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Prologue


Ethiopia and Eritrea long had tense relations. Ethiopia dominated Eritrea ever since independence, whether that be by the nationalist Emperor Haile Selassie or the communist DERG dictatorship. Eritrea was first period from colonial ownership in 1951 and given to Ethiopoa, albeit as a federation.

In 1961 Haile Selassie declared the dissolution of the federation and annexed Eritrea through force of arms. From the 1960's onward the Eritreans fought for self determination and their independence from the brutal tactics of Selassie.

Though they were still under occupation in 1972 the traditional soviet style communist ELF (Ertirean Liberatian Front) was challenged by the "African Socialist" EPLF (Eritrean People's Liberatian Front) aided by the TPLF (Tigreyan People's Liberatian Front), which was similar but fought for the of the Tigreyan ethnic group.

While the EPLF failed to destroy the ELF, the ELF was unable to suppress the EPLF and the TPLF. Soon after the Selassie regime was overthrown by a cabal of communist generals that called themselves collectivity the DERG. They proved little different than the Empire and discredited the ELF by being the prime proxy of USSR in East Africa.

After the consolidation of power in the radical vanguard in 1977 following the Ethopian Civil War, hostilities between them and the ELF resumed. In 1980 the final blow against the ELF was struck and the remnants fled to Sudan. The EPLF and its leader, Isaias Afewerki, became the prime opposition to the DERG.

Throughout the 80's the war escalated with the use of "anti personal gas", napalm and other chemical agents being alleged. With the Ascension of Gorbachov to the seat of power in the USSR, relations cooled until the Soveit Union refused to renew the defense agreements in place. The DERG military began to collapse as the EPLF worked with the Ethiopian rebel groups, primarly led by Meles Zenawi, to advance on Addis Ababa.

The DERG surrendered in June of 1991 and its top leader fled to Zimbabwe. Through agreement a independence refrendum was undertaken in 1993 with more than 99% agreeing that Eritrea should be its own country. Despite the supposed friendliness between Zenawi and Afewerki, many in the Ethiopian government were angered at the independence of Eritrea. Despite the cooling of relations it was hoped that any conflict could be avoided until the Eritreans invaded Badme, a disputed region in 1998.

This started the bloody, long slog of the Ethio-Eritrean war. Ethiopia quickly retook Badme and the boarder regions and advanced into Ertirea proper. Both countries spent wild sums of money that they could not afford into state of the art military gear and equipment and due to this, several waves of famine spread though both countries. By 2000, little was gained by either side and those at home clamored for peace. Forced by their starving people, the governments signed peace and the border became mostly patrolled by UN forces. However, this would leave Ethiopia still with the disputed regions, and a recipe ripe for a rematch...
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