Eritrea

This article is about the African nation. For the Greek city, see Eretria.

State of Eritrea Hagere Ertra ሃገረ ኤርትራ دولة إرتريا
Flag Coat of arms of Eritrea Coat of arms
Motto: Never Kneel Down
Anthem: Ertra, Ertra, Ertra
Capital and largest city	Asmara
Official languages	(working, not official languages) Tigrinya, Arabic and English [1][2]
Government	Transitional government
• President	Isaias Afewerki
Independence  From Ethiopia
•   De facto	May 29, 1991
•   De jure	May 24, 1993
• Water (%)	Negligible
Population
• July 2005 estimate	4,401,000 (118th)
• 2002 census	4,298,269
GDP (PPP)	2005 estimate
• Total	$3.977 billion (156th)
• Per capita	$858 (172nd)
HDI (2003)	0.444 low (161st)
Currency	Nakfa (ERN)
Time zone	UTC+3 (EAT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (not observed)
Calling code	291
ISO 3166 code	ER
Internet TLD	.er

Eritrea (Ge'ez ኤርትራ ʾĒrtrā) is a country in northern East Africa. The name is derived from the Latin word for Red Sea, Mare Erythraeum, itself derived from a similar Greek word meaning "red" (ερυθρός, erythros). The country is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast. The east and northeast of the country have an extensive coastline on the Red Sea, directly across from Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The Dahlak Archipelago and several of the Hanish Islands are part of Eritrea.

Eritrea was consolidated into a colony by the Italian government on January 1, 1890. The modern nation-state of Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia following a thirty year war which lasted from 1961 to 1991. Eritrea is officially a parliamentary democracy consisting of six regions, but it functions as a single-party state. Eritrea is a multilingual and multicultural country with two dominant religions and nine nationalities, each speaking a different language. The country has no official language, but it has three working languages: Tigrinya, Arabic, and English. A fourth language, Italian, is sometimes used commercially.

History

Main article: History of Eritrea

Eritrea's history is one of the longest in Africa, and may be one of the longest in the world. Together with Ethiopia and the south-eastern part of the Red Sea coast of Sudan, it is considered the most likely location of the land known to the ancient Egyptians as Punt (or "Ta Netjeru," meaning land of the Gods), whose first mention dates to the 25th century BC.

The modern name is the Italian form of the Greek name ΕΡΥΘΡΑΙΑ (Erythraîa; see also List of traditional Greek place names), which derives from the Greek name for the Red Sea (Ἐρυθρὰ Θάλασσα).

Early History

1913 sketch by the Deutsche Aksum-Expedition of Hawulti, a pre-Aksumite or early Aksumite stela at Matara.

Around the 8th century BC, a kingdom known as D'mt (pronounced Da'amat, Damot, etc. for convenience) was established in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea, with its capital at Yeha in northern Ethiopia. Most modern historians consider this civilization to be indigenous, although Sabaean-influenced due to the latter's hegemony of the Red Sea, while others view D`mt as the result of a mixture of "culturally superior" Sabaeans and indigenous peoples; a very small minority even views the kingdom as wholly Sabaean and Ethiopians as the descendents of ancient Sabaean immigrants.

After D`mt's decline around the 5th century BC, the state of Aksum arose in the northern Ethiopian plateau. It grew during the 4th century BC and came into prominence during the first century AD, minting its own coins by the 3rd century, converting in the 4th century to Christianity, as the second official Christian state (after Armenia) and the first country to feature the cross on its coins. According to Mani, it grew to be one of the four greatest civilizations in the world, on a par with China, Persia, and Rome. Aksum began to decline in the 7th century AD; the center moved farther inland to the highlands, and the state was eventually defeated circa 850 or 950 AD and replaced by the Zagwe dynasty.

During the medieval period, the area which we know call Eritrea was the site of usually two or more provinces. During the reign of Amda Seyon, the highlands and central coast formed the province Ma'ikele Bahr (between the seas/rivers), while the northern area was the site of the province Marya (divided into "red" and "black" halves). In later times, the area was the site of multiple provinces under the rule of the Bahr negus (or Bahr negash, "ruler of the sea"), including the provinces of Bur (divided into "Upper" and "Lower" parts; i.e. highlands and lowlands, composed of the the Buri peninsula, Akkele Guzay, and Agame, with the latter in Ethiopia), Hamasien, Seraye, and Shire (capital Inda Selassie), the latter of which is today in Ethiopia. The northern area, however, comprised the provinces of Bogos (or Bilen/Bilin) and Marya. Eastern areas under the control of the Afar remained independent from Ethiopia, however, until the 16th and 17th centuries.

File:Massawaturkishbuilding.jpg

Ottoman architecture in Massawa.

Eritrea's first experience with domination by a foreign power occurred in 1557, when an Ottoman invasion under Suleiman I conquered Massawa (founded in the 8th century), Arkiko, and Debarwa the capital of Bahr negus Yeshaq, fighting as far south as southeastern Tigray before being repulsed. Yeshaq was able to retake much of what the Ottomans captured, but He later twice revolted against the Emperor with Ottoman support in an attempt to take the throne. By 1578, all revolts had ended, with the Ottomans in control of the important ports of Massawa and Hergigo and their environs, leaving the province of Habesh to Beja Na'ibs (deputy).

File:Hailu.jpg

Painting of Dejazmach Hailu, governer of Hamasien in the Asmara region

The Ottomans maintained their dominion over the northern coastal areas for nearly 300 years. Their possessions were left to their Egyptian heirs in 1865 before being given to the Italians in 1885. The interior, particularly the Christian (predominantly Orthodox) Kebessa (Highlands) of Hamasien, Akkele Guzay, and Seraye (as well as the Bilen lands known as Bogos), were traditionally part of Ethiopia, while the lowlands were either independent or vassal to the Emperor of Ethiopia. An Italian Roman Catholic priest by the name of Sapetto purchased the port of Assab from the Afar Sultanate (a vassal of the Emperor of Ethiopia) on behalf of an Italian commercial conglomerate. Later, as the Egyptians retreated out of Sudan during the Mahdist rebellion, the British brokered an agreement whereby the Egyptians could retreat through Ethiopia, in exchange for allowing the Emperor of Ethiopia to occupy those lowland districts that he had disputed with the Turks and Egyptians.

Colonial era

Emperor Yohannis IV of Abyssinia believed this included Massawa, but instead, the port was handed by the Egyptians and the British to the Italians, who united it with the already colonised port of Assab to form a coastal Italian possession. The Italians took advantage of disorder in northern Ethiopia following Yohannis's death to occupy the highlands, and established their new colony, henceforth known as Eritrea, and achieved recognition by Ethiopia's new Emperor Menelik II.

The Italians remained the colonial power in Eritrea until they were defeated by Allied forces in World War II (1941), and Eritrea became a British protectorate. After the war, the United Nations conducted a lengthy inquiry, during which those who wanted union with Ethiopia and those who wanted independence lobbied the great powers and the U.N. extensively. Eventually a compromise was reached under which the former Italian colony was to be federated with Ethiopia. Eritrea would have its own parliament and administration, and would be represented in what had been the Ethiopian parliament and was now the federal parliament. The Emperor of Ethiopia, Emperor Haile Selassie, became the monarch of Eritrea and would be represented there by a viceroy.

Struggle for independence

File:Shida monument.jpg

The sandals worn by the fighters of Independence have become iconic. This monument in Asmara was erected in memorium.

In 1960, the Eritrean parliament voted unanimously to dissolve the federation, but there was evidence of intervention and coercion by the Ethiopian government. Pro-independence Eritreans, especially members of the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) rebelled, launching the Eritrean War of Independence. The rebel movement was primarily dominated by the ELF and by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front. The ELF was a conservative grass roots movement dominated by Muslim lowlanders, and thus received backing from Arab governments, whereas the EPLF professed Marxism and was supported by a growing Eritrean Diaspora. The ELF was eventually overshadowed and eliminated by the EPLF. In the 1970s disaffected Unionists joined the ranks of the rebels. The struggle for independence neared victory in the mid-1970s but suffered reverses when the Derg, a Marxist military junta, came to power in Ethiopia with backing from the Soviet Union. Mengistu Haile Mariam, the leader of the Derg, did much to increase the numbers of the independence movement supporters due to his brutality.

Independent era

Map of Eritrea.

The long war ended in 1991, when joint Eritrean and rebellious Ethiopian forces defeated the Ethiopian army, and the Derg regime fell. Two years later, after a referendum, Eritrean independence was declared. The leader of the EPLF, Isaias Afewerki, became Eritrea's first Provisional President, and the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (later renamed the People's Front for Democracy and Justice, or PFDJ) became the sole ruling party.

In 1998, a border war with Ethiopia over the town of Badme resulted in the deaths of thousands of Eritrean soldiers (19,000, according to the government; 20-50,000 by some estimates), massive population displacement, reduced economic development, and a severe landmine problem. During and after the war, the Ethiopian Government expelled Eritreans and those of Eritrean heritage from Ethiopia after confiscating their wealth and properties. The Eritrean-Ethiopian War ended in 2000 with a negotiated agreement known as the Algiers Agreement, which assigned an independent, UN-associated boundary commission known as the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC), whose task was to clearly identify the border between the two countries. The EEBC issued a final border ruling in April 2002 and awarded Badme to Eritrea. However, Ethiopia has not withdrawn all its troops from the town, which has led to fears for another war.

In spite of initially promising economic and political strides, the Eritrean government cracked down on the free press and on opposition in 2001 when questions about the conduct of the war were raised. The government also failed to implement the new constitution and to hold long-promised elections. Later, the government of Eritrea enforced the Italian colonial practice of requiring government approval of all practiced religions.

Administrative divisions

Main article: Regions of Eritrea

Regions of Eritrea

Eritrea is divided into 6 regions (or zobas) and subdivided into approximately 55 districts or sub-zobas. The regions are based on the hydrological properties of area. This has the dual effect of providing each administration with ample control over its agricultural capacity and eliminating historical intra-regional conflicts.

The regions are included followed by the sub-region:

Map location	Region (ዞባ)	Sub-region (ንኡስ ዞባ)
1	Central (ዞባ ማእከል) (المنطقة المركزية)	Berikh, Ghala Nefhi, North Eastern, Serejaka, South Eastern, South Western
2	Southern (ዞባ ደቡብ) (المنطقة الجنوبية)	Adi Keyh, Adi Quala, Areza, Debarwa, Dekemhare, Kudo Be'ur, Mai-Mne, Mendefera, Segeneiti, Senafe, Tserona
3	Gash-Barka (ዞባ ጋሽ ባርካ) (منطقة القاش وبركا)	Agordat City, Barentu, Eritrea City, Dghe, Forto, Gogne, Haykota, Logo Anseba, Mensura, Mogolo, Molki, Omhajer (Guluj), Shambuko, Tesseney, Upper Gash
4	Anseba (ዞባ ዓንሰባ) (منطقة عنسبا)	Adi Tekelezan, Asmat, Elabered, Geleb, Hagaz, Halhal, Habero, Keren City, Kerkebet, Sela
5	Northern Red Sea (ዞባ ሰሜናዊ ቀይሕ ባሕሪ) (منطقة البحر الأحمر الشمال)	Afabet, Dahlak, Ghelalo, Foro, Ghinda, Karura, Massawa, Nakfa, She'eb
6	Southern Red Sea (ዞባ ደቡባዊ ቀይሕ ባሕሪ) (منطقة البحر الأحمر الجنوب)	Are'eta, Central Dankalia, Southern Dankalia

Politics and government

Template:Morepolitics The National Assembly of 150 seats, formed in 1993 shortly after independence, elected the current president, Isaias Afewerki. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled. Independent local sources of political information on Eritrean domestic politics are scarce; in September 2001 the government closed down all of the nation's privately owned print media, and outspoken critics of the government have been arrested and held without trial, according to various international observers, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. In 2004 the U.S. State Department declared Eritrea a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for its alleged record of religious persecution (see below).

National elections

Eritrean National elections were set for 1997 and then postponed until 2001, it was then decided that because 20% of Eritrea's land was under occupation that elections would be postponed until the resolution of the conflict with Ethiopia. However, local elections have continued in Eritrea. The most recent round of local government elections were held in May 2003. On further elections, the President's Chief of Staff, Yemane Ghebremeskel said,

"The electoral commission is handling these elections this time round so that may be the new element in this process. The national assembly has also mandated the electoral commission to set the date for national elections, so whenever the electoral commission sets the date there will be national elections. It’s not dependent on regional elections, although that might be a very helpful process.

Multipartyism, in general principle yes, it is there but the law on political parties has to be approved by the national assembly. It was not approved the last time. The view from the beginning was that you don’t necessarily need a party law to hold national elections. You can have national elections and the party law can be adopted at any time. So in terms of commitment it’s very clear, in terms of the process it has its own pace, its own characteristics."

Foreign relations

See also: Foreign relations of Eritrea

Eritrea is a member in good standing of the African Union (AU), the predecessor of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). But it has withdrawn its representative to the AU in protest of the AU's lack of leadership in facilitating the implementation of a binding border decision demarcating the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia. Eritrea's relationship with the United States is complicated. Although the two nations have a close working relationship regarding the on-going war on terror, there has been a growing tension in other areas. Eritrea's relationship with Italy and the EU has become equally strained in many areas in the last three years.

Within the region, Eritrea's relations with Ethiopia turned from that of close alliance to a deadly rivalry that lead to a war from May, 1998 to June 2000 in which 19,000 Eritreans were killed.

External issues include an undemarcated border with the Sudan, a war with Yemen over the Hanish Islands in 1996, and a recent border conflict with Ethiopia.

The undemarcated border with Sudan poses a problem for Eritrean external relations. After a high-level delegation to Sudan from the Eritrean Ministry of Foreign Affairs ties are being normalized. While normalization of ties continues, Eritrea has been recognized as a broker for peace between the separate factions of the Sudanese civil war. "It is known that Eritrea played a role in bringing about the peace agreement [between the Southern Sudanese and Government]," while the Sudanese Government and Eastern Front rebels have requested Eritrea to mediate peace talks.

A dispute with Yemen over the Hanish Islands in 1996 resulted in a brief war. As part of an agreement to cease hostilities the two nations agreed to refer the issue to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague. At the conclusion of the proceedings, both nations acquiesced to the decision. Since 1996 both governments have remained wary of one another but relations are relatively normal.

The undemarcated border with Ethiopia is the primary external issue facing Eritrea. This led to a long and bloody border war between 1998 and 2000. As a result, the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) is occupying a 25 kilometres by 900 kilometres area on the border to help stabilize the region. Disagreements following the war have resulted in stalemate punctuated by periods of elevated tension and renewed threats of war. Central to the continuation of the stalemate is Ethiopia's failure to abide by the border delimitation ruling and reneging on its commitment to demarcation. The stalemate has led the President of Eritrea to urge the UN to take action on Ethiopia. This request is outlined in the Eleven Letters penned by the President to the United Nations Security Council. The situation is further escalated by the continued effort of the Eritrean and Ethiopian leaders in supporting each other's opposition.

Geography

Satellite image of Eritrea

Main article: Geography of Eritrea

A view from the Keren-Asmara Highway

Eritrea is located in East Africa, more specificly 'Horn of Africa' and is bordered on the northeast and east by the Red Sea. The country is virtually bisected by one of the world's longest mountain ranges, the Great Rift Valley, with fertile lands to the west and the descent to desert in the East. Off the sandy and arid coastline is situated the Dahlak Archipelago and its fishing grounds. The land to the south, in the highlands, is slightly less dry and cooler. Eritrea at the southern end of the Red Sea is the home of the fork in the rift.

The Afar Triangle or Danakil Depression of Eritrea is the probable location of a triple junction where three tectonic plates are pulling away from one another: the Arabian Plate, and the two parts of the African Plate (the Nubian and the Somalian) splitting along the East African Rift Zone (USGS). The highest point of the country, Soira, is located in the centre of Eritrea, at 3,018 metres (9,902 ft) above sea level.

The main cities of the country are the capital city of Asmara and the port town of Assab in the southeast, as well as the towns of Massawa to the east, and Keren to the north.

Economy

Main articles: Economy of Eritrea, Eritrean Railway, and Transport in Eritrea

Since independence from Ethiopia, Eritrea has faced economic problems characteristic of a small, poor country. Like the economies of many other African nations, the economy is largely based on subsistence agriculture, with 80% of the population involved in farming and herding.

The Eritrean-Ethiopian War severely hurt Eritrea's economy. GDP growth in 1999 fell to less than 1%, and GDP decreased by 8.2% in 2000. The May 2000 Ethiopian offensive into southern Eritrea caused some $600 million in property damage and loss, including losses of $225 million in livestock and 55,000 homes. The attack prevented planting of crops in Eritrea's most productive region, causing food production to drop by over 60%.

Even during the war, Eritrea developed its transportation infrastructure, asphalting new roads, improving its ports, and repairing war-damaged roads and bridges as a part of the Warsay Yika'alo Program. The most remarkable of these projects has been the building of a coastal highway of more than 500 Kms connecting Massawa with Assab as well as the rehabilitation of the Eritrean Railway. The rail line now runs between the Port of Massawa and the capital Asmara. This feat of re-engineering was accomplished by local labor and ingenuity.

Eritrea's economic future remains mixed. The cessation of Ethiopian trade, which mainly used Eritrean ports before the war, leaves Eritrea with a large economic hole to fill. Eritrea's economic future depends upon its ability to master fundamental social problems like illiteracy, unemployment, and low skills, as well as the willingness to open its economy further to private enterprise so that the Diaspora's money and expertise can foster economic growth.

Society

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Eritrea

File:Eritrea-people-map.gif

A map indicating the ethnic composition of Eritrea

Eritrean society is ethnically heterogeneous. The largest ethnic group are the Tigrinya who compose up to 50% of the population, while the Tigre people make up another 31.4%. The rest of the population is comprised of the smaller populations of the Saho, Nara, Hedareb, Beja, Afar, Bilen, Kunama, and the Rashaida. Each nationality speaks a different native tongue, but typically, many of the minorities speak more than one language. The Jebertis are Muslim Tigrinyas who consider themselves as a separate ethnicity, but are not recognized by other sources.

There exist minorities of Italians and Ethiopian Tigrayans. Neither is generally given citizenship unless through marriage or having it conferred upon them by the State.

The most recent addition to the nationalities of Eritrea is the Rashaida. The Rashaida came to Eritrea in the 19th century from the Arabian Coast. The Rashaida do not typically intermarry, are typically nomadic, and number approximately 61,000, less than 1% of the population.

The Kunama are one of the earliest settled peoples in Eritrea. They adopted rain-fed agriculture and settled into communal villages in the 'lowlands' of Eritrea.

Between 900 and 500 BC Eritrea experienced massive migrations and cultural contacts from Saba in Southern Arabia. The Sabean area in Eritrea is mainly to be found in the Kebessa highlands surrounding the capital Asmara and extending southwards. There the Sabeans found the same geographical conditions as in their native Saba, suitable to terracing and their pre-existing agricultural modes of production.

Languages

Main article: Languages of Eritrea

Rashaida children in the Eritrean lowlands

Many languages are spoken in Eritrea today. The two language families that most of the languages stem from are the Semitic and Cushitic families. The Semitic languages in Eritrea are Arabic (spoken natively by the Rashaida Arabs), Tigrinya, Tigre, and the newly recognized Dahlik; these languages (primarily Tigrinya and Tigre) are spoken as a first language by over 80% of the population. The Cushitic languages in Eritrea are just as numerous, including Afar, Beja, Blin, and Saho. Kunama and Nara are also spoken in Eritrea and belong to the Nilo-Saharan language family. English and Amharic are spoken to a degree by more educated Eritreans, and there are still some speakers of Italian leftover from colonial times.

The local Tigrinya and the wider Arabic language are the two predominant languages for official purposes, but a few Italian speakers can still be found. Along with Arabic (spoken natively only by the Rashaida), English is the most widely spoken non-African language.

Education

Main article: Education in Eritrea

There are five levels of education in Eritrea, pre-primary, primary, middle, secondary, tertiary. There are nearly 238,000 students in the primary, middle, and secondary levels of education. There are approximately 824 schools in Eritrea and two Universities (University of Asmara and the Institute of Science and Technology) as well as several smaller colleges and technical schools.

One of the most important goals of the Eritrea's educational policy is to provide basic education in each of Eritrea's mother tongues as well as to develop self-motivated and conscious population to fight poverty and disease. Furthermore it is tooled to produce a society that is equipped with the necessary skills to function with a culture of self-reliance in the modern economy.

The education system in Eritrea is also designed to promote private sector schooling, equal access for all groups (i.e. prevent gender discrimination, prevent ethnic discrimination, prevent class discrimination, etc.) and promote continuing education through formal and informal systems.

Barriers to education in Eritrea include traditional taboos, school fees (for registration and materials), and the opportunity costs of low-income households.

Religion

Enda Mariam Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Cathedral, Al Khulafa Al Rashiudin Mosque (in the foreground, rear left, and rear right respectively) in the capital Asmara.

Eritrea has two dominant religions, Christianity and Islam, which each account for roughly half the population. The Christians consist primarily of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church, which is the local Oriental Orthodox church, but small groups of Roman Catholics, Protestants, and other denominations also exist, while the Muslims predominantly follow Sunni Islam.

Members of the Eritrean Orthodox Church are sometimes described as Coptic Christians because it was formerly part of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, which was until 1959 subject to the Coptic Pope. However, the word Coptic in modern usage refers primarily to the Egyptian Orthodox branch of Christianity. The Eritrean and Ethiopian Orthodox churches are still in full communion with the Coptic Church in Egypt. The Eritrean Orthodox Church was granted autocephaly in 1993 by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church when Eritrea became independent, and, in 1998 the Archbishop of Asmara, the capital, was elevated to the rank of patriarchate.

Since May 2002, the government of Eritrea has only officially recognized the Eritrean Orthodox Church, Sunni Islam, Catholicism and the Evangelical Lutheran church. All other faiths and denominations were required to undergo a registration process that was so stringent as to effectively be prohibitive. Amongst other things, the government's registration system requires religious groups to submit personal information on their membership in order to be allowed to worship. The few organisations that have met all of the registration requirements have still not received official recognition. Other faith groups like Jehovah's Witnesses, Bahai's, the Seventh-day Adventist Church and numerous Protestant denominations are not registered and cannot worship freely. They have effectively been banned, and harsh measures have been taken against their adherents. Over twenty Protestant pastors and almost 2000 church members have so far been detained indefinitely and without charge. In addition several Orthodox priests have also been detained, and the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church has been replaced by the Eritrean Orthodox Synod and placed under stringent house arrest ostensibly for objecting to government interference in church affairs.

There is also one last native Jew left in Eritrea, formerly from a community of hundreds in Asmara, whose ancestors had crossed from Aden in the late 19th century.

Culture

Main articles: Culture of Eritrea, Cuisine of Eritrea, Literature of Eritrea, and Music of Eritrea

Cuisine of Eritrea is very rich. Here, the typical Kitcha fit-fit is presented with a scoop of fresh yogurt and topped with berbere (spice)

The Eritrean region has traditionally been a nexus for trade throughout the world. Because of this, the influence of diverse cultures can be seen throughout Eritrea. Today, the most obvious influences in the capital, Asmara, are that of Italy. Throughout Asmara, there are small cafes serving beverages common to Italy. In Asmara, there is a clear merging of the Italian colonial influence with the traditional Tigrinya lifestyle. In the villages of Eritrea, these changes never took hold.

In the cities, before the Occupation and during the early years, the import of Bollywood films was commonplace, while Italian and American films were available in the cinemas as well. In the 1980s and since Independence, however, American films have certainly become the most common. Vying for market share are films by local producers, who have slowly come into their own. The global broadcast of Eri-TV has brought cultural images to the large Eritrean population in the Diaspora who frequents the country every summer.

File:Kunama Eritrea.JPG

A traditional Kunama herder posing for a picture near Barentu, Zoba Gash-Barka, Eritrea

Traditional Eritrean dress is quite varied with the Kunama traditionally dressing in brightly colored clothes while the Tigrinya and Tigre traditionally dress in bright white costumes, resembling traditional Oriental and Indian clothing. The Rashaida women are ornately bejeweled and scarfed.

Popular sports in Eritrea are soccer and bicycle racing. Almost unique on the African continent, the "Tour of Eritrea" is a race from the hot desert beaches of Massawa, up the winding mountain highway with its precipitous valleys and cliffs to the capital Asmara. From there, it continues downwards onto the western plains of the Gash-Barka Zone, only to return back to Asmara from the south. This is, by far, the most popular sport in Eritrea, though, as of late long-distance running has garnered its own supporters. The momentum for long-distance running in Eritrea can be seen in the successes of Zersenay Tadesse and Mebrahtom (Meb) Keflezighi, both Olympians.

Further reading

• Ancient Ethiopia, David W. Phillipson (1998)
• Cliffe, Lionel; Connell, Dan; Davidson, Basil (2005), Taking on the Superpowers: Collected Articles on the Eritrean Revolution (1976-1982). Red Sea Press, ISBN 1-56902-188-0
• Cliffe, Lionel & Davidson, Basil (1988), The Long Struggle of Eritrea for Independence and Constructive Peace. Spokesman Press, ISBN 0-85124-463-7
• Connell, Dan (1997), Against All Odds: A Chronicle of the Eritrean Revolution With a New Afterword on the Postwar Transiton. Red Sea Press, ISBN 1-56902-046-9
• Connell, Dan (2001), Rethinking Revolution: New Strategies for Democracy & Social Justice : The Experiences of Eritrea, South Africa, Palestine & Nicaragua. Red Sea Press, ISBN 1-56902-145-7
• Connell, Dan (2004), Conversations with Eritrean Political Prisoners. Red Sea Press, ISBN 1-56902-235-6
• Connell, Dan (2005), Building a New Nation: Collected Articles on the Eritrean Revolution (1983-2002). Red Sea Press, ISBN 1-56902-198-8
• Daniel Kendie (2005), The Five Dimensions Of The Eritrean Conflict 1941 - 2004: Deciphering the Geo-Political Puzzle. Signature Book Printing, ISBN 1-932433-47-3
• Firebrace, James & Holand, Stuart (1985), Never Kneel Down: Drought, Development and Liberation in Eritrea. Red Sea Press, ISBN 0-932415-00-8
• Jordan Gebre-Medhin (1989), Peasants and Nationalism in Eritrea. Red Sea Press, ISBN 0-932415-38-5
• Iyob, Ruth (1997), The Eritrean Struggle for Independence : Domination, Resistance, Nationalism, 1941-1993. Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-59591-6
• Jacquin-Berdal, Dominique; Plaut, Martin (2004), Unfinished Business: Ethiopia and Eritrea at War. Red Sea Press, ISBN 1-56902-217-8
• Johns, Michael (1992), "Does Democracy Have a Chance", Congressional Record, May 6, 1992
• Killion, Tom (1998), Historical Dictionary of Eritrea. Scarecrow Press, ISBN 0-8108-3437-5
• Wrong, Michela (2005), I Didn't Do It For You: how the world betrayed a small African Nation. Harper Collins, ISBN 0-06-078092-4
• Ogbaselassie, G (2006-01-10). "Response to remarks by Mr. David Triesman, Britain's parliamentary under-secretary of state with responsibility for Africa". Retrieved 2006-06-07.
• Pateman, Roy (1998), Eritrea: Even the Stones Are Burning. Red Sea Press, ISBN 1-56902-057-4
• Rena, Ravinder (2006-01-12). "Student-Centered Education is the Best Way of Learning". Retrieved 2006-06-07.
• "Eritrea-Ethiopia versus western nations". 2005-12-09. Retrieved 2006-06-07.

External links

Government

• Official website of the Ministry of Information of Eritrea
• Official website of the Ministry of Education of Eritrea

Other

• CIA World Factbook - Eritrea
• Background to the conflict Eritrea / Ethiopia'