection on possible wrong-doings of their leadership against Ethiopia’s long-term interests. Politically too they consider this may offer an opportunity to gain more support from the nationalist quarters of the political elite in Ethiopia. A fatal miscalculation on Eritrean side, this led to the take-over of Bademe and Ethiopia’s strong response against Eritrea’s invasion and the 1998 border war and the current stalemate.