1993 Eritrean independence referendum

25 years ago, on April 23, 1993, in Eritrea, under the auspices of the UN, a referendum was held, during which 99.8% of the population, with a turnout of 98.5%, voted for independence from Ethiopia. The independence of the new state was proclaimed the next day, May 24.

By then, the government of Mengistu Haile Mariam in Ethiopia had been overthrown. In power was the Revolutionary Democratic Front of the Ethiopian Peoples, supported by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Eritrea, which controlled the entire territory of the province.