History of Eritrea: Encyclopedia II - History of Eritrea - British administration and federalization

History of Eritrea - British administration and federalization

Although Italian colonization in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries gave Eritrea its boundaries, Eritrean separatism as a political goal had its roots in World War II. British forces defeated the Italian army in Eritrea in 1941 at the Battle of Keren and placed the colony under British military administration until Allied forces could determine its fate. Absent agreement among the Allies about the status of Eritrea, British administration continued for the remainder of World War II and into 1950. In the immediate postwar years, the British proposed that Eritrea be divided along religious lines and parceled off to Sudan and Ethiopia. The Soviet Union, anticipating a communist victory in the Italian polls, initially supported returning Eritrea to Italy under trusteeship or as a colony. Arab states, seeing Eritrea and its large Muslim population as an extension of the Arab world, sought the establishment of an independent state.

In the absence of Allied agreement, and in the face of Eritrean demands for self-determination, a United Nations (UN) commission was dispatched to the former colony in February 1950 in the hope of finding a solution. The commission proposed the establishment of some form of association with Ethiopia, and the UN General Assembly adopted that proposal along with a provision terminating British administration of Eritrea no later than September 15, 1952. The British, faced with a deadline for leaving, held elections on March 16, 1952, for a representative Assembly of 68 members, evenly divided between Christians and Muslims. This body in turn accepted a draft constitution put forward by the UN commissioner on July 10. On September 11, 1952, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (r. 1930–74) ratified the constitution. The Representative Assembly subsequently became the Eritrean Assembly. In 1952, the United Nations resolution to federate Eritrea with Ethiopia went into effect. The resolution ignored Eritrean pleas for independence, but guaranteed Eritreans some democratic rights and a measure of autonomy. Almost immediately after the federation went into effect, however, these rights began to be abridged or violated.

The details of Eritrea’s association with Ethiopia were established by the UN General Assembly resolution of September 15, 1952. It called for Eritrea and Ethiopia to be linked through a loose federal structure under the sovereignty of the emperor. Eritrea was to have its own administrative and judicial structure, its own flag, and control over its domestic affairs, including police, local administration, and taxation. The federal government, which for all intents and purposes was the existing imperial government, was to control foreign affairs (including commerce), defense, finance, and transportation. As a result of exposure to Italian and especially British methods of governance and political life, Eritreans had developed a distinct sense of cultural identity and superiority vis-à-vis Ethiopians, and a desire for political freedoms alien to Ethiopian political tradition. From the start of the federation, however, Haile Selassie attempted to undercut Eritrea’s independent status, a policy that alienated many Eritreans. The emperor pressured Eritrea’s elected chief executive to resign, made Amharic the official language in place of Arabic and Tigrinya, terminated the use of the Eritrean flag, imposed censorship, and moved many businesses out of Eritrea. Finally, in 1962 Haile Selassie pressured the Eritrean Assembly to abolish the federation and return to the imperial Ethiopian fold, much to the dismay of those in Eritrea who favored a more liberal political order.

In the earlier decades, Ethiopia had expanded very much to south and east, becoming inclusive of much Galla, and other tribes than traditionally christian highlanders, as well as several other languages not related to Ethiopian semitic. Ethiopia was clearly then an empire of a variety of languages and ethnicities, now most of them differing very much from Eritreans. The ethnicities with whom Eritreans had most in common (i.e, certain tribes in northern Ethiopia) were a minority in the country, and held no longer any significant power in the empire after Shewans had gained the central government as result of Menelek II's accession. These circumstances may explain some of the reasons why Eritreans desired independence rather than becoming a part of Ethiopian empire. Had Tigrinyans of northern Ethiopia any say in the matter, they possibly would also have preferred independence for themselves.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "British administration and federalization", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki