25th Independence Day of Eritrea

OBSERVED annually on May 24, Eritrea’s Independence Day is the most important national holiday in the country. It was on this day in 1991 that Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) forces moved into Asmara, re-instating independence, after a 30-year battle against the Ethiopian army.

Independence Day is observed throughout the country. But the center of activities is Asmara, the country’s capital and largest settlement. Asmara is where the 1991 victory is observed with weeklong cultural programs in Bahti Meskerem and Cinema Odeon, a carnival in the principal avenues of Asmara, community banquets, musical programs along Harnet Avenue, and a lively celebration at the Asmara Stadium.

Historical accounts have it that the principal reason for Eritrea’s confederation with Ethiopia was that the two countries shared a common past. Eritrea had a strategic significance to Ethiopia because of its shoreline with the Red Sea and its natural resources. The confederation resulted in Eritrea’s becoming the 14th province of Ethiopia in 1952, marking the end of a slow method of occupation by the Ethiopian Government; a procedure which was incorporated in a 1959 decree, laying down the mandatory use of Amharic, the principal Ethiopian language, in every school of Eritrea.

A liberation campaign was launched in 1961, which broke out as a 30-year battle against Ethiopian authorities. The fighting ended in 1991, after a United Nation (UN)-monitored legislature in which the Eritrean population expressed a desire for freedom. Eritrea announced its independence and achieved global recognition in 1993. It was formally acknowledged and became a member of the UN that same year.

Eritrea is a country in East Africa, which is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast. Its northeastern and eastern parts have an extensive coastline along the Red Sea. Eritrea has various sites that draw tourists to visit the place. The country’s capital boasts of the Cathedral of Asmara, which has a bell tower that reaches high into the sky. It is described as a “sterling piece of Lombard-Romanesque architecture” and a useful bearing point for lost travelers. The National Museum of Asmara houses exhibitions that include scrolls, inscribed tombstones and artifacts retrieved from various excavations.

We greet the People and Government of Eritrea, led by President Isaias Afwerki on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of its Independence Day.