Eritrea

• 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

mean elevation:

853 m

elevation extremes:

-75 m lowest point: near Kulul within the Danakil Depression; 3018 highest point: Soira

• frequent droughts, rare earthquakes and volcanoes;
• locust swarms volcanism: Dubbi (1,625 m), which last erupted in 1861, was the country's only historically active volcano until Nabro (2,218 m) came to life on 12 June 2011

• deforestation;
• desertification;
• soil erosion;
• overgrazing

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

• 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

noun:

Eritrean(s)

adjective:

Eritrean

0-14 years:

39.53% (male 1,186,749 /female 1,173,530)

15-24 years:

19.94% (male 592,365 /female 598,305)

25-54 years:

32.88% (male 965,405 /female 997,771)

55-64 years:

3.7% (male 96,967 /female 123,895)

65 years and over:

3.95% (male 97,816 /female 137,843) (2018 est.)

total dependency ratio:

85 (2015 est.)

youth dependency ratio:

78.3 (2015 est.)

elderly dependency ratio:

6.8 (2015 est.)

potential support ratio:

14.8 (2015 est.)

at birth:

1.02 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

0-14 years:

1.01 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

15-24 years:

0.99 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

25-54 years:

0.97 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

55-64 years:

0.74 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

65 years and over:

0.75 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

total population:

0.97 male(s)/female (2017 est.)

degree of risk:

high (2016)

food or waterborne diseases:

bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever (2016)

vectorborne diseases:

malaria and dengue fever (2016)

conventional long form:

State of Eritrea

conventional short form:

Eritrea

local long form:

Hagere Ertra

local short form:

Ertra

former:

Eritrea Autonomous Region in Ethiopia

etymology:

the country name derives from the ancient Greek appellation "Erythra Thalassa" meaning Red Sea, which is the major water body bordering the country

name:

Asmara (Asmera)

geographic coordinates:

15 20 N, 38 56 E

time difference:

UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

history:

• ratified by the Constituent Assembly 23 May 1997 (not fully implemented);
• note - drafting of a new constitution, which began in 2014, but interrupted by the war, is expected to resume in 2019 (2018)

amendments:

• proposed by the president of Eritrea or by assent of at least one-half of the National Assembly membership;
• passage requires at least an initial three-quarters majority vote by the Assembly and, after one year, final passage by at least four-fifths majority vote by the Assembly (2018)

citizenship by birth:

no

citizenship by descent only:

at least one parent must be a citizen of Eritrea

dual citizenship recognized:

no

residency requirement for naturalization:

20 years

highest courts:

High Court (consists of 20 judges and organized into civil, commercial, criminal, labor, administrative, and customary sections)

judge selection and term of office:

High Court judges appointed by the president

subordinate courts:

• regional/zonal courts;
• community courts;
• special courts;
• sharia courts (for issues dealing with Muslim marriage, inheritance, and family);
• military courts

chief of state:

• President ISAIAS Afworki (since 8 June 1993);
• note - the president is both chief of state and head of government and is head of the State Council and National Assembly

head of government:

President ISAIAS Afworki (since 8 June 1993)

cabinet:

State Council appointed by the president

elections/appointments:

• president indirectly elected by the National Assembly for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term);
• the only election was held on 8 June 1993, following independence from Ethiopia (next election postponed indefinitely)

election results:

ISAIAS Afworki elected president by the transitional National Assembly; percent of National Assembly vote - ISAIAS Afworki (PFDJ) 95%, other 5%

description:

unicameral National Assembly (Hagerawi Baito) (150 seats; 75 members indirectly elected by the ruling party and 75 directly elected by simple majority vote; members serve 5-year terms)

elections:

• in May 1997, following the adoption of the new constitution, 75 members of the PFDJ Central Committee (the old Central Committee of the EPLF), 60 members of the 527-member Constituent Assembly, which had been established in 1997 to discuss and ratify the new constitution, and 15 representatives of Eritreans living abroad were formed into a Transitional National Assembly to serve as the country's legislative body until countrywide elections to form a National Assembly were held;
• although only 75 of 150 members of the Transitional National Assembly were elected, the constitution stipulates that once past the transition stage, all members of the National Assembly will be elected by secret ballot of all eligible voters;
• National Assembly elections scheduled for December 2001 were postponed indefinitely due to the war with Ethiopia

election results:

NA

chief of mission:

Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires BERHANE Gebrehiwet Solomon (since 15 March 2011)

chancery:

1708 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20009

telephone:

[1] (202) 319-1991

FAX:

[1] (202) 319-1304

chief of mission:

Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Natalie E. BROWN (since September 2016)

embassy:

179 Ala Street, Asmara

mailing address:

P.O. Box 211, Asmara

telephone:

[291] (1) 120004

FAX:

[291] (1) 127584

• red isosceles triangle (based on the hoist side) dividing the flag into two right triangles;
• the upper triangle is green, the lower one is blue;
• a gold wreath encircling a gold olive branch is centered on the hoist side of the red triangle;
• green stands for the country's agriculture economy, red signifies the blood shed in the fight for freedom, and blue symbolizes the bounty of the sea;
• the wreath-olive branch symbol is similar to that on the first flag of Eritrea from 1952;
• the shape of the red triangle broadly mimics the shape of the country

note: one of several flags where a prominent component of the design reflects the shape of the country; other such flags are those of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, and Vanuatu

name:

"Ertra, Ertra, Ertra" (Eritrea, Eritrea, Eritrea)

lyrics/music:

SOLOMON Tsehaye Beraki/Isaac Abraham MEHAREZGI and ARON Tekle Tesfatsion

note: adopted 1993; upon independence from Ethiopia

• sorghum, lentils, vegetables, corn, cotton, tobacco, sisal;
• livestock, goats;
• fish

agriculture:

80%

industry:

20% (2004 est.)

lowest 10%:

NA

highest 10%:

NA

general assessment:

• woefully inadequate service provided by state-owned telecom monopoly;
• most fixed-line telephones are in Asmara;
• cell phone use only slowly increasing throughout the country;
• no data service;
• only about 3% of households having computers with 2% internet;
• untapped market ripe for competition;
• government telco working on roll-out of 3G network (2016)

domestic:

fixed-line subscribership is less than 1 per 100 person and mobile-cellular 9 per 100 (2016)

international:

country code - 291 (2016)

• government controls broadcast media with private ownership prohibited;
• 1 state-owned TV station;
• state-owned radio operates 2 networks;
• purchases of satellite dishes and subscriptions to international broadcast media are permitted (2007)

total:

306 km (2014)

narrow gauge:

306 km 0.950-m gauge (2014)

total:

4,010 km (2000)

paved:

874 km (2000)

unpaved:

3,136 km (2000)

total:

9 (2017)

by type:

general cargo 4, oil tanker 1, other 4 (2017)

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 StatementSudan accuses Eritrea of supporting eastern Sudanese rebel groupsin 2008, Eritrean troops moved across the border on Ras Doumera peninsula and occupied Doumera Island with undefined sovereignty in the Red Sea

current situation:

• Eritrea is a source country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor domestically and, to a lesser extent, sex and labor trafficking abroad;
• the country’s national service program is often abused, with conscripts detained indefinitely and subjected to forced labor;
• Eritrean migrants, often fleeing national service, face strict exit control procedures and limited access to passports and visas, making them vulnerable to trafficking;
• Eritrean secondary school children are required to take part in public works projects during their summer breaks and must attend military and educational camp in their final year to obtain a high school graduation certificate and to gain access to higher education and some jobs;
• some Eritreans living in or near refugee camps, particularly in Sudan, are kidnapped by criminal groups and held for ransom in the Sinai Peninsula and Libya, where they are subjected to forced labor and abuse

tier rating:

• Tier 3 – Eritrea does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so;
• the government failed to investigate or prosecute any trafficking offenses or to identify or protect any victims;
• while the government continued to warn citizens of the dangers of human trafficking through awareness-raising events and poster campaigns, authorities lacked an understanding of the crime, conflating trafficking with transnational migration;
• Eritrea is not a party to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2015)