In 2015, the population of Eritrea was estimated to be around 4.6 million people. The majority of the population is ethnically Tigrinya with a small percentage of other ethnicities such as Kunama, Afar, Saho and Nara. The economy of Eritrea is primarily based on agricultural production and exports, followed by services and industry. In terms of foreign relations, Eritrea is a member of several international organizations including the United Nations, African Union (AU) and Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). See ehealthfacts for Eritrea in the year of 2005.
In 2015, politics in Eritrea were dominated by President Isaias Afwerki who had been in office since 1993. He was re-elected in 2013 with an administration that focused on economic development through foreign investment, public works projects and infrastructure improvements. Opposition to Afwerki’s government came from both civil society groups who wanted more democratic reforms and opposition parties who wanted less government intervention in economic affairs. In addition, there were tensions between Eritrea and its neighbors over border disputes which led to disputes over access to regional waters.
Yearbook 2015
Eritrea. At the beginning of the year, the regime released several politically incarcerated journalists. Six reporters from state radio were released on bail after five years in prison. No justification was given, as otherwise Eritrea was in last place on Reporters Without Borders list of press freedom in the world.
According to COUNTRYAAH, Asmara is the capital of Eritrea which is located in Eastern Africa. There was no information on Swedish-Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaak, who has been imprisoned in Eritrea since 2001. A Swedish preliminary investigation against Eritrean authorities was discussed, but according to the prosecutor’s office, such a possibility would hamper Dawit Isaak’s freedom.
- Also see AbbreviationFinder.org for Eritrea country abbreviations, including geography, history, economy and politics.
A 500-page UN report in June showed that human rights were systematically violated in Eritrea. People are arrested, even children, without legal basis. Many are tortured, killed or disappeared. The abuses have led to over 360,000 people moving the country. Thousands of Eritreans flee every month, and there are refugees being shot to death at the border. Many Eritreans have also drowned in the Mediterranean on their way to Europe. The report called on the outside world to protect Eritrean refugees and not send them back to Eritrea.
UN reporters were not allowed to enter Eritrea. Instead, they interviewed hundreds of refugees in several countries, including Sweden where tens of thousands of Eritreans live. However, according to the investigators, there were unusually many in Sweden who did not dare to testify because of fear of reprisals. The investigators perceived strong contradictions between regime-critical and regime-friendly refugees in Sweden. According to investigators, the security service in Eritrea has built up an extensive network of indicators that make people not trust each other, not even their closest. Eritrea rejected the UN report as lying. According to the regime, the refugee crisis is due to a conspiracy staged by the CIA.
In September, the EU presented a proposal for a development fund of EUR 200 million to Eritrea in the hope of contributing to better conditions in the country and reducing the reasons for escape. The five-year support should not go through the regime but must be approved by it.
In October, ten players in Eritrea’s football team jumped off after a World Cup qualifier in Botswana, where they received asylum. In Eritrea, sports are usually included in the army, and several competitors have previously jumped abroad.
The Assembly then appointed a Commissioner to assist the occupying power (England) in the preparatory acts for the creation of an autonomous administration of Eritrea and its entry into the Federation, which should have started its life no later than September 15, 1952. The main task of the UN Commissioner (Bolivian Eduardo Ante Matienzo) was to prepare a text of the Constitution for Eritrea. Presented to the Eritrean Constituent Assembly which had been elected in April 1952 (34 Copts and 34 Muslims), the text was approved (10 July 1952) with modest amendments.
On 11 September 1952 the Emperor of Ethiopia ratified the Eritrean constitution (the authentic text of which is in English) together with the federal law and the concomitant declaration of the entry into force of the federation by the same sovereign. On 15 September the British administration, to which the territory was subject after the military occupation of 1941 and which from 10 April 1949 had passed under the control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, handed over Eritrea to the Ethiopian federal authorities and the Eritrean government according to their respective competences. In October 1952 the emperor of Ethiopia made his first official visit to Eritrea.
The founding act of the federation is represented, as mentioned, by the first seven articles of the UN deliberation: to the East. a limited autonomy is recognized in the governance of internal affairs, which is implemented through its own legislative, executive and judicial power (with the right to set up its own police force, to impose taxes to support the operating costs of its administration and to have a own budget); the federal government, represented by the Ethiopian government with federal powers, is entrusted with the affairs concerning defense, foreign relations, finances (hence the Ethiopian tolar has become the legal currency of Eritrea too, replacing the shilling of English East Africa), trade (foreign and inter-federal), communications (external and federal,
The borders of Eritrea they are those of the former Italian colony (established in the Italo-Ethiopian conventions of 1900-02 and 1908); the official national languages are Tigrinya and Arabic, while English is the European language of official use (but Italian continues to be widely used today, even in official writings); the Eritrean flag required by the constitution was replaced in 1958 by the Legislative Assembly with the Ethiopian one. The powers of the Ethiopian ruler as ruler of the federation are exercised by his representative in Asmara, the capital city; this is responsible for taking the oath of the head of government and investing him in office, opening and closing the sessions of the Legislative Assembly, delivering the speech of the throne, promulgating the laws approved by that one or postponing them,