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of those regions considered themselves a distinct people, with their own language, culture and,.for the most part, a different religion from the Coptic Christian faith of the Amharas. In particular, the Oromos, a numerically important group, the Eritreans, the Somalis and the Tigreans found cause to fight for varying degrees of autonomy against first the imperial administrations, then the much more centralized authority of a new socialist state largely governed by Amharas, whose language had been made the official language of the country.
32. Eritrea, the coastal region on the Red Sea which possesses two strategic ports at Massawa and Assab, had already been torn by conflict since 1962, when the former Italian colony which claimed a long history of its own was, despite the 1950 resolution of the UN General Assembly which gave it a federated status with Ethiopia, incorporated into the Empire by Haile Selassie. The rebellion, mounted by factions which did not always see eye to eye, did not pose too serious a threat to the authorities in Addis Ababa until, after
after about 17 years, their position was favoured by events in eastern Ethiopia which Nevertheless, drew much of the national army to the Ogaden. there had been a steady stream of refugees from Eritrea into Sudan throughout most of those years, as the ability to sustain life at home was eroded by the ongoing conflict. At the beginning of 1978, the Eritrean movements were in the strongest military position they had enjoyed so far. It look a major onslaught, mounted in May 1978 after the last main towns of the Ogaden has been recaptured by Addis Ababa, to break the back of the resistance. After the first few violent clashes, Mengistu broadcast on 7 June 1978 an offer of amnesty to those Eritrean guerrillas who surrended peacefully and were willing to "strug- gle for the triumph of the revolution"
On the same occasion
•
he gave official figures of the toll of the Eritrean war to date: 13 000 soldiers and between 30 000 and 50 000 civilians killed or wounded; 200 000 people forced into exile; extensive damage to property and an estimated cost of pursuing the war of 2 500 million Birr or $ 1 200 million.
33. Whereas the leader of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPFL) on 14 June 1978 stated that his movement rejected all peaceful solutions to the Eritrean issue, further massive military gains by Ethiopian forces rapidly caused a change of mind by both major Eritrean movements, but it was too late. The Ethiopian Chief Administrator of the region, Col. Fikru Wolde Tensae, asserted that "efforts for a peaceful solution have been exhausted", and that the secessionists now had to be taught "a lesson they will never forget". The Dergue on 14 July firmly rejected the EPLF-ELF (Eritrean Liberation Front) joint peace bid, labelling it a "propaganda manoeuvre" and pledging to crush the separatists by force. The war therefore continued with renewed intensity. Large areas of
the region became desolate; their civilian population, believing their lives to be in jeopardy, fled towards the Sudan.
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