Eritrean People's Liberation Front

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The Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), colloquially known as Shabia, was an Eritrean separatist Marxist–Leninist paramilitary and political organization that sought Eritrea's secession from Ethiopia during the Eritrean War of Independence, which eventually led to the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia in 1993. A splinter group that split from the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) as a left-wing nationalist organization, it emerged in 1973 during the final years of Emperor Haile Selassie's rule. After the Ethiopian Revolution the following year, which brought the Derg regime to power, the EPLF and ELF continued their struggle for independence. By 1977, the EPLF overran the Ethiopian army in much of Eritrea. Following the Ogaden War, the Soviet Union began supporting the Derg against the Eritreans, which turned back their advance during the late 1970s. Several major Ethiopian military offensives launched in the 1980s aimed at finally crushing the EPLF, such as the Red Star Campaign...

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