Eritrea’s Long Ordeal: Ethiopian State Violence During Eritrea’s Liberation Struggle

By David Yeh

Introduction

The history of Eritrea’s struggle for independence is not merely a story of armed resistance. It is also the story of a people who endured decades of violence, collective punishment, massacres, forced displacement, and systematic repression under successive Ethiopian regimes.

For many Eritreans, the conflict did not begin with the Derg military dictatorship or even with the dissolution of the Eritrea – Ethiopia Federation in 1962. Rather, it forms part of a longer history of resistance against external domination, military incursions, and attempts to subjugate the Eritrean people.

Throughout different historical periods, Eritrean communities experienced military campaigns, raids, destruction of villages, and coercive rule by various Abyssinian rulers seeking to expand their authority northward. These experiences helped shape a distinct Eritrean political consciousness long before the modern era.

Eritreans’ hopes for independence following Italy’s defeat in World War II were dashed when Eritrea was federated under the sham Eritrea-Ethiopia federation agreement. Under the federation, Eritreans hoped they would at least preserve their political autonomy and democratic institutions. Instead, Emperor Haile Selassie gradually dismantled Eritrea’s self-governing structures. Eritrean political parties, trade unions, independent newspapers, and civic organizations were systematically suppressed. The Eritrean flag was removed, the Eritrean parliament was dissolved, and in 1962 Ethiopia formally annexed Eritrea. The annexation reinforced the thirty year war for independence which was ignited earlier.

The Haile Selassie Era: Collective Punishment and Massacres

As the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) expanded its activities during the 1960s, the Imperial Ethiopian government responded with increasingly harsh military measures. Entire communities were frequently treated as enemy populations simply because they lived in areas suspected of supporting the liberation struggle.

One of the earliest large scale campaigns occurred in 1967. Ethiopian military forces launched operations across Eritrea’s southern lowlands, burning villages and subjecting civilians to collective punishment. Thousands of civilians were reportedly killed, while tens of thousands were forced to flee into neighboring Sudan.

The most notorious crimes of the imperial era occurred in Ona and Besikdira in late 1970. Following the killing of an Ethiopian military commander by Eritrean fighters, Ethiopian forces launched a retaliatory operation against civilians near Keren. On November 30 and December 1, 1970, soldiers surrounded the villages of Ona and Besikdira. Hundreds of civilians, including women, children, and elderly residents, were rounded up and executed. Homes were burned and entire families were wiped out.

Historical accounts estimate that approximately 750 civilians were killed in Ona and around 200 more in Besikdira. The massacres became a turning point in Eritrean history. Rather than crushing support for the liberation movement, they strengthened popular determination to resist Ethiopian rule.

 The Derg Era: Escalation of State Violence

The overthrow of Haile Selassie in 1974 and the rise of the Derg military regime did not bring relief to Eritrea. Instead, violence intensified dramatically.

As Eritrean liberation forces expanded their control over large parts of the countryside during the mid-1970s, the Derg increasingly resorted to collective punishment against civilians. Whenever Eritrean fighters inflicted losses on Ethiopian forces, the military often retaliated against nearby villages and towns.

Villages were burned. Civilians were rounded up and executed. Entire communities were subjected to reprisals. Areas beyond the reach of Ethiopian ground forces were attacked from the air.

The objective was clear: terrorize the civilian population, isolate the liberation movement from its social base, and break Eritrean resistance. The strategy failed.

Instead of abandoning the struggle, thousands of Eritrean youth joined the liberation fronts. Students, teachers, doctors, civil servants, police officers, and workers left their homes and joined the revolution. Women entered the struggle in unprecedented numbers, serving as fighters, medics, organizers, and leaders. Their participation transformed both the revolution and Eritrean society itself.

The Massacres of 1975

The year 1975 stands among the darkest chapters in Eritrean history.

In March 1975, Ethiopian forces carried out the massacre known as Black Sunday in Akordat. Approximately 467 civilians were killed, scores were wounded, and around 150 homes were burned.

In Hirgigo, repeated massacres in 1975 and 1976 resulted in the deaths of roughly 500 civilians. Many victims were executed using rifles and bayonets in particularly brutal fashion.

In Embremi, seventy three civilians were executed and large sections of the village were burned. Similar atrocities occurred throughout Eritrea, including in Assab, Adi Keyh, Dekemhare, Mai Edaga, Ansaba, Debre Halib, Hadish Adi, Firkito, Was Demba, and numerous other communities. These were not accidental casualties of war. They were deliberate attacks and genocide against civilian populations.

Aerial Terror and the Bombing of Civilians

Between 1976 and 1978, Eritrean liberation forces achieved significant military victories and liberated large areas of the country. Ethiopian forces increasingly relied on aerial bombardment to compensate for their setbacks on the ground. Civilian villages, marketplaces, schools, and public gatherings became targets.

Repeated bombing raids on Mendefera in 1978 reportedly killed around 170 civilians. In Digsa, Ethiopian warplanes attacked a civilian gathering organized to establish local representative institutions, causing heavy casualties.

Such attacks became common throughout Eritrea. Communities far from active battlefields often found themselves subjected to devastating air raids intended to spread fear and punish populations living under liberation-front administration.

The Atrocities of the 1980s

Throughout the 1980s, the Derg continued its campaign against Eritrean civilians.

In Embahara and other areas of Eritrea, villages and civilian settlements were repeatedly attacked. Refugee camps, schools, and humanitarian centers were subjected to aerial bombardment despite being far removed from military operations.

Following the destruction of Ethiopia’s Nadew Command at Afabet in 1988, the Derg launched brutal reprisals. On May 12, 1988, approximately 400 civilians were massacred in She’eb when Ethiopian forces attacked the village using armored units and heavy weaponry. The attack remains one of the most infamous atrocities of the independence war.

Massawa and the Final Years of Occupation

In 1990, after Eritrean forces liberated the strategic port city of Massawa, Ethiopian forces responded with intensive aerial bombardment. Civilian neighborhoods were struck repeatedly. Families attempting to flee the fighting were targeted. Displaced civilians in Mogora and surrounding areas also suffered deadly air attacks. Even as Ethiopian control over Eritrea collapsed, the suffering inflicted on civilians continued.

Conclusion

Over three decades of war, successive Ethiopian governments employed collective punishment, village burnings, mass executions, aerial bombardment, forced displacement, and other forms of violence against Eritrean civilians.

From the massacres of Ona and Besikdira under Haile Selassie to the atrocities of Akordat, Hirgigo, She’eb, Massawa, and countless other communities under the Derg, generations of Eritreans experienced immense suffering. Yet these campaigns failed to achieve their ultimate objective.

Rather than breaking the Eritrean people’s will, they strengthened their commitment to self-determination and independence. Every destroyed village, every massacre, and every act of repression reinforced the determination of Eritreans to control their own destiny.

The history of Eritrea’s liberation is therefore not only a military story. It is also the story of a people’s endurance, resilience, and refusal to surrender in the face of overwhelming violence and oppression.