In the spotlight
Country Profile: ERITREA
Once a prospering colony of Italy and later the fourteenth province of Ethiopia, Eritrea was strategically formed as a partition between Christian Ethiopians and Sudanese Muslims. Eritrea declared independence in 1993 but sovereignty has not been without its consequences. Today, Eritrea faces political unrest, religious persecution, drought, famine, and renewed hostilities with the Ethiopian army. The undemarcated border with Ethiopia is the primary cause of fighting, displacing more than a million Eritreans in the last fifteen years. In 2007 and 2008, Reporters Without Borders Freedom Index ranked Eritrea last at number 169, unseating previous record holder North Korea which had been last every other year of the survey. Eritreans makes up 22% of ASTT’s current clientele.