2013 Eritrean Army mutiny
2013 Eritrean Army mutiny | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Eritrean Army rebels | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Isaias Afwerki Ahmed Umer Kakay |
The 2013 Eritrean Army mutiny was mounted on 21 January 2013, when around 100 to 200 soldiers of the
Background
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/Un-eritrea.png/245px-Un-eritrea.png)
At the time of the mutiny, Eritrea had been ruled by Isaias Afwerki for two decades since its independence in 1993 from Ethiopia, following a 30-year war for independence. Initially allied with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his Tigray People's Liberation Front, whom Isaias' Eritrean People's Liberation Front had helped overthrow the communist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam, border disputes caused relations between the two nations to rapidly turn sour, and in May 1998, Eritrea invaded Ethiopia.[4] The resultant conflict killed between 70,000 and 100,000 on both sides, and left Eritrea with over a third of its territory occupied and over 650,000 people displaced.[5] Although Eritrea was awarded most of the disputed territory by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, Ethiopia still occupied most of the disputed land until the outbreak of the Tigray War in November 2020.
The war caused a severe curtailment of political freedoms and rights in Eritrea, with the
Religious activity has been strictly monitored and suppressed, with
The mutiny
Early on January 21, the soldiers surrounded the headquarters of the state broadcaster,
At 10pm, the broadcast resumed, and the station's employees were released. The soldiers were said to have withdrawn from the headquarters complex.[12] There seems to be speculation about some successful negotiations of exchange prisoners due to the absence of clarification of how events unfolded (towards the end) from both sides involved.
Reaction
Iranian media outlet, Press TV, interviewed Tesfa-Michael Gerahtu, Eritrean Ambassador to the United Kingdom, who claimed that the attempt had been fabricated, and that there had been no unrest whatsoever. There is also controversy in the name of the kind of action led by these rebel militaries. The Permanent Representative to the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Ambassador Girma Asmerom claimed that "As is the case all over the world an armed crazy, stupid and terrorist individual or group can take stupid actions... Such isolated incidents which frequently occur in the West are considered terrorist acts. I don't understand why in Africa they are considered coups d'état. It is the highest form of double standard and hypocrisy," thus implying that there had been unrest.
References
- AFP. 2013-01-22. Archivedfrom the original on 2021-03-21. Retrieved 2021-03-21.
- ^ Tekle, Tesfa-Alem (10 February 2013). "Eritrea's president breaks silence over army mutiny incident". Sudan Tribune. Archived from the original on 2013-10-11. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
- ^ Straziuso, Jason (22 January 2013). "A day after unrest reported in Eritrea, calm returns. Ambassador denied coup attempt". AP. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
- ^ "International commission: Eritrea triggered the border war with Ethiopia". BBC News. 2005-12-21. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
- ^ Eritrean, Ethiopian exchange of POWs begins CNN, 23 December 2000
- ^ William Davison, Bealfan T. Hayle. "Eritrea Mutiny Shows Growing Military Discontent With Isaias". Bloomberg. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
- ^ Hennig, Rainer Chr. (3 June 2013). "Eritrea "celebrates" 20 years of terror". Afrol News. Archived from the original on 2013-10-14. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
- ^ "Eritrea says not aware of mass arrest of Christians", Reuters, Jeremy Clarke, December 10, 2009, Retrieved June 11, 2011.
- ^ "Orthodox patriarch of Eritrea sacked". 1 February 2006. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 5 February 2007.
- ^ Plaut, Martin (28 June 2007). "Christians protest over Eritrea". BBC News. Retrieved 12 October 2009.
- ^ "Press Freedom Index 2013" Archived 2013-02-15 at the Wayback Machine, Reporters Without Borders, 30 January 2013
- ^ a b c d e "What Really Happened at Asmara's Ministry of (Dis)information ?". Reporters without Borders.