United Nations Observer Mission to Verify the Referendum in Eritrea

The GA authorized the Secretary-General to establish UNOVER in 1992, contributing to the overall transition process that ended the 30-year conflict between the Ethiopian Government and Eritrean forces. An important precursor action was the GA’s resolution in 1950 federating Eritrea, a former Italian colony, under the Government of Ethiopia (A/RES/390(V)[A]). In 1962, Ethiopia abrogated the federal agreement and directly annexed Eritrea, leading to a three-decade conflict between the Eritrean Liberation Front (later the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front) and Ethiopia.¹

The election of an Ethiopian Government supportive of Eritrean independence in 1991 opened a pathway for independence.² To enable this, transitional authorities in Eritrea sought to hold a referendum on independence, and requested UN oversight and assistance.³ The Secretary-General submitted a report on the matter to the GA (A/48/283) recommending the establishment of a UN observer mission to verify the referendum scheduled to take place in Eritrea in April 1993, a recommendation that the GA adopted without a vote in October 1992, authorizing and naming UNOVER (A/47/544). In the 1993 referendum, 99 per cent of the population voted in favour of independence.⁴ The successful organization of the referendum marked the end of the UNOVER mission. Eritrea was officially admitted to the UN as an independent Member State in 1993 (S/RES/828; A/RES/47/230).