h due to the discovery of large offshore oil
reserves, and in the last decade has become Sub-Saharan Africa's
third largest oil exporter. Despite the country's economic windfall
from oil production resulting in a massive increase in government
revenue in recent years, there have been few improvements in the
population's living standards.

Eritrea
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 but final
demarcation is on hold due to Ethiopian objections.

Estonia
After centuries of Danish, Swedish, German, and Russian
rule, Estonia attained independence in 1918. Forcibly incorporated
into the USSR in 1940 - an action never recognized by the US - it
regained its freedom in 1991, with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Since the last Russian troops left in 1994, Estonia has been free to
promote economic and political ties with Western Europe. It joined
both NATO and the EU in the spring of 2004.

Ethiopia
Unique among African countries, the ancient Ethiopian
monarchy maintained its freedom from colonial rule with the
exception of the 1936-41 Italian occupation during World War II. In
1974, a military junta, the Derg, deposed Emperor Haile SELASSIE
(who had ruled since 1930) and established a socialist state. Torn
by bloody coups, uprisings, wide-scale drought, and massive refugee
problems, the regime was finally toppled in 1991 by a coalition of
rebel forces, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front
(EPRDF). A constitution was adopted in 1994, and Ethiopia's first
multiparty elections were held in 1995. A border war with Eritrea
late in the 1990's ended with a peace treaty in December 2000. Final
demarcation of the boundary is currently on hold due to Ethiopian
objections to an international commission's finding requiring it to
surrender ter