Secession Outside the Colonial Context: The Birth of Eritrea in Retrospect
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32890/jis2018.14.2Keywords:
Secession, Self-determination, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Colonialism, Resolution 16Abstract
In light of the recent waves of secessionist struggle and conflict in Africa, a number of debates have spurred the possibility of secession outside the colonial context. Sourcing data from documentary materials coupled with the application of historical methods of data analysis, this article reflects on Eritrea’s secession from Ethiopia in 1993. The study discusses and argues that Eritrea’s feat in 1993 was made possible by certain domestic and external factors that did not present themselves to earlier secessionist movements. It concludes that without those factors that made Eritrea secession possible for its re-invention, furthermore, given that the forces that propelled the 1964 Cairo Agenda are still alive and formidable, secession outside the colonial context in Africa is likely to remain a difficult endeavor.
References
Ajala, A. (1998) Decolonization and liberation in Africa. In G. Obiozor & A. Ajala (Eds.), Africa and the UN system: The first fifty years. Lagos: Nigerian Institute of International Affairs.
Anderson, G. (2013) Secession in International Law and Relations: What are we talking about? Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/ilr/vol35/iss3/1, 344
Bamfo, N. (2012). The menace of secession in Africa and why governments should care: The disparate cases of Katanga, Biafra, South Sudan, and Azawad. Global Journal of Human Social Science: Sociology, Economics & Political Science, 12, 10.
Bartkus, V. O. (1999). The dynamics of secession. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Brownlie, I. (1971). Basic documents on African affairs. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Brownlie, I. (1989). Basic documents in International Law. Oxford: Clarendon Press, Oxford.
Coggins, B. (2011) Friends in high places: International politics and the emergence of states from secessionism. International Organization, 65,1.
Connell, D. (1997). Inside the EPLF: The origins of the people’s party and its role in the Liberation of Eritrea. Review of African Political Economy, 28, 89.
Crawford, J. (1979). The creation of states in International Law. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Crowley, D. (1963). Politics and tribalism in the Katanga. The Western Political Quarterly, 16, 1.
de Waal, A. (1991). Evil days: 30 years of war and famine in Ethiopia. (New York: Human Rights Watch)
Doyle, D. H (2010). Secession as an International phenomenon: From America’s civil to contemporary separatist movements. Georgia: University of Georgia Press.
Engelbert, P. (2014) Separatism in Africa. Routledge Handbook of African Security. (ed.) J. Hentz. London: Routledge.
Fegley, R. (1995). Eritrea. Colorado: Clio Press.
Griffiths, I. (1986). The scramble for Africa: Inherited political boundaries. The Geographical Journal, 152, 2.
Haile, M. (1994). Legality of secessions: The case of Eritrea. Emroy International Law Review, 8. Olusesan A. Osunkoya & Adeniyi S. Basiru
Haile, M. (1996). The new Ethiopian constitution: Its impact upon unity, human rights and development. Suffolk Transnational Law Review, 20.
Halliday, F. (1971). The fighting in Eritrea. New Left Review, lxviii, May-June.
Heraclides, A. (1991). The self-determination of minorities in international politics. London: Frank Cass & Company Limited.
Herbst, J. (1992). Challenges to Africa’s boundaries in the new world order. Journal of International Affairs, 46, 1, Summer.
Higgins, R. (1994). Problems and process: International law and how we use it. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Iyob, R. (1995). The Eritrean struggle for independence: Domination, resistance, nationalism 1941-1993. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jacquin, D. (2006). Nationalism and secession in the Horn of Africa: A critique of the ethnic interpretation (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). London: London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London.
Jama, H. (2012). Self-determination in Africa: A case study of Somaliland (1991-2011).M.A Nairobi: University of Nairobi.
Keller, E. (2007). Secessionism in Africa. The Journal of African Policies, 13, 1.
Killion, T. (1996). The Eritrean economy in historical perspective. Eritrean Studies Review, 1, 1.
Killion, T. (1997). Eritrean workers’ organization and early nationalist mobilization: 1948-1958. Eritrean Studies Review, 2, 1.
Kohen M. G. (2006). Secession: International law perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Legum, C. (1962). The dangers of independence. Transitions, 6/7.
Lemarchand, R. (1962). The limits of self-determination: The case of the Katanga secession. The American Political Science Review, 56, 2.
Lobban, R. (1976). The Eritrean war: Issues and implications. Canadian Journal of African Studies, 10, 2.
Markakis, J. (1987). The nationalist revolution in Eritrea. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 26, 1.
Mazrui, A. (1993). The bondage of boundaries: Why Africa’s map will be redrawn. The Economist, 328.
Mussie, T. G. (2011) Eritrea. California: Greenwood Publishing Group.
Negash, T. (1997). Eritrea and Ethiopia: The federal experience. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet.
Okbazghi, Y. (1997). The United States and the horn of Africa: An analytical study of pattern and process. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Paquin, J. (2010). A stability-seeking power: U.S. foreign policy and secessionist conflicts. Quebec: McGill-Queens University Press.
Pateman, R. (1990). The Eritrean war. Armed Forces and Society. 17, 1 Fall.
Pavković, A. & Radan, P. (2007). Creating new states: Theory and practice of secession. Hampshire: Ashgate Publishing.
Plaut, M. (2002). The birth of the Eritrean reform movement. Review of African Political Economy, 91.
Plaut, M. (2002). The Eritrean Struggle for Independence: Domination, resistance, nationalism 1941-1993. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schraeder, P. J. (1992). The horn of Africa: US Foreign Policy in an Altered Cold War Environment. Middle East Journal, 46, 4.
Sherman, R. (1980). Eritrea: The unfinished revolution. New York: Praeger.
Tauval, S. (1967). The organization of African unity and African Borders. International Organizations, 21.
Thomas, C. G. (2011). The aberration of Eritrean secession, 1961-1993 (Master’s thesis). Austin: Faculty of the Graduate School, The University of Texas, USA.
Thomas, P. (2012) The road to Afabet: The EPLF, protracted warfare, and the liberation of Eritrea. Acta of the XXXVII International Congress of Military History, Decolonization, Colonial, and Independence Wars from the 18th Century to the Present (ed.). Brazilian Army Command. Rio de Janeiro: ECEME Press.
Troco, A. (2014). Determinants of successful secessions in post-colonial Africa: Analyzing the Cases of Eritrea and South Sudan. (master’s thesis). Pietermaritzburg: School of Social Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Tronvoll, K. (2009). The lasting struggle for freedom in Eritrea: Human rights and political development, 1991–2009. Oslo: Oslo Centre for Human Rights.
Whelan I. (1994). Wilsonian self-determination and the Versailles settlement. International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 43.
Wood, J. R. (1981). Secession: A comparative analytical framework. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 14,1.
Ylonen, A. (2013) The state and the southern problem in Sudan: Marginalization, self-determination and secessionism. The Bondage of boundaries and identity politics in postcolonial Africa: The Northern Problem and Ethno-Futures (Eds.), S. Ndlovu-Gatsheni & B. Mhlanga. Pretoria: Africa Institute of South Africa.
Yohannes, Y. (1993). Eritrea: A country in transition. Review of African Political Economy, 57.
Zartman, W. (1965). The politics of boundaries in north and west Africa. Journal of Modem African Studies, 3, 2.
