Eritrean Defence Forces#National service

Military history in Eritrea stretches back for thousands of years; from ancient times to present day, the society of the Eritreans have dealt with both war and peace. During the kingdom of Medri Bahri, the military fought numerous battles against the invading forces of the Abyssinians to the south and the Ottoman Turks at the Red Sea.{{cite book|title=Eritrea: A Pawn in World Politics|author=Yohannes, O.|date=1991|publisher=University of Florida Press|isbn=9780813010441|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sG41eDVRDnoC|page=31|access-date=27 October 2014}}

During the 16th century, the port of Massawa was used by the Ottomans to protect sea lanes from disruption, while more recently it was used by the Italians during their colonial occupation. The kingdom of Medri Bahri was dissolved and the Colony of Eritrea was founded by the Italians in 1890, shortly after the opening of the Suez Canal. When Italian troops occupied Ethiopia in 1936, Eritrean native soldiers (known as Askaris) supported the invading force. However, this was reversed by British and Ethiopian troops in 1941. The Eritrean infantry battalions and cavalry squadrons of the "Regio Corpo Truppe Coloniali" (Royal Colonial Corps) saw extensive service in the various Italian colonial territories between 1888 and 1942.

During the war for Eritrea's independence rebel movements (the ELF and the EPLF) used volunteers. In the final years of the struggle for independence, the EPLF ranks grew to 110,000 volunteers (some 3% of the total population).{{cite news| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/10/13/eritrea-operating-as-a-land-in-limbo/bd119947-e36c-468d-b664-040912e669d5/| title = Eritrea Operating As a Land in Limbo | newspaper = The Washington Post}}{{Citation needed|reason= a claim of numbers requires a source |date=November 2020}}

{{POV|date=March 2021}}

During the first two decades of independence, the EDF formally had the power to detain and arrest civilians, and used this power to help police detain and arrest civilians, which systematically happened for arbitrary reasons. Together with police, EPLF members and government officials, the EDF carried out widespread torture of Eritreans.

Military-run prisons included the underground Track B (or Tract B) in the west of Asmara, holding 2,000 detainees; Adi Abeto near Asmara; Wi'a, 32 km south of Massawa, for holding military prisoners (escaped conscripts and draft evaders) and members of unauthorised religions; Mitire, in north-eastern Eritrea for religious prisoners; Haddis Ma'askar, mostly underground, near the Sawa military base; Ala Bazit in a desert next to the Ala mountains; and Mai Dima near Berakit Mountain for Kunama detainees.

{{Update|date=October 2022}}{{main|Tigray War}}

In the Tigray War, the EDF was attributed the main responsibility for the extrajudicial killing of hundreds of civilians in the Aksum massacre, that mainly took place on 28–29 November 2020 in Aksum, according to investigations by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. {{As of|2021|02|26}}, just after the publication of the Amnesty International report, Al Jazeera English had not received responses from Eritrean officials, but commented that the Eritrean Minister of Information had stated in January 2021 that "the rabid defamation campaign against Eritrea [was] on the rise again".

On 12 November 2021, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control added the EDF to its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list for being "a government entity that has engaged in, or whose members have engaged in, activities that have contributed to the crisis in northern Ethiopia or have obstructed a ceasefire or peace process to resolve such crisis".{{Cite web|title=Treasury Sanctions Four Entities and Two Individuals in Connection with the Crisis in Ethiopia|url=https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0478|access-date=2022-01-16|website=U.S. Department of the Treasury|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Ethiopia-Related Designations; Kingpin Act Designations Removals; Issuance of Ethiopia-Related General License and Frequently Asked Questions|url=https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/recent-actions/20211112|access-date=2022-01-16|website=U.S. Department of the Treasury|language=en}}

The EDF was led from 1991{{citation needed|date=July 2021}} by Ogbe Abraha, until 2000, when he was dismissed for his participation in the G-15 group of ministers who called for political change in Eritrea. A prison guard stated that Ogbe died in prison in 2002 from asthma. {{As of|2014}}, the Chief of Staff is Filipos Woldeyohannes.

The Eritrean Defence Forces are considerably small when compared to the largest in Africa such as those of Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco. The size of Eritrea's population is small, particularly when compared to its neighbors. During peacetime, the military of Eritrea numbers approximately 120,000,{{Cite web |title=2025 Eritrea Military Strength |url=https://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.php?country_id=eritrea |access-date=2025-01-23 |website=www.globalfirepower.com |language=en-US}} with a reserve force of approximately 130,000.

{{Main|Conscription in Eritrea}}

Every able bodied man and woman is required to serve ostensibly for 18 months. In this time they receive six months of military training and the balance is spent working on national reconstruction projects. This program allegedly aims to compensate for Eritrea's lack of capital and to reduce dependence on foreign aid, while welding together an ethnically diverse society, half Christian and half Muslim, representing nine ethnic groups.{{cite web |last=Connell |first=Dan |date=September 1997 |title=Eritrea |url=http://www.fpif.org/briefs/vol2/v2n45eri_body.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060918214106/http://www.fpif.org/briefs/vol2/v2n45eri_body.html |archive-date=18 September 2006 |access-date=19 September 2006}} This is outlined in both the Constitution of Eritrea and Proclamation 82 issued by the National Assembly on 1995-10-23.{{cite web|url=http://www.child-soldiers.org/document_get.php?id=772 |title=Eritrea |access-date=13 October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927040220/http://www.child-soldiers.org/document_get.php?id=772 |archive-date=27 September 2007 |url-status=usurped}} However, the period of enlistment may be extended during times of national crisis and the typical period of national service is considerably longer than the minimum. Since the 1990s, conscription has been effectively open-ended; this draft policy has been likened to "slavery" and has earned international condemnation.{{Cite web |date=September 20, 2019 |title=Issue 23: Open-Ended Conscription in Eritrea's National Military Service: Here is How to Improve the Policy |url=https://horninstitute.org/issue-23-open-ended-conscription-in-eritreas-national-military-service-here-is-how-to-improve-the-policy/ |access-date=2022-10-20 |website=horninstitute.org |language=en-US}}{{Cite journal |date=2019-08-08 |title="They Are Making Us into Slaves, Not Educating Us": How Indefinite Conscription Restricts Young People's Rights, Access to Education in Eritrea |journal=Human Rights Watch |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/08/08/they-are-making-us-slaves-not-educating-us/how-indefinite-conscription-restricts |language=en|last1=Bader |first1=Laetitia }}{{Cite web |date=2019-09-25 |title=Open-ended Conscription in Eritrea's National Military Service: Here is How to Improve the Policy |url=https://www.africaportal.org/publications/open-ended-conscription-eritreas-national-military-service-here-how-improve-policy/ |access-date=2022-10-20 |website=Africa Portal}}

Military training is given at the Sawa Defence Training Centre and Kiloma Military Training Centre. Students, both male and female, are required to attend the Sawa Training Centre to complete the final year of their secondary education, which is integrated with their military service. If a student does not attend this period of training, he or she will not be allowed to attend university - many routes to employment also require proof of military training. However, they may be able to attend a vocational training centre, or to find work in the private sector. At the end of the 1½-year national service, a conscript can elect to stay on and become a career military officer. Conscripts who elect otherwise may, in theory, return to their civilian life but will continue to be reservists. In practice, graduates of military service are often chosen for further national service according to their vocation - for example, teachers may be compulsorily seconded for several years to schools in an unfamiliar region of the country. According to the Government of Eritrea, "The sole objective of the National Service program is thus to cultivate capable, hardworking, and alert individuals."{{cite news|url=http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-07-18-in-eritrea-youth-frustrated-by-long-service|title=In Eritrea, youth frustrated by long service|access-date=1 March 2007}}

Eritrean conscripts are used in non-military capacities as well. Soldiers are often used as supplemental manpower in the country's agricultural fields picking crops, though much of the harvested food is used to feed the military rather than the general population.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}{{Short description|Military force of Eritrea}}

In 2012 the government created People's Militia (known natively as the "Hizbawi Serawit"), to provide additional military training to civilians and assist in development work. Many elderly citizens have been forced to join. Its organizational structure is set up by profession and/or geographic. It serves as a form of national service.{{Cite web|title=Country Guidance on Eritrea|url=https://reflekt.ch/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/00443_ukut_iac_2016_mst_ors_eritrea_cg.pdf}} In 2013, it was led by Brigadier General Teklai Manjus.{{Cite web|title=Eritrea - People's Army|url=https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/eritrea/peoples-army.htm|access-date=2021-07-06|website=www.globalsecurity.org}}

While men make up the majority of the Eritrean military women play a major role, with 30% of the EDF’s personnel being women. This can be attributed to the fact that all Eritrean’s regardless of gender are required to participate in mandatory military training at the Sawa Defense Training Centre. The only exception to this is students who pass the matriculation examination, which allows them admittance into university and complete National Service afterwards in a professional capacity.{{Cite book |last=Riggan |first=Jennifer |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1kft8gz |title=The Struggling State: Nationalism, Militarism, and the Education of Eritrea |date=2016 |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=978-1-4399-1270-6}} The women in the EDF are trained the same as the men and are given the same roles and responsibilities as the men as well. The historically high female participation in the Eritrean military has been one of the reasons for women's activism within the country.{{Cite journal |last=Bernal |first=Victoria |date=2000 |title=Equality to Die For?: Women Guerrilla Fighters and Eritrea's Cultural Revolution |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/24497999 |journal=Political and Legal Anthropology Review |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=61–76 |issn=1081-6976}} Which has led to an increase in Eritrean women’s representation in the National Assembly, with 30% of the seats being officially reserved for women due to the efforts of the NUEW (National Union of Eritrean Women).{{Cite journal |date=1983-01-01 |title=Women's movement in Eritrea: An interview |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/03056248308703556 |journal=Review of African Political Economy |volume=10 |issue=27-28 |doi=10.1080/03056248308703556 |issn=0305-6244|url-access=subscription }} The rise in female activism is due to many former female combatants finding that women’s rights did not change after the war for independence even though gender equality was one of the leading ideals of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF).{{Cite journal |last=Zerai |first=Worku |date=1994 |title=Organising Women within a National Liberation Struggle: Case of Eritrea |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4401967 |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=29 |issue=44 |pages=WS63–WS68 |issn=0012-9976}} Even with some of the improvements to female representation within the Eritrean government, women are opposed to mandatory service due to being at risk of sexual violence, unwanted pregnancies, and the risk of HIV/AIDS infection. This fear of sexual assault comes from a history of sexual violence against female conscripts by military commanders in the Eritrean national Service.{{Cite journal |last=Kibreab |first=Gaim |date=2017-03-06 |title=Sexual Violence in the Eritrean National Service |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/asr.2017.5 |journal=African Studies Review |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=123–143 |doi=10.1017/asr.2017.5 |issn=0002-0206}} While women in the EDF are treated as equals in many aspects, there are still gender disparities that lead to protest and resentment towards the EDF.{{Cite journal |last=Burgess |first=Doris |date=1989-01-01 |title=Women and war: Eritrea |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/03056248908703832 |journal=Review of African Political Economy |volume=16 |issue=45-46 |doi=10.1080/03056248908703832 |issn=0305-6244|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Connell |first=Dan |date=1995 |title=Eritrea: starting from scratch |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/03056249508704167 |journal=Review of African Political Economy |volume=22 |issue=66 |doi=10.1080/03056249508704167 |issn=0305-6244|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Hale |first=Sondra |date=2001 |title=The State of the Women's Movement in Eritrea |url=https://doi.org/10.1353/nas.2006.0006 |journal=Northeast African Studies |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=155–177 |doi=10.1353/nas.2006.0006 |issn=1535-6574|url-access=subscription }}

Since 2019, the Eritrea Defense Force has been helping the reestablishment of the Somali National Army. That year it clandestinely accepted 5,000 recruits for military training.{{Cite web |date=2020-06-30 |title=Eritrea instrumental in rebuilding of Somali army, says president |url=https://www.garoweonline.com/en/news/somalia/eritrea-instrumental-in-rebuilding-of-somali-army-says-president |access-date=2024-09-14 |website=Garowe Online |language=en |quote=Eritrea first admitted 5,000 recruits in 2019}} During the Tigray War that began in 2020, Amhara militants involved in the conflict received expert military training from the EDF.{{Cite journal |last=Kebede |first=Agenagn |date=2024-10-24 |title=The immediate causes of the Amhara Fano Force's rebellion against the government of Abiy Ahmed |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10246029.2024.2415946 |journal=African Security Review |pages=1–13 |doi=10.1080/10246029.2024.2415946 |issn=1024-6029|url-access=subscription }}

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{{cite news | title= Ethiopia confirms reports of rape in Tigray war | date= 2020-02-12 |agency = AFP |newspaper= The Guardian (Nigeria) | url= https://guardian.ng/news/world/ethiopia-confirms-reports-of-rape-in-tigray-war/ |access-date=2021-02-13 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210213135944/https://guardian.ng/news/world/ethiopia-confirms-reports-of-rape-in-tigray-war/ |archive-date= 2021-02-13 |url-status=live }}

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{{cite web | last1 = Tronvoll | first1 =Kjetil |author1-link = Kjetil Tronvoll | title= The Lasting Struggle for Freedom in Eritrea – Human Rights and Political Development, 1991–2009 | website= www.ehrea.org |date = 2009-07-22 | url = http://www.ehrea.org/eritrearapport_2_endelig_versjon.pdf | access-date = 2021-02-13 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210213014319/http://www.ehrea.org/eritrearapport_2_endelig_versjon.pdf |archive-date= 2021-02-13 |url-status=live }}

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{{cite news | last1= Alberizzi | first1= Massimo A. | language =it | title= Fotografie di morte |trans-title = Photography of a death | date= 2005-10-25 |newspaper= Corriere della Sera | url= https://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Esteri/2005/09_Settembre/11/speciale_eritrea.shtml |access-date=2021-02-13 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210213213648/https://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Esteri/2005/09_Settembre/11/speciale_eritrea.shtml |archive-date= 2021-02-13 |url-status=live }}

{{cite web | last1 =Hagos | first1 =Mesfin | author1-link =Mesfin Hagos | title= Eritrea's Role in Ethiopia's Conflict and the Fate of Eritrean Refugees in Ethiopia | website= African Arguments |date =2020-12-04 | url = https://africanarguments.org/2020/12/eritreas-role-in-ethiopias-conflict-and-the-fate-of-eritrean-refugees-in-ethiopia | access-date = 2021-02-07 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210207201820/https://africanarguments.org/2020/12/eritreas-role-in-ethiopias-conflict-and-the-fate-of-eritrean-refugees-in-ethiopia/ |archive-date= 2021-02-07 |url-status=live }}

{{cite web | last1 = de Waal | first1 =Alex |author1-link =Alex de Waal | last2= Gebrehiwot Berhe | first2= Mulugeta |author2-link = Mulugeta Gebrehiwot |title= Transcript – Call between Mulugeta Gebrehiwot and Alex de Waal 27 January 2021 | website= World Peace Foundation |date = 2021-01-27 | url = https://sites.tufts.edu/reinventingpeace/files/2021/01/Mulugeta-Call-27-Jan-Full-transcript1-1.pdf | access-date = 2021-01-30 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210129211458/https://sites.tufts.edu/reinventingpeace/files/2021/01/Mulugeta-Call-27-Jan-Full-transcript1-1.pdf |archive-date= 2021-01-29 |url-status=live }}

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{{cite web | title= The massacre in Axum | website= Amnesty International |date =2021-02-26 | url = https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/02/ethiopia-eritrean-troops-massacre-of-hundreds-of-axum-civilians-may-amount-to-crime-against-humanity | access-date = 2021-02-27 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210226160802/https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/AFR2537302021ENGLISH.PDF |archive-date= 2021-02-26 |url-status=live}}

{{cite web | title= Ethiopia: Eritrean Forces Massacre Tigray Civilians | website= Human Rights Watch |date = 2021-03-05 | url = https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/03/05/ethiopia-eritrean-forces-massacre-tigray-civilians | access-date = 2021-03-09 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210308011441/https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/03/05/ethiopia-eritrean-forces-massacre-tigray-civilians%23 |archive-date= 2021-03-08 |url-status=live }}

{{cite news | title= Killings in Axum by Eritrea troops 'may amount to war crimes' |newspaper= Al Jazeera English |date=2021-02-26 | url= https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/26/killings-in-axum-by-eritrea-may-amount-to-war-crimes-amnesty |access-date= 2021-03-15 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20210315154228/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/26/killings-in-axum-by-eritrea-may-amount-to-war-crimes-amnesty |archive-date= 2021-03-15 |url-status=live }}

{{cite news | title= Six Eritrean political leaders have died in prison: ex-guard | date= 2010-05-07 |newspaper= Asmarino | url= https://www.asmarino.com/news/661-six-eritrean-political-leaders-have-died-in-prison-ex-guard |access-date=2021-07-03 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210702235244/https://www.asmarino.com/news/661-six-eritrean-political-leaders-have-died-in-prison-ex-guard |archive-date= 2021-07-02 |url-status=live }}

{{cite web | title= General Ogbe Abraha | website= Amnesty International |date = 2019-09-27 | url = https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2019/09/general-ogbe-abraha-eritrea-hrds-arrested-never-seen-or-heard-from-again | access-date = 2021-07-03 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210702232929/https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2019/09/general-ogbe-abraha-eritrea-hrds-arrested-never-seen-or-heard-from-again |archive-date= 2021-07-02 |url-status=live }}

{{cite news|date=19 March 2014|title=Eritrea Appoints New Chief of Staff|work=tesfanews.net|url=https://tesfanews.net/eritrea-appoints-new-chief-of-staff/|access-date=13 June 2021}}

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Attribution

• This article incorporates public domain text from U.S. State Department: Background Notes.

• {{cite journal |first=Jason |last=Warner |title=Eritrea's military unprofessionalism and US security assistance in the Horn of Africa |journal=Small Wars & Insurgencies |volume=24 |issue=4 |date=October 2013|pages=696–711 |doi=10.1080/09592318.2013.857940 |s2cid=145445986 }}

• {{commons category-inline}}
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100201234428/http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_189.shtml ACIG]}}
• [https://archive.today/20080229193601/http://afvid.topcities.com/country/eritrea.html AFVID (Mika Golf's armored vehicles) Eritrean fighting vehicles]
• [http://www.hazegray.org/worldnav/africa/africa.htm#3 Hazegray World Navies Today - Eritrea]
• [http://digilander.libero.it/wrnzla/ Ascari: I Leoni di Eritrea/Ascari: The Lions of Eritrea.]
• [http://www.thecuttingedgenews.com/index.php?article=980&pageid=37&pagename=Page+One: Iran Deploys Troops, Ballistic Missiles To Eritrea]

{{Military of Africa}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Military Of Eritrea}}

Category:Military units and formations established in 1991

Category:1991 establishments in Eritrea

Category:Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List