the ethiopian and eritrean war started as measured by when ethiopia mobilized its forces for a full assault against eritrea on 13 may 1998.
when did the ethiopian and eritrean war start as measured by when ethiopia mobilized its forces for a full assault against eritrea?
13 may 1998
on 13 may 1998, at the outbreak of the eritrean–ethiopian war, ethiopia, in what eritrean radio described as a "total war" policy, mobilized its forces for a full assault against eritrea. the claims commission found that this was in essence an affirmation of the existence of a state of war between belligerents, not a declaration of war, and that ethiopia also notified the united nations security council, as required under article 51 of the un charter.
declaration of war
during the end of the eritrean war of independence, israel provided support to ethiopia. this was because it saw the eritrean conflict as an extension of the wider arab–israeli conflict. the majority of arab countries supported eritrea's separation from ethiopia. they saw its sizeable muslim population (45%) as a way to make sure the red sea remained "arab waters". for this reason israel allied itself with the ethiopian government to take advantage of the long eritrean coast which stretches over 1,080 kilometres. this began in the early 1960s when israel started helping the ethiopian government in its campaigns against the eritrean liberation front (elf). the ethiopian government portrayed the eritrean rebellion as an arab threat to the african region, an argument that convinced the israelis to side with the ethiopian government in the conflict. israel trained counter-insurgency forces in order to counter the armed struggle of the elf. israel considered the eritrean liberation struggle as supported by arab states and feared that a pro-arab independent eritrea would block israeli passage through the red sea. as the war developed, israeli assistance to the ethiopian government was increased. by 1966, there were around 100 israeli military advisors in ethiopia. by 1967, troops trained by israeli advisors had taken control over much of eritrea. by the late 1970s, the eritrean people's liberation front (eplf) had become the main rebel group in eritrea after defeating the elf with help of the tigrayan people's liberation front (tplf). after another decade of war, in may 1991 the ethiopian government in eritrea was overthrown by the eplf and the tplf.
eritrea–israel relations