Eritrea: Not Granted, Not Revocable By Abraham Gebremichael They call it permission. They call it recognition. They dress our independence in the clothes of a favor a gift that can be revoked, a concession that can be withdrawn. This is not history. This is not law. This is propaganda. Eritrea was not born of Ethiopia’s mercy. It was born of thirty years of blood, from Nakfa’s trenches to Assab’s waves. It was sealed in the bones of our martyrs, not in the signatures of Addis Ababa’s politicians. The record speaks. 1900, 1902, 1908: treaties fixed the line. 1952: Eritrea federated under UN auspices. 1962: Eritrea illegally annexed. 1961–1991: Eritrea fought against all odds. May 1991: Assab liberated, the last garrison fell. April 1993: 99.83% voted for independence, under the eyes of the United Nations, not under the permission of Ethiopia. Recognition was not a gift. It was an acknowledgment of reality. A recognition of what was already undeniable a sovereign people reclaiming their covenant. International law does not bend to Ethiopian hunger. The OAU Charter of 1964 uti possidetis juris froze colonial borders to prevent the unraveling of Africa. Those lines, however imperfect, were written to protect peace. Ethiopia once defended that principle. To betray it now is not law. It is appetite. They say Eritrea has failed. But whose measure do they use? Fragile states exist across the globe yet their flags still fly at the United Nations. Statehood is not revoked by smear campaigns, not rescinded by neighbors drunk on nostalgia. They call Ethiopia the “mother state.” But no mother gives birth by theft. Eritrea was never Ethiopia’s child. It was Italy’s colony, a UN federation betrayed, an annexation resisted, a nation reborn in fire. We did not wait for permission. We did not ask for recognition. We took our destiny by blood and by ballot. And no propaganda can unwrite it. To Ethiopia’s rulers: You may light false flares, scribble new fantasies in your journals, preach sovereignty on stages while redrawing maps in smoke. But the reef does not move. The record does not fade. The referendum does not reverse. Eritrea endures not granted, not revocable. Born in fire. Sealed in strength. And forever sovereign.

Posted by Ghideon Musa Aron on Thursday, October 2, 2025