April 27, 1993 was the official declaration of the independence of Eritrea after the outcome of the referendum vote was tallied (99.85 % of the registered voters voted in favor of independence).
The referendum was conducted between April 23 and 25, 1993.
As member of the international contingent of observers invited by the Referendum Commission of Eritrea (RCE) and a former radio personality in Sydney, Australia, Dr. Roy Pateman, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) made audio recordings of his daily activities during the referendum.
In March 2016, I traveled to Southern California to receive Prof. Pateman’s materials, which he donated to the Hoover Institution Archives. He is the author of the popular book on Eritrea entitled, Eritrea: Even the Stones Are Burning.
The collection includes various research materials, correspondence, transcripts of his radio broadcasts covering many parts of Africa, rare audio recordings of interviews of former MPs (Members of Parliament: Blatta Mohaammed Omar, Grazmach Saleh Mohammed and Grazmach Wolde Iyesus), of the Eritrean Parliament during the UN mandated Eritrea-Ethiopia Federation, pictures, and slides.
It is a great addition to the growing Horn of Africa collection at Hoover Archives. You can access audio files from the Roy Pateman collection using by visiting the Hoover Institution Library & Archives' Digital Collections site.
