Eritrean Civil Wars

Part of the Eritrean War of Independence

Map of Eritrea

Date	1st Civil War: February 1972 – 13 October 1974 2nd Civil War: February 1980 – 24 March 1981
Location	Eritrea
Result	1st Civil War: ELF fails to suppress rivals 2nd Civil War: ELF decisively defeated

Belligerents

ELF

EPLF

Supported by

TPLF

Commanders and leaders

The Eritrean Civil Wars were two conflicts that were fought between competing organizations for the liberation of Eritrea.

The First Eritrean Civil War was fought from 1972 to 1974. The Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) tried to suppress dissident groups that disliked the ELF leadership and wished to break away to form a new insurgency. Dissidents included Christians who resented an alleged Islamic bias in the ELF, inhabitants of the coast with regionalist concerns, and radical Marxists. The ELF failed to suppress the dissident groups, who ultimately united themselves into the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF).

The Second Eritrean Civil War was fought from 1980 to 1981. The EPLF attacked the ELF when it appeared that the ELF were attempting to negotiate a peace deal with the enemy Soviet and Ethiopian governments. The ELF was defeated and pushed out of Eritrea. The remnants of the ELF withdrew to the Sudan.

In 1952, Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia under great domestic controversy. Throughout the federation the autonomy of Eritrea was whittled away until it was no longer legal to teach in all of Eritrea's tongues. With increasing divisiveness being sown in the local press between Christians and Muslims the ELF was formed in Cairo, Egypt by a number of Eritrean Muslim intellectuals in 1960.

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Wikipedia