On April 8, 1941, the former Italian colony of Eritrea was placed under British Military Administration (BMA) pending an international decision on its fate as an independent nation. Ethiopia claimed Eritrea, and the United Nations passed a motion to federate Eritrea with Imperial Ethiopia in 1952. However, the UN demanded that Eritrea remain a semi-autonomous, self-governing territory with legislative, executive and judicial powers in its own territory. internal affairs. This was to last ten years, at which point Eritrea would be liberated. However, Ethiopia's autocratic monarch began dismantling the federation soon after its formation. The Eritrean-Ethiopian federation (1952-1962) was short-lived and Eritrea was annexed to Ethiopia. Eritrea's discontent eventually intensified, first in the form of resistance, then rebellion, and finally an armed struggle for the national liberation of Eritrea which persisted until 1991 In October 1954, Sudan also voted for independence from its Egyptian and British colonizers. However, the people of South Sudan did not want to be subjugated to their historically cruel neighbors in North Sudan. They wanted autonomy in a federal system, or they insisted on self-determination, including the possibility of independence from the North. It will take fifty-one long, bloody years and 2.5 million deaths before this happens. A number of variables contributed to the independence movements of Eritrea and South Sudan, such as the central government's refusal to grant any autonomy to these regions, the government's imposition of religious and ethnic ideals and taking control of the region's natural resources. South Sudan and Eritrea's wars of independence are among the longest...... middle of paper ...... plagued by internal conflict between the rebels themselves. Strong leadership and evolving political organizations needed time to develop a platform on which all Eritreans and South Sudanese could unite to make their long-awaited secessions come true.BibliographyCollins, Robert O. A History of Modern Sudan. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Connell, Dan. “Eritrea: a revolution in progress.” Monthly Review 45, no. 3 (1949): 1.Gebru, Tareke. The Ethiopian Revolutionary War in the Horn of Africa. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. Iyob, Ruth. The Eritrean struggle for independence: domination, resistance, nationalism, 1941-1993. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Jok, Jok Madut. Sudan: race, religion and violence. Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2009. Kibreab, Gaim. Eritrea, a dream deferred. Oxford: James Currey, 2009.