Brothers At War: Making Sense Of The Eritrean-Ethiopian War (Eastern African Studies) [Hardcover]

Tekeste Negash (Author), Kjetil Tronvoll (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2001 | Series: Eastern African Studies

This text presents contextual aspects in order to explain the growing discord between the two former friendly governments of Eritrea and Ethiopia. It looks at historical relations since the late 19th century, border issues from local perspectives and relations between the former liberation fronts.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Fortunately we now have Tekeste Negash and Kjetil Tronvoll ... Future works may fill in gaps and stretch the time frame to include the end of the war and the diplomatic road that led to the Peace Agreement of December 12, 2000, but few will match Brothers at War for its objectivity, access to key players, and historicity. If the Eritrean-Ethiopian war puzzles you, buy this book. - Charles Schaefer in AFRICAN STUDIES REVIEW The authors of Brothers at War provide a crisp and informed account of the circumstances and events that led to the tragic conflict. Writing in fast-paced prose, they succeed in making sense of a war that has been universally condemned as senseless. - Gebra Tareke in IJAHS Suffice to say that this book is essential reading and very helpful in elucidating much of the background to this tragic conflict and the peculiar autocratic leaderships that led to it. - Jon Abbink in AFRICAN AFFAIRS ...the book does on the whole provide a useful introduction to the issues surrounding the border war. In fact, the substantive text itself occupies only 101 pages; the remaining third of the volume being numerous appendices, comprising significant governmental documents concerning the war and attempts to resolve it ... As such, the text does usefully bring together a wide range of material: internet sourced materials, periodicals, government propaganda, and interviews with Eritreans and Ethiopians, all of which are useful for those with little background knowledge of the conflict ... the text does present both the Eritrean and the Ethiopian positions on several issues ... the authors provide a particularly good account of the failure of international diplomacy - and of the relative lack of international resources and attention given to these negotiations, compared with European conflicts. - Sara Rich Dorman in DEMOCRACY & DEVELOPMENT --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 190 pages
• Publisher: Ohio University Press; 1 edition (April 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821413716
• ISBN-13: 978-0821413715
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,701,371 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #35 in Books > History > Africa > Eritrea

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Heavy Reading, January 2, 2007

By 

Mike Cunha (Boston) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Brothers At War: Making Sense Of The Eritrean-Ethiopian War (Eastern African Studies) (Paperback)

At 190 pages this book is short but incredibly dense. It is not light reading, but it is informative. The authors take the time to show the voluminous statements that various parties issued and then analyze them. The long and twisted histories behind Eritrea and Ethiopia are given here, providing a much-needed build-up to a misunderstood, little-known but ruinous war. Here is a hint and a fact: the war was NOT about the border between these two countries nor the nearly useless Badme Plain that straddles a part of that border.

The authors don't take sides in presenting the two belligerents' positions, and indeed it would be hard to. The two govts, the govts of two under-developed and starving states drained from thirty years of continuous war, proved themselves to be more interested in beating each others' brains out than in ending the conflict. It is tragically ironic to see how the two countries switch their positions entirely as the military situation on the ground changed, and it is revolting how international organizations like the OAU and UN (the EU never even attempted to feign interest)wrung their hands but did little else while two p--s-poor countries slaughtered each other with frontal assaults on useless desert scrublands.

This is not a general or military history, more of a diplomatic one. It mainly covers the negotiations and accusations that both sides threw into the mix to either try stopping the war or to re-start it.

One big issue: the maps are pretty awful. Maps should feature every city, village or geographical feature that is mentioned in the text. Stating that the Ethiopians seized Barentu, Eritrea without displaying it on the two or three pitiful maps does little service to the reader.

This isn't light reading, but it is good for the seriously interested.