The Eritrean War of Independence

Eritrean War of Independence

The Eritrean War of Independence was a conflict fought between the Ethiopian government and Eritrean separatists, both before and during the Ethiopian Civil War. The war started when Eritrea’s autonomy within Ethiopia, where troops were already stationed, was unilaterally revoked...

was fought as a guerrilla campaign by the two main liberation fronts, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front

Eritrean People's Liberation Front

The Eritrean People's Liberation Front was an armed organization that fought for the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia. It emerged in 1970 as an intellectual left-wing group that split from the Eritrean Liberation Front .-Background:...

 (EPLF) and the Eritrean Liberation Front

Eritrean Liberation Front

The Eritrean Liberation Front was the main independence movement in Eritrea which sought Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia during the 1960s and 1970s. In the very late 1950s unorganized political movement seeking independence was secretly active as small cells...

 (ELF), against the Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

n Army, controlled for most of the period by the Marxist Derg

Derg

The Derg or Dergue was a Communist military junta that came to power in Ethiopia following the ousting of Haile Selassie I. Derg, which means "committee" or "council" in Ge'ez, is the short name of the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, a committee of...

. This asymmetrical campaign against Ethiopian control left the Army at a disadvantage and so it embarked on a policy of destroying Eritrean villages. It was hoped that this would prevent the Liberation Fronts from continuing their campaign. Listed below are some of the major civilian massacre

Massacre

A massacre is an event with a heavy death toll.Massacre may also refer to:-Entertainment:*Massacre , a DC Comics villain*Massacre , a 1932 drama film starring Richard Barthelmess*Massacre, a 1956 Western starring Dane Clark...

s.

Date	Deaths	Location	Description of event
1967-07-24	172	Hazemo	Several villages wiped out and the throats of men slit in front of their wives and children.
1970-01-17	60	Elabared	The village elders were rounded up for supporting the Eritrean Liberation Front and killed.
1970-11-30	120	Basik Dera	The entire village was rounded up into the local mosque and the mosque's doors were locked, the building was then razed and survivors were shot.
1970-12-01	625	Ona	Ethiopian Army units surrounded the village killing civilians and burning down the village.
1974-07-10	170+	Om Hajer
1975-02-02	80-103	Woki Duba	During an engagement with the EPLF and ELF the Ethiopian Army attacked the church where villagers had taken refuge.
1975-03-09	208	Agordat Agordat Agordat is a city in Eritrea. It was the former capital of the now defunct Barka Province of Eritrea .- Overview :...	After several ELF attacks on the town the Ethiopian Army retaliated on the local population.
1975-04-17	235-470	Hirgigo Arkiko Arkiko is a town in the Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea. Situated on the Red Sea, it lies on the mainland across from the island of Massawa.-Overview:...
August 1975	~250	Om Hajer	The villagers were machine gunned in front of a river to prevent escape.
1985-10-19	39	Mogoraib
April, 1988	3	Agordat Agordat Agordat is a city in Eritrea. It was the former capital of the now defunct Barka Province of Eritrea .- Overview :...	Killed by aerial attacks.
1988-05-04	unknown	Shebah
1988-12-05	400+	She'eb	The dead were mostly women and children as the men had moved to the towns to eke out a living for their impoverished village.
3–4 April 1990	67 killed, 125 wounded	Afabet Afabet -Overview:Afabet is the capital of the Afabet district.The site of a major battle in the Eritrean War of Independence, the city is still surrounded by trenches but has been largely rebuilt.-References:*...	Aerial attacks
24 April 1990	50 killed, 110 wounded	Massawa Massawa Massawa, also known as Mitsiwa Massawa, also known as Mitsiwa Massawa, also known as Mitsiwa (Ge'ez ምጽዋዕ , formerly ባጽዕ is a city on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea. An important port for many centuries, it was ruled by a succession of polities, including the Axumite Empire, the Umayyad Caliphate,...	Aerial attacks, cluster bombs

Throughout the conflict Ethiopia used "anti-personnel gas" and weapons of mass destruction

Weapons of mass destruction

A weapon of mass destruction is a weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans and/or cause great damage to man-made structures , natural structures , or the biosphere in general...

, including napalm, and other incendiary devices.

See also

• Eritrean War of Independence
  Eritrean War of Independence
  The Eritrean War of Independence was a conflict fought between the Ethiopian government and Eritrean separatists, both before and during the Ethiopian Civil War. The war started when Eritrea’s autonomy within Ethiopia, where troops were already stationed, was unilaterally revoked...