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Eritrea

Location of Eritrea. Source: Vardion/Wikipedia

(Source: EIA)

Eritrea is a  nation in eastern-Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Djibouti and Sudan. To its south is Ethiopia, from which it separated in 1993 following a 30-year conflict. This region is known as the "Horn of Africa." Across the Red Sea is Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

Eritrea's major environmental issues include: deforestation; desertification; soil erosion; overgrazing; and loss of infrastructure from civil warfare. It is susceptible to frequent droughts and locust swarms.

Eritrea was a Italian colony until World War II which Britain took over administration. Eritrea was awarded to Ethiopia in 1952 as part of a federation. Ethiopia's annexation of Eritrea as a province 10 years later sparked a 30-year struggle for independence that ended in 1991 with Eritrean rebels defeating governmental forces; independence was overwhelmingly approved in a 1993 referendum. A two-and-a-half-year border war with Ethiopia that erupted in 1998 ended under UN auspices in December 2000. Eritrea hosted a UN peacekeeping operation that monitored a 25 km-wide Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) on the border with Ethiopia. Eritrea's denial of fuel to the mission caused the UN to withdraw the mission and terminate its mandate 31 July 2008. An international commission, organized to resolve the border dispute, posted its findings in 2002. However, both parties have been unable to reach agreement on implementing the decision. On 30 November 2007, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission remotely demarcated the border by coordinates and dissolved itself, leaving Ethiopia still occupying several tracts of disputed territory, including the town of Badme. Eritrea accepted the EEBC's "virtual demarcation" decision and called on Ethiopia to remove its troops from the TSZ which it states is Eritrean territory. Ethiopia has not accepted the virtual demarcation decision.

Geography

Location: Eastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Djibouti and Sudan

Geographic Coordinates: 15 00 N, 39 00 E

Area:  121,320 km² (121,320 km² land and 0 km² water)

arable land: 4.78%
permanent crops: 0.03%
other: 95.19% (2005) 

Coastline: 2,234 km (mainland on Red Sea 1,151 km, islands in Red Sea 1,083 km)

Maritime Claims: territorial sea: 12 nautical miles

Natural Hazards: frequent droughts; locust swarms

Terrain: Dominated by extension of Ethiopian north-south trending highlands, descending on the east to a coastal desert plain, on the northwest to hilly terrain and on the southwest to flat-to-rolling plains. Its lowest point is near Kulul within the Denakil depression (-75 metres) and its highest point is Soira (3,018 metres).

Climate: Hot, dry desert strip along Red Sea coast; cooler and wetter in the central highlands (up to 61 cm of rainfall annually, heaviest June to September); semiarid in western hills and lowlands

Government

Type: Transitional Government

Capital: Asmara (Asmera)

Independence Date: 24 May 1993 (from Ethiopia)

Legal System: primary basis is the Ethiopian legal code of 1957, with revisions; new civil, commercial, and penal codes have not yet been promulgated; government also issues unilateral proclamations setting laws and policies; also relies on customary and post-independence-enacted laws and, for civil cases involving Muslims, Islamic law; does not accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage: 18 years of age, universal

International Environmental Agreements

Eritrea is party to international agreements on: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, and the Ozone Layer Protection.

People and Society

Population: 5,028,475 (July 2008 est.)

Age Structure:

0-14 years: 42.9% (male 1,085,116/female 1,072,262)
15-64 years: 53.5% (male 1,332,349/female 1,355,494)
65 years and over: 3.6% (male 88,068/female 95,186) (2008 est.)

Population Growth Rate: 2.447% (2008 est.)

Birthrate; 33.62 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death Rate: 9.15 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Net Migration Rate: NA

Life Expectancy at Birth:  60.05 years (2008 est.)

Total Fertility Rate: 4.84 children born/woman (2008 est.)

Languages: Afar, Arabic, Tigre and Kunama, Tigrinya, other Cushitic languages

Literacy (2003 est.): 58.6% (male: 69.9% - female: 47.6%)

Water

Total Renewable Water Resources: 6.3 cu km (2001)

Freshwater Withdrawal: Total: 0.3 cu km/yr (3% domestic, 0% industrial, 97% agricultural). Per capita: 68 cu m/yr (2000)

Agriculture

Agricultural Products: sorghum, lentils, vegetables, corn, cotton, tobacco, sisal; livestock, goats; fish

Irrigated Land: 210 sq km (2003)

Resources

Natural Resources: gold, potash, zinc, copper, salt, possibly oil and natural gas, fish.

Energy

Conflict

International Disputes: Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to abide by 2002 Ethiopia-Eritrea Boundary Commission's (EEBC) delimitation decision but, neither party responded to the revised line detailed in the November 2006 EEBC Demarcation Statement; UN Peacekeeping Mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), which has monitored the 25-km-wide Temporary Security Zone in Eritrea since 2000, is extended for six months in 2007 despite Eritrean restrictions on its operations and reduced force of 17,000; Sudan accuses Eritrea of supporting eastern Sudanese rebel groups

Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons: Internally Displaced Persons: 32,000 (border war with Ethiopia from 1998-2000; most IDPs are near the central border region) (2007)

Economy

GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): $3.619 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (Official Exchange Rate): $1.316 billion (2007 est.)

GDP- real growth rate: 1.3% (2007 est.)

GDP- per capita: $800 (2007 est.)

GPD- composition by sector:

agriculture: 21.7%
industry: 22.6%
services: 55.7% (2007 est.)

Population Below Poverty Line: 50% (2004 est.)

Household Income or Consumption by Percentage Share:

lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

Industries: food processing, beverages, clothing and textiles, light manufacturing, salt, cement

Exports: livestock, sorghum, textiles, food, small manufactures

Export Partners: Italy 19%, Austria 11.6%, France 11.5%, US 5.6%, Ethiopia 4.7%, Taiwan 4.6%, China 4.4% (2006)

Imports: machinery, petroleum products, food, manufactured goods

Import Partners: US 11.4%, China 8.3%, Germany 6.6%, Italy 5.4%, Saudi Arabia 5%, France 4.6%

Economic Aid Recipient: $355.2 million (2005)

Currency: nakfa (ERN)

Ports and Terminals: Assab, Massawa

Further Reading

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