Today is May 24; Eritrea's birthday. Today Eritrea is 24 years young. After suffering for a century shy 6 months of successive and brutal colonial rules: Italian (1890-1941), British (1941-1952) and Ethiopian (1952-1991) and after 30 years of protracted Armed Struggle for Independence, Eritrea was liberated on May 24, 1991 by the Eritrean People's Liberation Army.
Eritrea's independence didn't come on the cheap. It's cost was 65,000 of the best and brightest sons and daughters who gave all what they had to make May 24 and sovereign Eritrea a reality. In addition nearly 19,000 of Eritrea's youth gave their lives in the 1998-2000 war to defend this precious independence. At this moment of celebrations we pause to remember and honor these gallant children of Eritrea and all the civilians who were condemned to death for supporting Eritrea's right to independence and many of them for just having an Eritreans blood in their veins.
Below we present specifications of the Eritrean flag, as well as broadcast excerpts from Dimitsi Hafash Eritrea (the Radio of the Broad Masses) from its broadcast 24 years ago.
The meaning of Eritrea's Flag
- Red stands for the precious blood of the heroic people of Eritrea its sons and daughter that has to be spilled to attain Eritrea's Independence. "ቀይሕ፡ ምእንቲ ሃገራዊ ናጽነትን ህዝባዊ ሓርነትን ኣብ ዝተኻየደ ሓርነታዊ ቃልሲ ዝፈሰሰ ደም ህዝቢ ኤርትራን ሓርበኛታት ደቁን የመልክት"
- Green stands for Eritrea's development that is based on farming and Pastoralism. "ቀጠልያ፡ ኣብ ሕርሻን ጉስነትን ዝተሰረተ ልምዓት ኤርትራ የመልክት"
- Blue is for Eritrea's marine resources. "ሰማያዊ፡ ሃብቲ ባሕሪ ኤርትራ የመልክት፡"
- Gold is for Eritrea's mineral wealth. "ብጫ፡ ማዕድናዊ ሃብቲ ኤርትራ የመልክት፡"
- The left and right branches of the olive wreath exhibit 30 leaves, (15 on each side) for each of the 30 years of the Armed Struggle for Independence. ኣቑጽልቲ ኣዉሊዕ፡ እተን ክቢ ዝሰርሓ 30 ኣቑጽልቲ ነቲ ብናይ 30 ዓመታት ብረታዊ ቃልሲ ዝተረኽበ ሰላምን ቅሳነትን ህዝቢ ኤርትራ የመልክታ።