This is the final installment in a three-part series illuminating Eritrea’s decades-long struggle for self-determination. While Part 1 explored the foundations of Eritrea’s colonial experience and early political aspirations, and Part 2 detailed the systematic erosion of Eritrean autonomy under Ethiopian rule and the events that ignited the armed struggle, Part 3 traces the evolution of that struggle into a full-scale liberation war. It examines the immense odds Eritrean fighters faced, the global Cold War dynamics that shaped the battlefield, and the series of decisive victories that ultimately led to independence in 1991.
From spark to wildfire
On 1 September 1961, Hamid Idris Awate, a seasoned soldier once deemed a renegade by the Italians, British, and Ethiopians, and a small band of fighters armed with a handful of old rifles, fired the first shots of Eritrea’s armed struggle in the Gash Barka region. From these early hit-and-run skirmishes, the independence movement grew into a full-scale war for national liberation, engulfing the population like a wildfire.
Over the next three decades, Eritrea’s independence fighters – largely unsupported by the international community and facing fierce opposition from Cold War superpowers – battled successive Ethiopian regimes. These regimes were backed by extensive foreign military and diplomatic support from the United States and the Soviet Union (at different times, but sometimes simultaneously), and others, including Israel, Cuba, East Germany, Libya, and Yemen.
Initially, the United States provided Haile Selassie’s imperial regime with significant aid. Alongside the Americans, Israel established a military pact with Ethiopia, deploying intelligence personnel, high-level advisors, and elite training teams. Ethiopia’s military, thus fortified, still failed to contain the rapidly growing Eritrean resistance, which had transformed from a small group of “bandits” into a formidable liberation army.
From empire to junta
By 1973, the combination of famine, rebellion in the Ogaden, and mounting pressure from Eritrean forces led to unrest within Ethiopia. In 1974, the Provisional Military Administrative Council, or Dergue, led by Lieutenant Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam, overthrew the monarchy. Mengistu later realigned the country with the Soviet Union. Despite this shift, US and Israeli support continued for a time, underlining the geopolitical complexity of the Horn of Africa.
By late 1977, Eritrean forces had liberated most of the countryside and laid siege to key cities, including Massawa and Asmara. Meanwhile, Ethiopia faced war on a second front with Somalia over the Ogaden. The USSR responded decisively, dispatching military advisers and billions in arms. This was further bolstered by the deployment of thousands of Cuban, and South Yemeni troops. The intervention helped Ethiopia repel Somalia and reassert control, allowing it to refocus on Eritrea with renewed strength. This not only helped Ethiopia to prevail in the war with Somalia, but it crucially also allowed it to shift its military attention and focus more directly on Eritrea, all the while continuing to receive multidimensional support and reinforcements from its external backers.
Nakfa and the years of stalemate
Forced into retreat, the EPLF (Eritrean People’s Liberation Front) regrouped in the mountainous Sahel region, making Nakfa its military and symbolic stronghold. Between 1978 and 1981, Ethiopia launched five major offensives to capture Nakfa, all of which failed. In 1982, Mengistu launched Operation Red Star, deploying over 136,000 troops. Despite overwhelming numbers and Soviet backing, the operation failed, costing Ethiopia tens of thousands of lives and further damaging morale.
Following these failures, the EPLF steadily regained the initiative. A turning point came in March 1988 at the Battle of Afabet, Ethiopia’s regional headquarters. Often likened to El Alamein and Dien Bien Phu, it was Africa’s largest battle since WWII and resulted in a crushing Ethiopian defeat.
The tide turns
In February 1990, the EPLF launched Operation Fenkil, a meticulously planned and coordinated land and sea assault to liberate the strategic port city of Massawa. This operation severed Ethiopia’s military supply line through Massawa and led to massive Ethiopian losses – nearly 10,000 soldiers killed, wounded, or captured. It also signalled that Eritrean independence was no longer a distant dream but an imminent reality.
With Massawa secured, only Asmara and Assab remained under Ethiopian control. In May 1991, the EPLF defeated Ethiopian forces at Dekemhare, swept through surrounding towns, and liberated Asmara on 24 May. Assab fell the following day. Thousands of demoralized Ethiopian soldiers, who had comprised what many had for decades believed to be the continent’s best-trained and best-equipped fighting force, surrendered; (Mengistu had fled into exile in Zimbabwe few days earlier, on 21 May 1991).
As they triumphantly entered the capital, Eritrean freedom fighters were received by a rapturous welcome and scenes of sheer jubilation. After one of the longest and loneliest national wars for liberation in modern African history and following tens of thousands of deaths, numerous more injuries, and much devastation and destruction, Eritrea had defeated Africa’s largest, best-equipped army and finally won its freedom.
From liberation to recognition
Shortly after the EPLF victoriously rolled into Asmara in 1991, preparations were begun to conduct an internationally supervised referendum as the final diplomatic thread in Eritrea’s long and arduous struggle to assert its inalienable right of decolonization. On 29 May, Isaias Afwerki, then Secretary-General of the EPLF, called upon the UN to, “shoulder its moral responsibilities [to help conduct a free and fair referendum on Eritrea’s self-determination] without further delay”.
Two years later, in 1993, Eritrea was formally welcomed into the international community of nations as Africa’s 52nd nation-state following an internationally monitored referendum in which more than one million Eritreans from inside the nation and across the world overwhelmingly voted in favor of independence. Monitored by the UN, the OAU, the Arab League, and representatives from over a dozen countries, the referendum saw a staggering 98.5 percent voter turnout, with 99.81 percent of voters opting for independence.
Eritreans fought, endured, and triumphed
Eritrea’s path to independence stands as one of the most determined and resilient liberation movements of the 20th century. Against overwhelming odds and the indifference of the global community, Eritreans fought, endured, and triumphed. Their victory was not merely the toppling of an occupationist regime but the fulfillment of a collective dream long dismissed as impossible.
The legacy of Eritrea’s liberation war continues to shape its national identity. It serves as a stark reminder of the costs of freedom and the enduring power of a people united in pursuit of justice and sovereignty.