Eritrea

 

This week we are still in Africa, and this is a country I only recently heard of while watching something on YouTube about modern day slavery.  

So, we are looking at the country of Eritrea.

Eritrea is a northeast African country on the Red Sea coast. It shares borders with Ethiopia, Sudan and Djibouti. The capital city, Asmara, is known for its Italian colonial buildings, like St. Joseph's Cathedral, as well as art deco structures. Italian, Egyptian and Turkish architecture in Massawa reflect the port city's colourful history. Notable buildings here include St. Mariam Cathedral and the Imperial Palace.

It has a population of 3.7 million and has no official language, as it is a multilingual country, and as the Constitution establishes the "equality of all Eritrean languages". Tigrinya, Arabic, and English serve as de facto working languages, with English used in university education and many technical fields.

The flag of Eritrea is made up of a red triangle, a green triangle, and a blue triangle, with a yellow olive branch and wreath in the centre. The first Eritrean flag was adopted in 1952, but was replaced by Ethiopia in 1958, The Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) adopted a flag in 1977, the current flag was adopted on December 5, 1995.

The country’s official religions are Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Christianity, Sunni Islam, Roman Catholicism, and Evangelical Protestantism. However, the government restricts the activities of these religions and persecutes members of unregistered religious groups. 

What does this mean? Well, the government's constitution and laws prohibit discrimination based on religion. However, the government restricts the activities of the officially recognized religions. The government intimidates and prosecutes people who practice unregistered religions, it also prevents unregistered religions from building houses of worship or practicing their religion. Also, the government detains people for their religious beliefs, including minors.

The currency is the nakfa and was introduced on 15 November 1997 to replace the Ethiopian birr at par. It takes it name from then place of Nakfa were the first victory in their war of independence took place.

Like many other African countries, it is not a safe place to visit.

The country’s education system includes basic, secondary, and tertiary education. The government has been working to improve the quality of education and increase access to schools. Due to the country’s geography which include remote areas education is difficult.

Other problems are the amount of poverty, and many children living in nomadic areas also children with disabilities have difficulty accessing education.

In fact, many children are unable to read and understand what they are reading, and it is not unusual for as much as 48% of primary school-aged children to not attend school.

Eritrea has been involved in several wars and conflicts, including the Eritrean–Ethiopian War, the Djiboutian–Eritrean conflict, and the Tigray War. 

Eritrean–Ethiopian War lasted from 1998 to 2000 and was between Eritrea and Ethiopia. The war resulted in the Algiers Agreement, tens of thousands lost their lives on both sides. The war resulted in minor changes to the border between the two countries. 

Eritrean–Ethiopian border conflict this was a violent standoff and proxy conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia that lasted from 1998 to 2018. In 2018, Ethiopia agreed to cede Badme to Eritrea.

Eritrean War of Independence as armed conflict that lasted from 1961 to 1991 this war ended in 1991 with the fall of the Derg regime.

Djiboutian–Eritrean conflict occurred in 2008 between Eritrea and Djibouti it lasted only three days of indecisive fighting.

Lastly there was the Tigray War a conflict that occurred from 2020 to 2022 between Ethiopia and Eritrea it ended with the Ethiopia–Tigray peace agreement.