Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), frequently misidentified as the Ethiopian People's Liberation Front, was a separatist group which fought for Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia from the 1970s until 1990, when Eritrea achieved sovereign status. <p><br />  The EPLF was formed after a schism with the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) in the early 1970s. The predominantly Christian EPLF split from the largely Muslim ELF due to religious and political disagreements. Far more leftist than the ELF, the EPLF replaced the ELF as the primary rebel group in Ethiopia by the 1980s. The EPLF was generally considered to be a Marxist organization, though leaders refused to identify themselves with Marxism throughout much of the war with Ethiopia. The EPLF long regarded the United States as an imperialist influence and enemy due to U.S. cooperation with Ethiopia. <p><br />  Over several decades, the EPLF became regarded as one of the most well-organized guerilla groups in Africa. The group recruited from within the Eritrean region and trained each soldier for nine months before sending them to fight. International civil rights organizations occasionally made claims that the EPLF was forcing Eritreans to enter the army, a charge the group vehemently denies. Through involuntary conscription or not, the EPLF, with the rival ELF, formed a rebel force of over 30,000 soldiers. The Ethiopian government designated 25,000 troops to fight the Eritrean rebels. International observers were impressed by the EPLF's emergence as a well-disciplined army and their ability to maintain strength without outside support. The EPLF was largely armed with abandoned or stolen weapons from the Ethiopian Army. <p><br />  While fighting was consistent for more than 30 years, one incident in particular fueled international outrage at the group. The EPLF attacked a convoy of 16 U.N. and seven Catholic Relief Services trucks carrying food on October 20, 1987, burning all of the food. The EPLF claimed responsibility for the attack, saying they had found bombs and ammunition in the convoy. The U.S. and other international sources condemned the attack, insisting there were no weapons present and accusing the EPLF of using hunger as a weapon in its war with the Ethiopian government.<p><br />  The EPLF was also accused at various points of carrying out random assassination campaigns against Eritreans they believed were cooperating with or helping the Ethiopian government. The EPLF said all those killed were tried in their absence and warned many times to stop their "crimes." <p><br />  In 1990, the EPLF expelled the last of the Ethiopian troops from Eritrea, forming an interim government and holding a U.N.-supervised referendum on independence. The leader of the EPLF became the first president of Eritrea and the EPLF became the single ruling party. The group eventually renamed itself the People's Front for Democracy and Justice.