#eritrean war of independence

[rachel-sylvan-author]

"To Asmara" by Thomas Keneally

Read Around the World: Eritrea

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.23 (After 1940)

1940 – The Rhythm Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, kills 198 people. 1941 – World War II: The Greek government and King George II evacuate Athens before the invading Wehrmacht. 1942 – World War II: Baedeker Blitz: German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck. 1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler's designated successor, Hermann Göring, sends him a telegram asking permission to take leadership of Nazi Germany. Martin Bormann and Joseph Goebbels advise Göring that the telegram is treasonous. 1946 – Manuel Roxas is elected the last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. 1949 – Chinese Civil War: Establishment of the People's Liberation Army Navy. 1951 – Cold War: American journalist William N. Oatis is arrested for espionage by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia. 1961 – Algiers putsch by French generals. 1966 – Aeroflot Flight 2723 crashes into the Caspian Sea off the Absheron Peninsula, killing 33 people. 1967 – Soviet space program: Soyuz 1 (Russian: Союз 1, Union 1) a crewed spaceflight carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov is launched into orbit. 1968 – Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university. 1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army and Razakars massacre approximately 3,000 Hindu emigrants in the Jathibhanga area of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). 1979 – SAETA Flight 011 crashes in Pastaza Province, Ecuador, killing all 57 people on board. The wreckage was not discovered until 1984. 1979 – Blair Peach, a British activist, was fatally injured after being knocked unconscious during an Anti-Nazi League demonstration against a National Front election meeting in Southall, London. 1985 – Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula is back on the market in less than three months. 1990 – Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations. 1993 – Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum. 1993 – Sri Lankan politician Lalith Athulathmudali is assassinated while addressing a gathering, approximately four weeks ahead of the Provincial Council elections for the Western Province. 1999 – NATO bombs the headquarters of Radio Television of Serbia, as part of their aerial campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. 2005 – The first YouTube video, titled "Me at the zoo", was published by co-founder Jawed Karim. 2013 – At least 111 people are killed and 233 injured as violence breaks out in Hawija, Iraq. 2018 – A vehicle-ramming attack kills 11 people and injures 15 in Toronto. A 25-year-old suspect, Alek Minassian, is arrested. 2019 – The April 2019 Hpakant jade mine collapse in Myanmar kills four miners and two rescuers, with at least 50 others missing and presumed dead. 2024 – The 2024 Lumut mid-air collision in Malaysia kills 10 people while rehearsing for the 90th anniversary of the Royal Malaysian Navy.

[lboogie1906]

Ambassador William Davis Clarke (1941) is retired and resides with his wife, Katsuko M. Clarke, in Maryland. He has two sons and one daughter. He earned his BA at Howard University. He attended the College of the Armed Forces and received the US State Department’s Equal Opportunity Award.

For over 30 years, he worked in different parts of the world for the Department of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security. He served as a Regional Security Officer in Japan, France, Germany, Ivory Coast and Egypt. He was part of the team responsible for protecting US embassies, their personnel, and classified information. He served as the embassy’s law enforcement liaison to the host nation, arranging training for foreign police and security officers and advising American citizens about safety and security abroad. He moved to Panama where he served as the State Department’s Regional Associate Director for Security for all US embassies in South America.

He worked as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Countermeasures and Information Security. He helps develop security policy and plans for countermeasures for the Department of State’s overseas and domestic operations and facilities. President Bill Clinton nominated Clarke to serve as Ambassador to Eritrea. He was the first member of the Bureau of Diplomatic Security to be named an Ambassador.

He worked to improve the image of the US among Eritreans who felt it did little to support the two-decade-long war of secession and eventual independence from Ethiopia. He participated in Eritrea’s National Immunization Day.

He assisted Eritrea by helping to arrange US aid in the form of low-interest loans, development assistance, and food and medical programs. He signed a loan agreement for $10 million with the Eritrea government, used to purchase nearly 81,000 metric tons of wheat and sorghum to help revive Eritrea’s faltering agricultural economy. He resigned as Ambassador (2001) and retired from the US Foreign Service. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[squarcoo3]

The journey towards Eritrea's independence

On April 23, 1993, the people of Eritrea, a small East African country, embarked on a historic journey towards independence. After years of foreign rule and decades of war, the Eritrean people were finally given the opportunity to decide their own fate through a referendum. This momentous occasion marked the culmination of a long and arduous struggle for self-determination. Eritrea’s quest for…

[whitesalmanrushdie]

The Liberation campaign which finally drove the Italians out of Ethiopia conditioned the nature of the country’s international relations in the 1940s. The prominent role that the British played in the process, for their own global strategic reasons, gave them a position of ascendancy in Ethiopia. The tripartite competition among Britain, France and Italy for control of Ethiopia in the pre-1935 period was replaced by unilateral British domination. This fact was given legal embodiment in the agreements that Ethiopia was forced to sign with Britain in 1942 and 1944. On the basis of these agreements, and under the convenient excuse that the continuation of World War Two required making adequate provisions for Allied defence, the British came to assume extensive control over Ethiopia’s finance, administration and territorial integrity. In the first Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement of 1942, although the British nominally recognized the ‘free and independent’ status of Ethiopia, almost every article underlined its dependency and the preponderant role of Britain... In short, the status they reserved for the country was aptly expressed by the term they chose for it, despite protests: Occupied Enemy Territory Administration.

All this was clearly not to the liking of the emperor. While grateful to the British for helping him to return from exile to the throne that he had lost five years earlier, he was not prepared to stomach for long the curtailment of his prerogatives. What he aspired to was the reconstitution of his autocratic powers on an even more solid base, in partnership with the British, but not through subservience to them. What the British sought was apparently to drag the country back to its pre-1935 level, depriving it of even the few benefits of Italian colonial rule. The second Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement, signed in 1944, went some way to restore Ethiopia’s sovereign rights. The precedence enjoyed by the British minister over all other foreign representatives was lifted. The Ethiopian government regained its freedom to appoint foreigners of any nationality as advisers or officers.

...

While the Agreement of 1944 thus gave the Ethiopian state a relatively greater margin of independence, the British none the less still retained substantial control over the country’s destiny. This was particularly evident with regard to Ethiopia’s territorial integrity. Taking advantage of their strong military presence in the country, the British took control of both Eritrea and the Ogaden. Soon, they started to devise plans for the future: in both cases, these plans envisaged the severance of the territories from Ethiopia. The Ogaden was to be added to British Somaliland and the former Italian Somaliland, to form what was rather ominously christened Greater Somalia – the seed for Somali irredentism in subsequent decades. For Eritrea, the British had a slightly more complex arrangement. The Eritrean lowlands were to be united to Sudan, with which they shared geographical, ethnic and religious affinities. The predominantly Christian highlands, integrated with their Tegrean kin in Ethiopia, were to form a separate state. In effect, the plan envisaged a further amputation of Ethiopia in the north. It is worthy of note that the British plans for both Eritrea and the Ogaden, with the exception of the special fate reserved for the Eritrean lowlands, amounted to a perpetuation of the administrative divisions set up during the Italian Occupation.

-A History of Modern Ethiopia, 1855-1991, Bahru Zewde

A more serious quote from the book now; shows once again the continuity between fascist Italy and the liberal UK, and how even in Ethiopia, which managed to avoid outright colonial subjugation, many of the political conflicts which would plague it later had their seeds in imperialist meddling, whether Italian or British.

[brookston]

Holidays 8.19

Holidays

August Revolution Day (Vietnam)

Coco Chanel Day

Daguerreotype Day

Dahi Hangi (Maharashtra, India)

Disney PhotoPass Day

Festival of Random Access Memory

Hanawa Bayashi (Japan)

Ibumin Earoeni Day (Day of the Tribes; Nauru)

International Bow Day

International Orangutan Day

International Sheet Music Day

International Talk Like Jar Jar Binks Day

International VPN Day

Janamasthami (Parts of India)

Little Mix Day

Manuel Luis Quezón Day (Philippines)

Millet Day (French Republic)

National Aviation Day

National Day of Lesbian Pride (Brazil)

National Flight of the Monarch (Canada)

National Old Man Young Woman Day

National Patient Advocacy Day

National Photography Day

National Sandcastle and Sculpture Day

National Tuberculosis Day (Philippines)

Penguin Awareness Day

Revolution Commemoration Day (Vietnam)

Sharknado Day

Shree Krishna Janmasthami (Bangladesh, Nepal)

Soap Box Derby Day

Tesla AI Day

World Humanitarian Day (UN)

World Orangutan Day

World Photo Day

Zella Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Black Cow Day

International Hot and Spicy Food Day [also 1.16]

Life Savers Day

National Potato Day [also 10.27]

National Soft Ice Cream Day

Root Beer Float Day

3rd Saturday in August

Bookstore Romance Day [3rd Saturday]

Break the Monotony Day [3rd Saturday]

Brothers & Sisters’ Day (Ohio) [3rd Saturday]

Chef’s Appreciation Day [3rd Saturday]

Clear the Shelters Day [3rd Saturday]

Hartjesdagen (Day of Hearts; Amsterdam/Haarlem, Netherlands) [Modern 3-day holiday begins 3rd Saturday]

International Geocaching Day [3rd Saturday]

International Homeless Animals Day [3rd Saturday]

International Restaurant Day [3rd Saturday] (also Feb, May & Nov)

National Honey Bee Day [3rd Saturday]

Sandcastle & Sculpture Day (Nantucket, Massachusetts) [3rd Saturday]

World Honey Bee Day [3rd Saturday]

Independence Days

Afghanistan (from UK, a.k.a. Jeshen, commemorates the Treaty of Rawalpindi, 1919)

Lytera (Declared; 2017) [unrecognized]

Feast Days

Apple Feast of the Saviour (Slavic Pagan)

Apples Feast (Russian/Georgian Orthodox Church)

Bernardo Tolomei (Christian; Saint)

Bertulf of Bobbio (Christian; Saint)

Boohoo (Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church)

Brian Mulrooney Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Buhe (Ethiopian Orthodox Church)

Calminius (Christian; Saint)

Columbus (Positivist; Saint)

Cumin (Christian; Saint)

Ezequiél Moreno y Díaz (Christian; Saint)

Feast of the Transfiguration (Julian calendar)

Gerbrand van den Eeckhout (Artology)

Gustave Caillebotte (Artology)

Jean-Eudes de Mézeray (Christian; Saint)

Kiss Someone Day (Pastafarian)

Louis of Toulouse (Christian; Saint)

Maginus (Christian; Saint)

Magnus of Anagni (Christian; Saint)

Magnus of Avignon (Christian; Saint)

Sebaldus (Christian; Saint)

Mr. Suffleupagus (Muppetism)

Noruz (Zoroastrian New Year's Day)

The Royal Birds (Muppetism)

Sebaldus (a.k.a. Sebald’s Day; Christian; Saint) [Bavaria]

Vinalia Rustica (Festival to Venus & Ripening Grapes; Ancient Rome)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Butsumetsu (仏滅 Japan) [Unlucky all day.]

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [33 of 53]

Lucky Day (Philippines) [46 of 71]

Perilous Day (13th Century England) [24 of 32]

Umu Limnu (Evil Day; Babylonian Calendar; 38 of 60)

Very Unlucky Day (Grafton’s Manual of 1565) [36 of 60]

Premieres

Nearly Asleep (Disney Cartoon; 1955)

The Big Blue (Film; 1988)

Conan the Barbarian (Film; 2011)

Day Dreams Come True at Night, by Dick Jurgen (Song; 1939)

Easy Money (Film; 1983)

Enter the Dragon (Film; 1973)

The Fame, by Lady Gaga (Album; 2008)

The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Film; 2005)

Frosty the Snow Man, by Annie North Bedford (Children’s Book’ 1950)

Horse Feathers (Film; 1932)

Islands in the Stream, by Dolly Parton (Song; 1983)

It Started with a Kiss (Film; 1959)

I Was a Male War Bride (Film; 1949)

Kleo (German TV Series; 2022)

Kubo and the Two Strings (Animated Film; 2016)

A Lady Takes a Chance (Film; 1943)

The Midnight Special (Music TV Series; 1972)

Mr. Mom (Film; 1983)

The Pied Piper of Guadalupe (WB LT Cartoon; 1961)

The Saint Bids Diamonds (a.k.a. Thieves’ Picnic), by Leslie Charteris (Novel; 1937) [Saint #19]

Shark Tank (TV Series; 2009)

Valiant (Animated Film; 2005)

Vincent (Animated Film; 1988)

Today’s Name Days

Emilia, Johann, Julius, Sebald (Austria)

Ivan, Jordan, Magna (Croatia)

Ludvík (Czech Republic)

Selbadus (Denmark)

Maano, Maanus, Magnus, Mango, Mauno (Estonia)

Mauno, Maunu (Finland)

Jean (France)

Bert, Johann, Julius, Sebald (Germany)

Huba (Hungary)

Giovanni, Magno, Mariano (Italy)

Imanta, Marlene, Melanija (Latvia)

Argaudas, Balys, Boleslovas, Tolvina (Lithuania)

Sigvald, Sigve (Norway)

Bolesław, Emilia, Jan, Julian, Juliusz, Ludwik, Piotr, Sebald (Poland)

Lýdia (Slovakia)

Ezequiel, Juan, Magín (Spain)

Magnus, Måns (Sweden)

Sade, Sadie, Salina, Sally, Sara, Sarah, Sarai, Sari, Sarina, Zarah (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 231 of 2024; 134 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 6 of week 33 of 2023

Celtic Tree Calendar: Coll (Hazel) [Day 12 of 28]

Chinese: Month 7 (Geng-Shen), Day 4 (Ji-You)

Chinese Year of the: Rabbit 4721 (until February 10, 2024)

Hebrew: 2 Elul 5783

Islamic: 2 Safar 1445

J Cal: 21 Hasa; Sevenday [21 of 30]

Julian: 5 August 2023

Moon: 10%: Waxing Crescent

Positivist: 7 Gutenberg (9th Month) [Columbus]

Runic Half Month: As (Gods) [Day 7 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 59 of 94)

Zodiac: Leo (Day 28 of 31)

[4eternal-life]

The state of Eritrea is bordered by Sudan in west, by Ethiopia in south and by Djibouti in south east. The country shares also maritime borders with Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The former Italian colony became part of a federation with Ethiopia in 1947, in 1952 Eritrea was annexed by Ethiopia. In 1993, after a war of independence that lasted nearly three decades, Eritrea became a sovereign country.

Capital and largest city is Asmara situated on the northwestern edge of the Eritrean highlands.

Eritrea, country of the Horn of Africa (region of eastern Africa), is located on the Red Sea - its name is an Italianized version of Mare Erythraeum, Latin for “Red Sea.” The Red Sea was the route by which Christianity and Islam reached the area, and it was an important trade route that such powers as Turkey, Egypt, and Italy hoped to dominate by seizing control of ports on the Eritrean coast.

Those ports promised access to the gold, coffee, and slaves sold by traders in the Ethiopian highlands to the south, and, in the second half of the 20th century, Ethiopia became the power from which the Eritrean people had to free themselves in order to create their own state.

https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/eritrea.htm

https://www.britannica.com/place/Eritrea

State of Eritrea relief map.

by InzilaOrg

[silentambassadors]

Like some of the post-colonial world, the history of Eritrea starts with the conglomeration of a number of ancient kingdoms and nation-groups when the invading colonial power arrived (in this case, Italy).  During the early days of independence movements (and, as it happens, following the defeat of the Axis powers at the end of WWII), governance of Eritrea was passed to the British, and then to the Ethiopian Empire - in the latter instance, for a designated period of ten years.  But when 1962 rolled around, Eritrea was annexed by Ethiopia, following which it fought for 30 years for its independence, finally achieving it on May 24, 1991.  Since then Eritrea and Ethiopia have squabbled and all-out battled over various border designations and the Eritrean government continues to be one of the most restrictive and oppressive in the world.  Interestingly, Eritrea has no official language, then recognized national languages, and three working languages - Tigrinya, Arabic, and English.

Stamp details: Stamps on top: Issued on: October 16, 1910 From: Asmara, Italian Eritrea MC #41-42

Second row: Issued on: December 1, 1933 From: Asmara, Italian Eritrea MC #204, 205, 208

Third row left: Issued in: 1948 From: Asmara, British Military Administration of Eritrea MC #1

Third row middle: Issued on: May 3, 1951 From: Asmara, British Administration of Eritrea MC #30

Third row right: Issued on: September 1, 1991 From: Asmara, State of Eritrea MC #1-3

Stamps on bottom: Issued on: May 20, 2011 From: Asmara, State of Eritrea MC #342-343

Recognized as a sovereign state by the UN: Yes (since May 28, 1993) Official name: State of Eritrea; ሃገረ ኤርትራ; دولة إرتريا Member of the Universal Postal Union: Yes (since August 19, 1993)

[teumdimtsi]

Songs from the ELF (Eritrean Liberation Front) also known as “Jebha”. To not recognize the ELF would be doing Eritrean history an injustice. As the first liberation front to fight against Ethiopian troops in Eritrea’s war for independence, they were the forerunners in making Eritrea a free Eritrea.

[loadsofplaces]

Eritrea

General Information Eritrea is a country in East Africa. The borders of the country go back to the Italian colony Colonia Eritrea, which was founded in 1890. Following World War II, the United Nations urged Eritrea to join to Ethiopia. In 1961, the Eritrean War of Independence broke out, which would last for 30 years. In 1993, Eritrea gained independence. Since then, Eritrea has been ruled by the same leader, Isaias Afwerki, up to this day (2023) under a one-party-system. More than half of the 6.3 Million inhabitants are ethnic Tigray, around 30 % Tigré. Half of all inhabitants are Muslim, others mostly Eritrean Orthodox Christians. Eritrea has no official language, however the languages of eight major ethnic groups are recognised national languages, while Tigrinya, Arabic and English dominate in public life. The capital is Asmara.

“New Rome” During colonial times, Eritrea’s capital Asmara was called “New Rome” or “Little Rome” by Italians. Many buildings in a variety of of Modernist styles still show the impact of this time.

~ Anastasia Economy The economy of Eritrea has experienced considerable growth in recent years, indicated by an improvement in gross domestic product in 2012 of 7.5% over 2011, and has a total of $8.090 billion as of 2020. However, worker remittances from abroad are estimated to account for 32 percent of gross domestic product. Eritrea has an extensive amount of resources such as copper, gold, granite, marble, and potash. The Eritrean economy has undergone extreme changes due to the War of Independence.

~ Damian

[zvaigzdelasas]

Chinese foreign ministers have traditionally marked the new year by visiting the African continent. Wang Yi’s 2022 African tour begins with Eritrea against the backdrop of the US strategy in the Horn of Africa to gain control of the strategically vital Red Sea that connects the Indian Ocean with the Suez Canal.

Eritrea and China are close friends. China was a supporter of the Eritrean liberation movement since the 1970s. Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, the veteran revolutionary who led the independence movement, received military training in China.

More recently, Eritrea was one of the 54 countries backing Beijing’s Hong Kong policy (against 39 voicing concern in a rival Western bloc) at the UN General Assembly in October 2020.

Last November, Eritrea signed a memorandum of understanding with China to join the Belt and Road Initiative. Neighboring Djibouti is already a major participant in the BRI. So is Sudan along the Red Sea coastline.

Central to regional cohesion in the Horn of Africa is the relationship between Ethiopia and Eritrea. It has been a conflict-ridden, troubled relationship, but China, which also has close ties with Ethiopia, is well placed to mediate reconciliation.[...]

the politico-military axis between Ethiopia and Eritrea to take on the TPLF proved to be the decisive factor. China encouraged the rapprochement between Addis Ababa and Asmara.

In effect, the two leaderships understood that they have a congruence of interests in thwarting the TPLF, which is an American proxy to destabilize their countries and trigger regime changes.

Washington is mighty displeased that China’s influence in Djibouti is on the rise and resents that the Marxist Eritrean regime of Isaias Afwerki keeps the US at arm’s length.

The Horn of Africa is of great strategic importance, and Ethiopia sits at its heart. Destabilize Ethiopia and impact the whole region; install a dictatorial expansionist ethnocentric regime (TPLF); sow division and poison the atmosphere of mutual understanding and cooperation that is being built within the region – this is the neocolonial agenda. [...]

The widespread revulsion among Africans all over the continent is palpable over the US using its TPLF proxy to destabilize Ethiopia. Their collective cry is “No more” – no more colonialism, no more sanctions, no more disinformation, no more lies by CNN, BBC, etc. The cry resonates widely among the Ethiopians, Eritreans, Sudanese, Somalis, Kenyans and friends of Ethiopia.

The paradox is, Ethiopia now has a democratically elected government after decades of thuggery under the TPLF that ruled with an iron fist for more than 30 years with US backing [...]

In geopolitical terms, Washington would see many advantages in the destabilization of Ethiopia as it would trigger a multi-vector regional conflagration, as happens when multi-ethnic nations unravel – such as the former Yugoslavia or today’s India or Russia.

And neighboring countries would be inevitably sucked into ethnic wars such as Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia and Kenya – and even Egypt and Persian Gulf states.

The fact that the UAE, Turkey and Iran – improbable allies – are supporting Abiy’s desperate effort to preserve Ethiopia’s sovereignty and national cohesion and helped boost his military campaign to ward off another attempt by the US-backed TPLF to capture power speaks volumes.

In this matrix, while the US aims to dominate the hugely strategic Horn of Africa, “Plan B” will be to be the spoiler by throwing the region into turmoil so that China is also a loser. The point is, the Western world has no answer to China’s BRI.

China and Ethiopia have a strong political affinity and deep economic bonds, and Ethiopia is one of China’s top five investment destinations on the African continent. Beyond investment, relations extend to trade, infrastructure finance and other areas. Economic engagement with China has provided Ethiopia with many opportunities.

Curiously, even prior to the advent of the BRI, China was already a major financier of Ethiopia’s infrastructure. Chinese investment in the manufacturing sector – incidentally, one of the Abiy government’s focus areas currently – has contributed to the country’s economic transformation and diversification and to job creation. [...]

Simply put, if there is mayhem in Ethiopia, the locomotive of China’s BRI in the vast regions of the Horn of Africa and East Africa can potentially be slowed down, if not derailed. That is the least the US can do, faced with the grim prospect that it has no alternative offer to make to the African nations to counter the BRI.

If the BRI locomotive chugs along unimpeded, the entire Western neocolonial project in Africa in the 21st century is threatened with extinction.

The existential angst shows in the Joe Biden administration’s announcement on New Year’s Eve terminating Ethiopia’s access to the US duty-free trade program under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) “amid the widening conflict in northern Ethiopia.”

7 Jan 22

[mariacallous]

Ethiopia’s warring sides have formally agreed to a permanent cessation of hostilities, an African Union special envoy said on Wednesday, bringing hope of an imminent end to a two-year war that has displaced millions and threatened to destabilise a swath of the continent.

Nigeria’s former president Olusegun Obasanjo, in the first briefing on the peace talks in Pretoria, South Africa’s administrative capital, also said Ethiopia’s government and Tigray authorities have agreed on “orderly, smooth and coordinated disarmament.”

Representatives of the Ethiopian government and a team sent by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), a political organisation that has ruled the northern region for decades, have spent almost 10 days together in South Africa in the most serious effort yet to find a negotiated solution to the war.

An earlier truce broke down in August and violence has intensified as both sides sought success on the battlefield to strengthen their negotiating position.

Other key points in the new agreement included “restoration of law and order”, Obasanjo said, as well as “restoration of services” and “unhindered access to humanitarian supplies”.

The removal of all obstacles to the transport of food and medicine into Tigray would be seen as a breakthrough by many observers. Tigray’s six million inhabitants have suffered under a blockade since the beginning of the war, with limited humanitarian aid.

The UN said this month that the conflict was inflicting an “utterly staggering” toll on civilians while António Guterres, the UN secretary general, has described the conflict’s “devastating impact on civilians in what is already a dire humanitarian situation”.

“It is now for all of us to honour this agreement,” said the lead negotiator for Ethiopia’s government, Redwan Hussein. His Tigrayan counterpart, Getachew Reda, agreed, and noted that “painful concessions” have been made.

The war has seen a series of advances and retreats by both sides, bloody battles, drone strikes, alleged ethnic cleansing and a series of atrocities committed by all combatants.

“The level of destruction is immense,” Redwan said.

A critical question is how soon aid can return to Tigray, whose communications and transport links have been largely severed since the conflict began. Doctors have described running out of basic medicines like vaccines, insulin and therapeutic food while people die of easily preventable diseases and starvation. UN human rights investigators have said the Ethiopian government was using “starvation of civilians” as a weapon of war.

“We’re back to 18th-century surgery,” a surgeon at the region’s main hospital, Fasika Amdeslasie, told health experts at an online event Wednesday. “It’s like an open-air prison.”

The true death toll in the conflict is unknown but could be approaching levels that make the conflict one of the most lethal anywhere in the world. With no access for independent journalists and a limited presence of international humanitarians, reliable data is scarce.

Some estimate that hundreds of thousands may have died as a result of fighting and the blockade. Others put the number in the tens of thousands, including combatants.

The Ethiopian government accuses the TPLF, which played a leading role in the country’s ruling coalition until Abiy came to power in 2018, of trying to reassert Tigrayan dominance over the entire country. Tigrayan leaders accuse Abiy of repressive government and discrimination. Both deny each other’s accusations.

Eritrea, which has fought alongside neighbouring Ethiopia, was not part of the peace talks – an omission that analysts have said could seriously undermine prospects for a permanent end to hostilities. The authoritarian regime in power in Eritrea has long considered Tigray authorities a threat and has not yet reacted formally to the agreement.

Eritrean forces have been blamed for some of the conflict’s worst abuses, including gang-rapes, and witnesses have described killings and lootings by Eritrean forces even during the peace talks.

Forces from Ethiopia’s neighbouring Amhara region also have been fighting Tigray ones, but are not represented at the peace talks either. “Amharas cannot be expected to abide by any outcome of a negotiations process from which they think they are excluded,” said Tewodrose Tirfe, chair of the Amhara Association of America.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 3.20 (after 1950)

1951 – Fujiyoshida, a city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, in the center of the Japanese main island of Honshū is founded. 1952 – The US Senate ratifies the Security Treaty Between the United States and Japan. 1956 – Tunisia gains independence from France. 1964 – The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organisation) is established per an agreement signed on June 14, 1962. 1969 – A United Arab airlines (now Egyptair) Ilyushin Il-18 crashes at Aswan international Airport, killing 100 people. 1972 – The Troubles: The first car bombing by the Provisional IRA in Belfast kills seven people and injures 148 others in Northern Ireland. 1985 – Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. 1987 – The Food and Drug Administration approves the anti-AIDS drug, AZT. 1988 – Eritrean War of Independence: Having defeated the Nadew Command, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front enters the town of Afabet, victoriously concluding the Battle of Afabet. 1990 – Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering. 1991 – Khaleda Zia takes oath as the first female Prime Minister of Bangladesh. 1993 – The Troubles: A Provisional IRA bomb kills two children in Warrington, England. It leads to mass protests in both Britain and Ireland. 1995 – The Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo carries out a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, killing 13 and wounding over 6,200 people. 1999 – Legoland California, the first Legoland outside of Europe, opens in Carlsbad, California, US. 2000 – Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a former Black Panther once known as H. Rap Brown, is captured after murdering Georgia sheriff's deputy Ricky Kinchen and critically wounding Deputy Aldranon English. 2003 – Iraq War: The United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland begin an invasion of Iraq. 2006 – Over 150 Chadian soldiers are killed in eastern Chad by members of the rebel UFDC. The rebel movement sought to overthrow Chadian president Idriss Déby. 2010 – Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland begins eruptions that would last for three months, heavily disrupting air travel in Europe. 2012 – At least 52 people are killed and more than 250 injured in a wave of terror attacks across ten cities in Iraq. 2014 – Four suspected Taliban members attack the Kabul Serena Hotel, killing at least nine people. 2015 – A Solar eclipse, equinox, and a supermoon all occur on the same day. 2015 – Syrian civil war: The Siege of Kobanî is broken by the People's Protection Units (YPG) and Free Syrian Army (FSA), marking a turning point in the Rojava–Islamist conflict. 2019 – Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is sworn in as acting president of Kazakhstan, following the resignation of long-time president Nursultan Nazarbayev.

[gwendolynlerman]

Separatist and irredentist movements in the world

Tigray

Proposed state: Republic of Tigray

Region: Tigray Region, Ethiopia

Ethnic group: Tigrayan

Goal: independence

Date: 1999

Political parties: Tigray Independence Party

Militant organizations: Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF)

Current status: war

History

10th century-5th century BCE - Dʿmt kingdom

2nd century-10th century CE - Kingdom of Aksum

1137-1889 - Medri Bahri

1769-1855 - Zemene Mesafint

1935-1941 - Italian conquest of Ethiopia

1941-1943 - British occupation

1943 - Woyane rebellion

1974-1991 - Ethiopian Civil War

1975 - creation of the TPLF

1998-2000 - Eritrean-Ethiopian War

2020-present - Tigray War

Tigray is often regarded as the cradle of Ethiopian civilization. It was the center of the Dʿmt kingdom and also part of the Kingdom of Aksum and of the Medri Bahri kingdom.

Between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries, Ethiopia was divided into several regions with no effective central authority. In Tigray, the position of Governor of Tigray was established to rule the area.

In 1943, an uprising against the centralization process undertaken by Emperor Haile Selassie I took place. The region was peaceful until the beginning of the Ethiopian Civil War in 1974 during which the TPLF was established. This organization also participated in the Eritrean-Ethiopian War.

The Tigray war started in 2020 after the refusal of the TPLF, which used to be part of the Ethiopian governing coalition until 2019, to merge into a new party created by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the central government’s refusal to recognize the election for Tigray’s state council. Armed movements from other regions of Ethiopia have joined the war on the TPLF’s side, together with the Tigray Defense Forces and the Tigray Independence Party.

Tigrayan people

The Tigrayan people mainly live in Ethiopia. There are around 7 million of them.

They speak Tigrinya, a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic family, and are mostly Oriental Orthodox Christians.

Tigrayans group in social institutions whose relations are based on mutual rights and bonds. Customary law is a very important part of their culture and is widely practiced.

Vocabulary

ደዐመተ (Dʿmt) - Dʿmt kingdom

ሓይልታት ምክልኻል ትግራይ (ḥayilitati mikiliẖali tigirayi) - Tigray Defense Forces

ህዝባዊ ወያነ ሓርነት ትግራይ (ḥəzbawi wäyanä ḥarənnät təgray) - Tigray People’s Liberation Front

ቀዳማይ ወያነ (k’edamayi weyane) - Woyane rebellion

ክልል ትግራይ (kilili tigirayi) - Tigray Region

መንግሥተ አኵስም (menigišite ākwisimi) - Kingdom of Aksum

ምድሪ ባሕሪ (midirī baḥirī) - Land of the Sea

ናይኢትዮጵያ ፌዴራላዊ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ሪፐብሊክ (Nay-Ítiyop’iya Fēdēralawī Dēmokirasīyawī Rīpebilīki) - Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

ነጻነት (nets’aneti) - independence, freedom

ትግራዎት (tigirawoti) - Tigrinya people

ትግርኛ መኮነን (tigriññā mekoneni) - Governor of Tigray

ትግርኛ (tigriññā) - Tigrinya language

ውግእ (wigi’i) - war

ውግእ ትግራይ (wigi’i tigirayi) - Tigray War

ዘመነ መሳፍ��ት (zemene mesāfint) - Age of Princes

[whatevergreen]

"Soldiers occupying parts of Ethiopia’s war-torn Tigray region are engaged in an ethnic purge of native people who are being thrown into concentration camps and massacred by the dozen, a report has claimed.

The Daily Telegraph cited witnesses in the northern city of Humera, near the border with Eritrea, as saying soldiers from Amhara province had been conducting a “door-to-door” search for ethnic Tigrayan people and that thousands of residents had been forced into makeshift detention centres.

The campaign of slaughter reportedly began in July following a decision by occupying soldiers to, the paper quoted an apparent witness as saying, “exterminate all Tigrayan residents in the city”.

“If it is written in your identity card that you are Tigrayan, there is no mercy,” another person told the Telegraph.

It is only the latest report of brutal attacks on civilians in Ethiopia’s civil war. The conflict began late last year when Abiy Ahmed, the prime minister, ordered troops into the region in an attempt to crush the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

Following decades of dominance the TPLF had seen its power in government reduced after Mr Abiy became prime minister in 2018, and it withdrew its representatives from Addis Ababa entirely when he cancelled elections during the coronavirus pandemic – before holding its own polls.

Tensions that had simmered since Mr Abiy’s victory boiled over into all-out war once the sides each came to regard the other as illegitimate.

The UN’s human rights office said in March it had corroborated reports of mass killings in the Tigrayan city of Axum and Dengelat, a village, for which Eritrean soldiers allied to Mr Abiy had been blamed.

And last week several witnesses told the Associated Press they had seen Tigray forces attack a hospital and religious site in Amhara province, including with artillery. They killed civilians and looted medicine, the news agency reported.

US officials say Tigrayan fighters have “looted the warehouses, they’ve looted trucks and they have caused a great deal of destruction in all the villages they have visited”.

Tens of thousands of Ethiopians have been displaced internally or forced by the fighting to flee over the border into Sudan.

The Independent has contacted Mr Abiy’s office for comment on the reports from Humera, as well as the office of Michelle Bachelet, the UN’s human rights chief, for more information.

The Twitter account of Ethiopia’s foreign affairs ministry promoted a post late on Sunday that read: “A new wave of false allegations being lodged by TPLF operatives giving falsified accounts to what are considered reputable Int’l media outlets.

“Reporting without accurate facts that show causation simply on testimony of TPLF operatives cannot be considered fact.”

[greatworldwar2]

• Amedeo Guillet

Amedeo Guillet was an officer of the Italian Army, he was one of the last men to have commanded cavalry in war. He was nicknamed Devil Commander, and was famous during the Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia in 1941, 1942 and 1943.

Guillet was born in Piacenza, Italy on February 7th, 1909. Descended from a noble family from Piedmont and Capua. His parents were Franca Gandolfo and Baron Alfredo Guillet, a colonel in the Royal Carabinieri. Following his family tradition of military service, he enrolled in the Academy of Infantry and Cavalry of Modena at the age of 18, thus beginning his career in the Royal Italian army. He served in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War that prevented him from competing in equestrian events in the 1936 Summer Olympics Berlin Olympics. Guillet was wounded and decorated for bravery as commander of an indigenous cavalry unit. Guillet next fought in the Spanish Civil War serving with the 2nd CCNN Division "Fiamme Nere" at the Battle of Santander and the Battle of Teruel.

In the buildup to World War II, Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta gave Guillet command of the 2,500 strong Gruppo Bande Amhara, made up of recruits from throughout Italian East Africa, with six European officers and Eritrean NCOs. The core was cavalry, but the force also included camel corps and mainly Yemeni infantry. For Guillet to be given command of such a force while still only a lieutenant was a singular honour. In 1940, he was tasked to form a "Gruppo Bande a Cavallo". The "Bande a Cavallo" were native units commanded by Italian officers. Amedeo Guillet succeeded in recruiting thousands of Eritreans. His "Band", already named in the history books as "Gruppo Bande Guillet" or "Gruppo Bande Amahara a Cavallo", was distinguished for its absolute "fair play" with the local populations. Amedeo Guillet could boast of having never been betrayed, despite the fact that 5,000 Eritreans knew perfectly well who he was and where he lived. It was during this time, in the horn of Africa that the legend of a group of Eritreans with excellent fighting qualities, commanded by a notorious "Devil Commander", was born.

Guillet's most important battle happened towards the end of January 1941 at Cherù when he attacked enemy armoured units. At the end of 1940, the Allied forces faced Guillet on the road to Amba Alagi, and specifically, in the proximity of Cherù. He had been entrusted, by Amedeo Duca d'Aosta, with the task of delaying the Allied advance from the North-West. The battles and skirmishes in which this young lieutenant was a protagonist (Guillet commanded an entire brigade, notwithstanding his low rank) are highlighted in the British bulletins of war. The "devilries" that he created from day to day, almost seen as a game, explains why the British called him not only "Knight from other times" but also the Italian "Lawrence of Arabia". Horse charges with unsheathed sword, guns, incendiary and grenades against the armoured troops had a daily cadence. Official documents show that in January 1941 at Cherù "... with the task of protecting the withdrawal of the battalions... with skillful maneuver and intuition of a commander... In an entire day of furious combats on foot and horseback, he charged many times while leading his units, assaulting the preponderant adversary (in number and means) soldiers of an enemy regiment, setting tanks on fire, reaching the flank of the enemy's artilleries... although huge losses of men,... Capt. Guillet,... in a particularly difficult moment of this hard fight, guided with disregard of danger, an attack against enemy tanks with hand bombs and benzine bottles setting two on fire while a third managed to escape while in flames."

In those months many proud Italians died, including many brave Eritreans who fought without fear for a king and a people who they never saw or knew. To the end of his life, the "Devil Commander" used words of deep respect and admiration for that proud population to whom he felt indebted as a soldier, Italian, and man. He never failed to repeat that "the Eritreans are the Prussians of Africa without the defects of the Prussians". His actions served their intended purpose and saved the lives of thousands of Italians and Eritreans who withdrew in the territory better known as the Amba Alagi. At dawn, Gulliet charged against steel weapons with only swords, guns and hand bombs at a column of tanks. He passed unhurt through the British forces who were caught unaware. This action was the last cavalry charge that British forces ever faced, but it was not the final cavalry charge in Italian military history. A little more than a year later a friend of Guillet, Colonel Bettoni, launched the men and horses of the "Savoia Cavalry" against Soviet troops at Isbuchenskij. Guillet's Eritrean troops paid a high price in terms of human losses, approximately 800 died in little more than two years and, in March 1941, his forces found themselves stranded outside the Italian lines. Guillet, faithful until death to the oath to the House of Savoy, began a private war against the British. Hiding his uniform near an Italian farm, he set the region on fire at night for almost eight months. He was one of the most famous Italian "guerrilla officers" in Eritrea and northern Ethiopia during the Italian guerrilla war against the Allies occupation of the Italian East Africa.

Later in early 1942, for security reasons he changed his name in Ahmed Abdallah Al Redai, studied the Koran and looked like an authentic Arab: so when British soldiers came to capture him, he fooled them with his new identity and escaped on two occasions. After numerous adventures, including working as a water seller, Guillet was finally able to reach Yemen, where for about one year he trained soldiers and cavalrymen for the Imam's army, whose son Ahmed became a close friend. Despite the opposition of the Yemenite royal house, he succeeded in embarking incognito on a Red Cross ship repatriating sick and injured Italians and finally returned to Italy a few days before the armistice in September 1943. As soon as Guillet reached Italy he asked for Gold sovereigns, men and weapons to aid Eritrean forces. The aid would be delivered by aeroplane and enable a guerrilla campaign to be staged. But with Italy's surrender, then later joining the Allies, times had changed. Guilet was promoted to Major for his war accomplishments and worked with Major Max Harari of the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars who was the commander of the British special unit services that tried to capture Guillet in Italian East Africa. At the end of the war, the Italian monarchy was abolished. Guillet expressed a deep desire to leave Italy. He informed Umberto II of his intentions, but the King urged him to keep serving his country, whatever form its government might take. Concluding that he could not disobey his King's command, Guillet expressed his desire to teach anthropology at university.

Following the war, Guillet entered the Italian diplomatic service where he represented Italy in Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Morocco, and finally as ambassador to India until 1975. In 1971, he was in Morocco during an assassination attempt on the King. On June 20, 2000, he was awarded honorary citizenship by the city of Capua, which he defined as "highly coveted". On 4 November 2000, the day of the Festivity of the Armed Forces, Guillet was presented with the Knight Grand Cross of the Military Order of Italy by President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. This is the highest military decoration in Italy. Guillet is one of the most highly decorated (both civil and military) people in Italian history. In 2001, Gulliet visited Eritrea and was met by thousands of supporters. The group included men who previously served with him as horsemen in the Italian Cavalry known as Gruppo Bande a Cavallo. The Eritrean people remembered Gulliet's efforts to help Eritrea remain independent of Ethiopia. In 2009, his 100th birthday was celebrated with a special concert at the Palazzo Barberini in Rome. Amedeo Guillet died on June 16th, 2010, in Rome at the age of 101.