icularly in the areas of prosecuting
and convicting trafficking offenders and failing to formalize
mechanisms to provide assistance to victims; although the government
made some effort to enforce laws against child labor exploitation,
it failed to report any trafficking prosecutions or convictions in
2007; the government continued to lack shelters or formal procedures
for providing care to victims (2008)

This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008

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@Eritrea

Introduction
Eritrea

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
(TSZ) 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. On 30 November 2007, the Eritrea-Ethiopia
Boundary Commission remotely demarcated the border by coordinates
and dissolved itself, leaving Ethiopia still occupying several
tracts of disputed territory, including the town of Badme. Eritrea
accepted the EEBC's "virtual demarcation" decision and called on
Ethiopia to remove its troops from the TSZ which it states is
Eritrean territory. Ethiopia has not accepted the virtual
demarcation decision.

Geography
Eritrea

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 t