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Eritrea:
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Other pages in this profile of Eritrea:
People, Government, Economy, Communications & Transportation, Military & Transnational Issues.
People, Government, Economy, Communications & Transportation, Military & Transnational Issues.
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Background |
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 currently hosts a UN peacekeeping operation that is monitoring a 25 km-wide Temporary Security Zone on the border with Ethiopia. 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. In November 2006, the international commission informed Eritrea and Ethiopia they had one year to demarcate the border or the border demarcation would be based on coordinates. |
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Location |
Eastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Djibouti and Sudan |
Geographic coordinates |
15 00 N, 39 00 E |
Map references |
Africa |
Area |
total: 121,320 sq km land: 121,320 sq km water: 0 sq km |
Area - comparative |
slightly larger than Pennsylvania |
Land boundaries |
total: 1,626 km border countries: Djibouti 109 km, Ethiopia 912 km, Sudan 605 km |
Coastline |
2,234 km (mainland on Red Sea 1,151 km, islands in Red Sea 1,083 km) |
Maritime claims |
territorial sea: 12 nm |
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 |
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 |
Elevation extremes |
lowest point: near Kulul within the Denakil depression -75 m highest point: Soira 3,018 m |
Natural resources |
gold, potash, zinc, copper, salt, possibly oil and natural gas, fish |
Land use |
arable land: 4.78% permanent crops: 0.03% other: 95.19% (2005) |
Irrigated land |
210 sq km (2003) |
Natural hazards |
frequent droughts; locust swarms |
Environment - current issues |
deforestation; desertification; soil erosion; overgrazing; loss of infrastructure from civil warfare |
Environment - international agreements |
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
Geography - note |
strategic geopolitical position along world's busiest shipping lanes; Eritrea retained the entire coastline of Ethiopia along the Red Sea upon de jure independence from Ethiopia on 24 May 1993 |
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Copyright 2008 World Sites Atlas (sitesatlas.com) |