By Dawit O. Woldu & Irvin H. Bromall*
Similarities between revolutionary Eritrea and South Sudan:
September 10, 2011 — South Sudan and Eritrea are the two youngest countries on the African continent, even though the latter became independent in 1993, nearly 20 years before South Sudan. The wars for independence fought by the two states share several other similarities. Both countries fought against nations of which they were a part, and the two wars are probably the longest independence struggles in the history of the continent. Both were bitter and costly in terms of the post-war acrimony that remains, the thousands of lives lost, and the millions of disabilities incurred. Also lost by South Sudan was the little physical infrastructure it possessed and any quality of live its peoples ever enjoyed. The two independence struggles were seen by most of the world as just, right, and deserved. For both, the reward was the freedom to choose.
