In 1958, a group of Eritreans based in Cairo founded the Eritrean Liberation Movement (ELM). The organisation was made up of Eritrean students, professionals and intellectuals. 

Under the leadership of  

Under the leadership of Hamid Idris Awate, an ‘independence leader’, it took part in underground activities to oppose the policies of the Imperial Ethiopian State to which it belonged.

In 1962, the ELM was discovered and ruthlessly destroyed by the ruling government.

When Emperor Haile Selassie dissolved the Eritrean parliament the same year. the newly formed Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) waged a bloody war for its independence.

The ensuing Eritrean War for Independence went on for 30 years against successive Ethiopian governments until 1991, when the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF), the successor of the ELF, defeated the Ethiopian forces in Eritrea and helped a coalition of Ethiopian rebel forces take control of the Ethiopian Capital Addis Ababa.

Following a UN-supervised referendum in Eritrea in which the Eritrean people overwhelmingly voted for independence, Eritrea declared its independence and gained international recognition in 1993. 

The ELF seized power, established a one-party state along nationalist lines and banned further political activity. There have been no elections since.

In 1994, this transformed into the ruling – and only – political party in Eritrea today, the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice.