From Bahti Meskerem to Today: Remembering Eritrea’s Struggle for Sovereignty

By Sesin Seyoum

  As we commemorate Hamid Idris Awate and mark September 1st aka Bahti Meskerem, it is important to remember not only the event that took place on this day in 1961, but the long historical chain of events that preceded and followed it.

  Eritrea’s struggle for independence was not a short political dispute. It became a three decade struggle that exacted an enormous price in human lives, family separation, displacement, economic destruction, and lost opportunities for development. Understanding that cost is essential to understanding why September 1 remains such a significant date.

1951–1952: The Federal Arrangement

  Following World War II, Eritrea’s political future became the subject of international negotiations shaped by the geopolitical interests of the major powers, particularly the United States and United Kingdom.

   Rather than becoming independent, Eritrea was denied its right to decolonization and was placed in a federation with Ethiopia under United Nations General Assembly Resolution 390 A(V). The federation formally came into effect in 1952 and provided Eritrea with its own constitution, legislature, and substantial internal autonomy. That arrangement, however, proved short-lived. Eritrean political institutions and freedoms were progressively undermined, setting the stage for the eventual destruction of the federal system.

1961: September 1st and the Beginning of Armed Struggle

  On September 1, 1961, Hamid Idris Awate and his companions initiated an armed resistance against Ethiopian rule. This moment, remembered as Bahti Meskerem, marked the beginning of Eritrea’s armed struggle for independence. The following year, in 1962, Feudal Emperor Haile Selassie formally abolished the federation and annexed Eritrea into Ethiopia as a province. What followed was not merely a political disagreement. It became a prolonged war that would consume an entire generation.

The Human Price of the Struggle

  For approximately three decades, Eritreans lived through warfare that transformed nearly every aspect of civilian life. The conflict produced deaths among fighters and civilians, displacement, destruction of communities, separation of families, and disruption of everyday life. Generations grew up knowing war as part of their reality. Young Eritreans left their families and ordinary lives to join the struggle. Parents lost sons and daughters. Families were separated for years, while many Eritreans were forced into exile or became displaced from their homes.

  The economic consequences were equally profound. Agriculture and livestock, the foundation of many communities, were repeatedly disrupted. Roads, schools, health facilities, homes, and other infrastructure suffered from prolonged conflict. Trade and employment opportunities were restricted, while resources that could have supported education, economic development, and public services were instead consumed by war.

  The opportunity cost was enormous. Thirty years of conflict meant thirty years in which Eritrean communities could have been building businesses, educating children, expanding infrastructure, and developing their economy under peaceful conditions. The price of independence therefore cannot be measured only by military victories or political milestones. It must also be measured in the lives lost, families broken apart, communities displaced, property destroyed, and decades of development sacrificed.

1974: The Derg Era

  In 1974, Haile Selassie was overthrown by the military junta known as the Derg. The change in Ethiopia’s government did not bring a political settlement to the Eritrean question. Instead, the conflict intensified. The Derg launched increasingly extensive military campaigns against the Eritrean independence movement. These campaigns brought further casualties, displacement, destruction, and economic hardship to Eritrean communities.

  Rather than resolving the question of Eritrean self determination politically, the Ethiopian government continued attempting to resolve it militarily.

1991: Liberation

  After three decades of war, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) obliterated and defeated Ethiopian forces in Eritrea in 1991. The victory represented the culmination of the struggle that had begun with Hamid Idris Awate’s actions on September 1, 1961. But liberation did not erase the damage caused by the preceding decades. Eritreans emerged from the war facing the enormous task of rebuilding a society and economy devastated by prolonged conflict. Infrastructure had to be reconstructed. Communities had to recover. Families had to rebuild their lives. A generation shaped by war had to begin creating institutions and economic opportunities under conditions of independence.

  In 1993, Eritrea held a United Nations supervised referendum on independence. Eritreans overwhelmingly voted for independence, and Eritrea formally became an independent state on May 24, 1993.

1997: Adi Murug – A Prelude to War

  In 1997, tensions escalated in Adi Murug, in Eritrea’s Northern Red Sea Region, as TPLF/Weyane units reportedly encroached into Eritrean administered territory, interfered with local governance, and dismantled Eritrean public administrative structures. These actions were reportedly justified as efforts to combat opposition groups such as Ugugumo. Eritrea, however, viewed the presence and activities of Ethiopian backed forces as a violation of its sovereignty and a deliberate provocation.

  The encroachment, administrative interference, and subsequent confrontations at Adi Murug formed part of the deteriorating Eritrea – Ethiopia relationship that preceded the 1998 – 2000 war. For Eritreans, the episode was a stark reminder that only a few years after paying an enormous price for independence, they were again being forced to defend their territory, institutions, and sovereignty.

1998–2000: The Ethiopia–Eritrea War

  Independence did not bring an immediate end to conflict. In 1998, war erupted between Eritrea and Ethiopia, beginning around the disputed town of Badme and developing into a devastating interstate conflict. Once again, human beings paid the price. Soldiers and civilians were killed, families were displaced, property was damaged, and economic activity was disrupted on both sides of the border.

  The Algiers Agreement, signed on December 12, 2000, established the framework for formally ending the Eritrea-Ethiopia war and created the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) to delimit and demarcate the common border. On April 13, 2002, the Commission issued its final and binding delimitation decision. After years of obstruction prevented physical demarcation from being completed, the EEBC proceeded with demarcation by coordinates. On November 30, 2007, the Commission determined that the boundary was thereby demarcated and concluded its mandate, bringing the legal boundary process to a close. Nevertheless, the political and human consequences of the war, and the failure to implement the boundary decision on the ground, continued to shape relations between Eritrea and Ethiopia for years afterward.

2018: Peace and a New Chapter

  In 2018, Ethiopian leader Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki signed a peace declaration formally ending the state of war. For many, this created hope that the two countries could finally move beyond decades of hostility and pursue peaceful coexistence, economic cooperation, and regional stability. But the subsequent Tigray War and changing regional politics complicated that hope.

2018–Present: The Modern Cycle

  Ethiopia’s political transformation and the rise of the Prosperity Party (PP) opened a new political chapter. The 2018 peace process initially raised expectations that existing borders and sovereignty would be respected while the two countries pursued peaceful relations. More recently, however, renewed Ethiopian political rhetoric concerning Red Sea access has generated concern in Eritrea.

  There is a fundamental difference between seeking peaceful, mutually agreed commercial access to the sea and making claims that challenge the sovereignty or territorial integrity of an independent neighboring state. Eritrea’s independence was not an administrative gift that can simply be reconsidered whenever regional political circumstances change. It emerged from decades of struggle, sacrifice, and war, followed by a referendum in which Eritreans overwhelmingly chose independence.

Remembering the Price

  This is why Bahti Meskerem carries such weight. Remembering Hamid Idris Awate is not simply remembering the firing of the first shots of the armed struggle. It means remembering the generations who carried the burden that followed. It means remembering the fighters who never returned home, the civilians caught in war, the families separated by conflict, the communities forced to rebuild, and the economic opportunities lost during decades of instability. It means recognizing that independence came with a price that cannot be reduced to statistics. Human lives were lost. Families sacrificed. Communities were displaced. Infrastructure was destroyed. Economic development was delayed. Entire generations surrendered opportunities that can never be recovered. That is the enormous price paid to reclaim Eritrea’s independence. And that history matters today.

  Political disagreements may change from one generation to another, but the fundamental principle remains: the sovereignty and territorial integrity of an independent nation cannot be rewritten through political rhetoric or historical revisionism. On Bahti Meskerem, we remember Hamid Idris Awate, the fighters who followed, the civilians who endured the consequences, and the generations who sacrificed for Eritrea’s right to determine its own future.

  September 1 is therefore not merely a date in Eritrean history. It is a reminder of the price of freedom, the value of sovereignty, and the enormous human and economic cost behind the independence that Eritreans reclaimed.