On April 8, 1941, the former Italian colony of Eritrea was placed under the British Military Administration (BMA) pending an international decision of its fate as an independent nation. Ethiopia laid claim to Eritrea and the United Nations passed a motion to federate Eritrea with imperial Ethiopia in 1952. However, the UN mandated that Eritrea was to remain as a semiautonomous, self-governing territory with legislative, executive, and judicial powers over its own domestic affairs. This was to last ten years, at which time Eritrea would become liberated. However, the autocratic Ethiopian monarch began to dismantle the federation soon after its formation. The Eritrean-Ethiopian federation (1952-1962) was short-lived and Eritrea was annexed into Ethiopia. Eritrean’s discontent ultimately intensified, first as resistance, then rebellion, and finally an armed struggle for Eritrean national liberation that persisted until 1991.
In October 1954, Sudan also voted for independence from its Egyptian and British colonizers. However, the people of South Sudan did not want to be subject to their historically cruel neighbors in Northern Sudan. They wanted to be given autonomy in a federal system, or they insisted on self-determination, including the possibility of independence from the North. It would take fifty-one long and bloody years and 2.5 million deaths before this would be realized.
A number of variables contributed to the independence movements of Eritrea and South Sudan such as the central government’s refusal to grant these areas any autonomy, the government’s imposition of religious and ethnic ideals and taking control of the area’s natural resources. The South Sudanese and Eritrean wars of independence are some of the long...
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... plagued with internal conflict amongst the rebels themselves. Strong leadership and evolving political organizations needed time to develop a platform on which all Eritreans and Southern Sudanese could unite in order for their long awaited secessions to be realized.
Bibliography
Collins, Robert O. A History of Modern Sudan. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Connell, Dan. "Eritrea: A Revolution in Process." Monthly Review 45, no. 3 (1949): 1.
Gebru, Tareke. The Ethiopian Revolution War in the Horn of Africa. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.
Iyob, Ruth. The Eritrean Struggle for Independence: Domination, Resistance, Nationalism, 1941-1993. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Jok, Jok Madut. Sudan: Race, Religion, and Violence. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2009.
Kibreab, Gaim. Eritrea a Dream Deferred. Oxford: James Currey, 2009.
Ethiopia is one of the most unique among African countries for maintaining its freedom from colonial rule, with the short exception of an occupation by the Italians from 1936-1941. A socialist state was established in 1974 with the overthrow of Emperor Selassie, who had been in control since 1930. A junta or group of military officers called the Derg was responsible for the coup. Yet, this corrupt administration has lead only to warfare and wide scale public suffering. In 1991, the junta was finally brought down by a combination of revolutionary forces who called themselves the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front. In 1994, a constitution was drafted and 1995 marked Ethiopia’s first multiparty elections. Recently, a boarder feud with Eritrea, that lasted over 2 years, was ended in December of 2000; yet recent objections by Ethiopia have delayed a final declaration of border.
Reeves, Eric, Massimo Calabresi, Sam Dealey, and Stephan Faris. “The Tragedy of Sudan.” Time. Time Inc, 4 Oct. 2004. Web and Print. 15 April 2014. .
In 1898, Britain and Egypt took control over Sudan. This didn’t include Darfur, which was an independent territory ruled by a sultan. In 1916, Britain added Darfur to the territory it controlled. After World War II, in 1945, Britain and Egypt began preparing Sudan for independence. From 1945-1989, Darfur -remote from Khartoum and having invaluable resources- suffered neglect from all governments. Sudan has been independence since 1956. However, the journey that led to Sudan’s genocide in Darfur began in the late 1800s. It’s a complicated tale that involves conquest; internal politics; social, ethnical, racial, and re...
Eritrea was part of Ethiopian history since the first century A.D. it was one major part of the Axumite and Abyssinian rulers of Ethiopia. Historical and anthropological studies show that Eritrea was part of Ethiopia’s genealogy until the 1890 Italian invasion.1 Eritrea fall under Italian c...
...d viewed independence as the British keeping their rule through their Arab colleagues. Continuous Sudanese governments have failed or been reluctant to change the inequalities brought on by colonialism in the nation and therefore discrimination is being exposed in Sudan.
Tucker, Carole. "African Nationalism and Liberation in Post World War II Africa." Suite. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Apr. 2014.
A. Adu Boahen's African Perspectives on Colonialism neatly classifies African responses to European colonialism during both phases of invasion and occupation during the 19th century with precise labels according to their nature or time period. However, the reactions can also be loosely grouped into two diametric characterizations: peaceful and violent. Although creating this dichotomy seems a gross generalization and oversimplification of the colonial African experience, it more importantly allows for a different perspective- one that exposes the overwhelming success of the typically peaceful or pacifist reaction in contrast to the little gain and large losses of the violent response.
The Web. The Web. 25 Sept. 2013. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/194084/Ethiopia>. The "Ethiopia" - "The World" Encyclopedia of the Nations.
South Sudanese independence thus far has been quite detrimental than beneficial to the people of South Sudan. On July 9, 2011, the 54th African state was born. Independence was fought to fight challenges that, as part of Sudan it endured for 56 years; however its current state has brought about challenges from within . This essay will discuss a brief history of Sudan and South Sudan and then analyse President Salva kiir’s speech in contrast to Former Nelson Mandelas’.
The first twenty-five years of Syrian independence was filled with extreme political instability and p...
The Web. November 22, 2010 http://web.ebscohost.com>. Hargreaves, John. The. “The Scramble for Africa.”
The inequality felt by the South resulted in a civil war against the North. The first Civil War took place in 1955. before Sudan declared independence and ended in 1972 resulting in autonomy for the South. Another ...
After the Italian second defeat, Haile Selassie led Ethiopia by the vision of modernization and advancement of his people live. Emperor Haile Selassie established modern schools, universities, and military, naval, air force and police academies. He even donated one of his palaces to the first university in th...
The New Imperialism and the Scramble for Africa 1880-1914. Jeff Taylor, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.