1952-1991






Independence



By 1991, Eritrea had achieved de facto independence, without outside help. In 1993, a referendum was held; the vote was overwhelmingly in favour of independence, which was proclaimed. ISAIAS AFERWERKI became the country's first president.
Yet the international community hesitated with the recognition of Eritrea, the reason being that nobody wants to set a precedence, as many ex-colonies, especially in Africa, are in danger of disintegration. Among the major policies of the OAU is not to question any national borders.
In 1997, Eritrea introduced a new currency, the NAFKA. In 1998, a conflict arose with Ethiopia over disputed territories along the border. The conflict escalated into a short war in 2000.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Articles from Infoplease : Eritrea
History of Eritrea, from Eritrea.net
Links to Eritrean History, from Eritrea.net and from BUBL
Eritrea Index, from ICL
DOCUMENTS Map of Eritrea, from UPenn, African Studies and from CIA World Factbook
Flag of Eritrea, from FOTW
Eritrean banknotes of 1997, from Ron Wise's World Paper Money
Documents on the History of the Horn of Africa, from World History Archives, on Eritrea from Africa Intelligence
Estimates of Death Toll in Eritrean-Ethiopian War, 1998-2000, posted by Matthew White, scroll down for Eritrea-Ethiopian War
REFERENCE Article : Eritrea, in : Statesman's Yearbook 1994-1995 pp.521-522, 1995-1996 pp.518-520, 1996-1997 pp.458-460, 1997-1998 pp.467-469, 1998-1999 pp.512-514, 2000 pp.589-592, 2001 pp.570-573, 2002 pp.594-597, 2003 pp.597-600, 2004 pp.597-600, 2005 pp.596-599, 2006 p.590-594 [G]
Entry : Travel Warnings - Eritrea, pp.480-482 in : Countries of the World and their Leaders Yearbook, 2000, Supplement [G]
Entry : State of Eritrea, Cabinet, p.37; Background Notes, pp.537-542, in : Countries of the World and their Leaders Yearbook, 2003 [G]
Article : Eritrea, in : Americana Annual 1994 pp.228-229 (on events of 1993) [G]
Article Eritrea, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1994 pp.358, 603, 1995 pp.403-404, 603, 1996 pp.401-402, 603, 1997 pp.415, 601, 2002 pp.422, 599 [G]
Article Eritrea, in : Britannica Book of the Year (on events in 1994) [G]



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on April 5th 2007

Click here to go Home
Click here to go to Information about KMLA, WHKMLA, the author and webmaster
Click here to go to Statistics