Katana VentraIP

Eritrean Liberation Front

The Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF; Tigrinya: ተጋደሎ ሓርነት ኤርትራ; Arabic: جبهة التحرير الإريترية; Italian: Fronte di Liberazione Eritreo), colloquially known as Jebha, was the main independence movement in Eritrea which sought Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia during the 1960s and the early 1970s. It was established in 1960 after Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie violated a 1952 UN resolution that guaranteed Eritrea the right to an autonomous government. Idris Muhammad Adam and other Eritrean intellectuals founded the ELF as a primary Pan Arab movement in Cairo, but the first attack was led by Hamid Idris Awate in 1961. Over the course of the 1960s, the ELF was able to obtain support from Arab countries such as Egypt and Sudan. However, tensions between Muslims and Christians in the ELF along with the failure of the ELF to ward off Ethiopia's 1967–1968 counter offensive internally fractured the ELF, causing it to split. By the mid 1970s, the ELF and the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), an ideologically Maoist liberation movement, were the key liberation movements in Eritrea. The EPLF ultimately overtook the ELF as the primary Eritrean independence movement by 1977, and the ELF was subsequently defeated in 1981.

Not to be confused with Eritrean People's Liberation Front.

Eritrean Liberation Front

Idris Mohammed Adem

Idris Mohammed Adem (1960–1975)
Ahmed Mohammed Nasser (1975–1982)

1960–1981

Eritrea

Kassala, Sudan (1965)

Eritrea (1960–1981)

EPLF (1970–1972, 1974–1980)
Cuba (until 1975)
China (until 1972)
Syria
Ba'athist Iraq
Saudi Arabia
Libya
Sudan
Somalia

EPLF (1972–1974, 1980–1981)
Derg
Tigray Region TPLF

History[edit]

Origins (1948–1959)[edit]

Since Italy was defeated in World War II, the fate of Ethiopia and Eritrea was left to the United Nations. A 1948 UN commission failed to agree on whether Eritrea would be independent.[1] In 1952, Eritrea became officially part of Ethiopia under UN Resolution 390 A, which was passed on December 2, 1950. However, Eritrea would remain an autonomous government, meaning that the country could have their own government structures, flag, and official language. Ethiopia was also prohibited from forcibly intervening in Eritrea's domestic occurrences.[2][3]

General Union of Eritrean Students

General Union of Eritrean Workers

General Union of Eritrean Women

General Union of Eritrean Peasants

Eritrean Red Cross and Red Crescent Society

List of incidents attributed to the Eritrean Liberation Front on the START database