6 - The Eritrean National Service: A Vehicle for National Unity and Cohesion

Summary

The primary achievement of the EPLF was to bring about a level of bonding, in opposition to the Ethiopian ‘other’, that was sufficient to sustain the long and extremely costly conflict that eventually resulted in victory. Even if this bonding never reached the level of unanimity that official discourse suggests, and some Eritreans maintained alternative viewpoints – in favour either of the Moslem ELF, or of continued union with Ethiopia – it was still an extraordinarily successful project.

Christopher Clapham (2001: 8)

Military training brings a man into contact with his fellows solely upon the basis of fellow-citizenship. For the time, at least, the differences of wealth, education, locality, taste, occupation, and social rank, which divide Americans as effectively as though they lived on different continents or in different centuries, are lost sight of. Men are brought face to face with the elemental fact of nationality.

Perry (1921: 260)

We have nine languages. But we are all from the same ethnic group and the same background. We have been living in this region for centuries. This is what distinguishes us in addition to the maturity of the people that they gained from their experience during the period of struggle. They triumphed because they were united; they lived in harmony; and they had one goal despite the differences in the cultural and denominational structure and other matters. This is one of God's gifts to this land.

Isaias Afwerki (2009)

This chapter examines the extent to which the Eritrean National Service (ENS) functions as a vehicle for national unity and social cohesion. It examines whether national service functions as a ‘sociological mixer’, enabling conscripts hailing from disparate ethno­linguistic, geographical, religious and cultural backgrounds to bond and forge a secular Eritrean national identity at the expense of their sub­national identities and alle­ giances. The chapter also discusses the factors that enhance national unity and greater trans-cultural understanding through enhanced knowledge of different places and communities in the course of performing national service. The chapter also discusses whether trans­ethnic, trans­religious and trans­regional friendships have developed among the conscripts. It also devotes some space to the dissenting opinions of a few respondents concerning whether the ENS promotes national unity and social cohesion.

The assumption that universal national/military service promotes national unity and social cohesion among ethnically and religiously diverse, or divided, societies is an old one.