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The Eritrean War of Independence started on 1 September 1961 when Hamid Idris Awate and his companions fired the first shots against the occupying Ethiopian Army and police. In 1962 the Emperor Haile Sellassie of Ethiopia unilaterally dissolved the Eritrean parliament and annexed the country. The war went on for the next 30 years until in 1991, having defeated the Ethiopian forces in Eritrea, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) took control of the country. In April of 1993, in a referendum supported by Ethiopia, the Eritrean people voted almost unanimously in favour of independence. Formal international recognition of an independent and sovereign Eritrea followed later the same year.