Eritrean Bruins commemorate anniversary of independence

By Michaele Turnage
Daily Bruin Reporter

Students gathered in Rieber Hall Wednesday night for an event
titled “Getting to Know Eritrea and Eritreans” to
celebrate Thursday’s official 10th anniversary of Eritrean
independence.

As part of the Eritrean diaspora, Eritrean students at UCLA face
the challenge of maintaining their culture while immersed in
American society.

“Before I came to UCLA, a lot of people didn’t even
know where Eritrea was,” said Selam Kebrom, co-chair of the
Eritrean Student Association.

According to ESA, there are fewer than 30 Eritreans at UCLA,
including graduate and undergraduate students, and people working
at the university.

“One of the main issues that Eritrean students face at
UCLA is maintaining our cultural heritage,” said Merhawi
Keflezighi, co-chair of ESA.

“I try to represent that I’m Eritrean in terms of
letting everybody know about the country and how I came
here,” he said.

Culture is specific to the environment in which a person lives,
so often cultural practices don’t transfer easily to a
foreign society, he added.

Eritrea, a country in Northeast Africa, won its independence in
1991 after a long history of foreign rule. Italy colonized Eritrea
from 1890 to 1949, when the United Nations handed the country over
to British rule as a U.N. trust territory. In 1962, neighboring
Ethiopia annexed Eritrea, claiming the country as an Ethiopian
province. A 30-year war ensued as Eritrean freedom fighters fought
Ethiopian forces for their independence.

Ethiopia saw a change in its leadership in May 1991 when
Eritrean freedom fighters won control of Eritrea. An
internationally supervised referendum finalized Eritrea’s
independence in 1993, when 99.8 percent of Eritreans voted for
independence.

But because border lines were never clearly defined, a war broke
out in 1998 between Eritrea and Ethiopia. The conflict ended last
year with the establishment of a U.N. commission to reestablish
boundaries.

Edmond Keller, director of UCLA’s James S. Coleman African
Studies Center, was in Eritrea during celebrations in 1991, and
during the 1993 elections he led a team of international observers
overseeing the proceedings.

“There were some Eritreans who were opposed, but most
people were happy to be independent and free from Ethiopia,”
Keller said.

Selam Kebrom, co-chair of ESA, visited Eritrea shortly after the
elections.

“You could feel the hope,” Kebrom said, “Kind
of like the worst was over.”

During elections in Keren, Eritrea, Keller witnessed people who
lived through Italian colonialism line up to vote.

“I saw some old ladies who have never voted before, and I
can recall one old lady saying “˜no (I have never voted
before), but I’ve practiced,'” Keller said.

The long struggle for independence fostered unity among
Eritreans, he added.

“The people have really developed a sense of national
identity, although the country is made up of nine different ethnic
groups,” he said. “They have an ethic of sacrifice and
are a very proud people.”

“The Ethiopians are resigned to the fact that there was a
referendum and Eritrea is a sovereign country,” Keller
continued.

While older generations of Eritreans may have tense feelings
toward Ethiopia since they lived through the war and witnessed the
loss of family members, students say, younger Eritreans are more
accepting of their Ethiopian peers.

“My peers of Ethiopian descent have done nothing in terms
of personal agency to contribute to the war, so there is no tension
between my peers of Ethiopian descent and I,” said
Keflezighi, a third-year communications studies student.

Robert Maxwell, a third-year economics student who went to
Wednesday’s event, said sometimes Eritreans in the diaspora
are taking pride in a country in which they’ve never
lived.

“(Their knowledge of Eritrean culture) comes from their
parents ““ from them practicing the culture, telling them
about the history orally or teaching them through books, but that
still takes away from the actual life experience,” Maxwell
said.

ESA was established in October 1999, when organizers saw there
were four Eritreans in the freshman class, a number ESA members say
is high for UCLA.

“(It’s hard) being around people who aren’t
familiar with who you are and where you come from,” Maxwell
said.

But ESA members feel encouraged by the turnout of this
week’s events.

“We’re comfortable about ourselves as a
group,” Kebrom said. “We’ve grown, we’re
stronger ““ the country is stronger.”