Timeline Eritrea
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Eritrea is located north of Ethiopia, the
capital
is Asmara. Tigrinya is the
country’s main language.
(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.8)(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A10)(Econ, 11/8/03, p.46)
1.4 Mil-600,000 BP A human skull from this period
found in Eritrea was the only one of this period from Africa and
combined features of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens. Like sapiens the
skull is widest at a higher point than the skulls of erectus.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A2)
125,000 BP Scientists in 2000 identified human stone
tools of this time from a fossil reef along the Red Sea coast of
Eritrea. They identified the area as the “world’s first oyster bar.”
(SFC, 5/5/00, p.A2)
1679-1719 Degesmati Hab'sulus of Tseazega, ruler of
Midri-Bahri (Eritrea), controlled the Eritrean Highland.
(www.shaebia.org/wwwboard/contributedarticles/messages/58.html)
1698 Abraham or Ibrahim (Abram
Petrovich Gannibal) was born about this time in the Eritrean highland,
north of the Mareb River in a town called Logon. Abraham's father was a
local chief or a "prince". Within a few years Turks invaded the area
and abducted Abraham following a battle lost by his father. Abraham
spent a year in Constantinople and was sold with a bribe for service to
Russia’s Peter the Great.
(www.shaebia.org/wwwboard/contributedarticles/messages/58.html)
c1891-1941 Eritrea was occupied by the Italians for
almost 50 years.
(WSJ, 5/26/00, p.A22)
1941 The British seized Eritrea
from the Italians.
(WSJ, 5/26/00, p.A22)
1941 Eritrea was the focal point
of American participation in the early part of the war. The first
American military advisors and contract civilians arrived in Asmara.
(www.kagnewstation.com/history/chapter4/index.html)
1943 Jan 26, A US War Department
Disposition Form was issued with “Subject: establishment of a War
Department Fixed Radio Station in Africa.” It detailed operational
objectives for what was to become the 4th Detachment of the Second
Signal Service Battalion, Asmara, Eritrea. Over time the US paid
Ethiopia more than $360m in military aid as rent for the eavesdropping
installation at Kagnew.
(www.kagnewstation.com/history/chapter4/index.html)(Econ, 1/22/05, p.80)
1945 After WW II Ethiopia annexed
Eritrea, a former Italian colony, and ruled it ruthlessly.
(SFC, 6/11/97, p.C16)
1950 Dec 2, The UN voted 46-10 for
Eritrea to be federated with Ethiopia. Union was to be achieved
September 15, 1952.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1951 Oct 7, Dr. Eduardo Anze
Matienzo of Bolivia, UN commissioner for Eritrea, announced that
Eritrea had accepted the UN Federation plan.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1952 Jul 10, The new constitution
of Eritrea, adopted and ratified on August 11, provided that Eritrea
should have legislative, executive and judicial powers in matters not
reserved to the federal government.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1952 Sep 11, Eritrean-Ethiopian
federation act was signed and Eritrea became an independent (federated)
nation. Washington, worried an emergent Eritrea would come under Soviet
influence, had arranged for it to be yoked in a federation to U.S.
client Ethiopia.
(AP, 1/3/05)(http://nazret.com/history/)
1952 Sep 16, The last British
troops left Eritrea.
(http://nazret.com/history/)
1962 Ethiopia made Eritrea a
separate province. Emperor Haile Selassie unilaterally dissolved the
Eritrean parliament and annexed the country.
(WSJ, 5/26/00,
p.A22)(www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/hornafrica.html#eri)
1963 A guerrilla war with Ethiopia
began for independence.
(WSJ, 3/4/97, p.A14)
1990 Feb, The port of Massawa,
Eritrea, was liberated from Ethiopian forces.
(SFC, 6/11/97, p.C2)(http://tinyurl.com/8byua)
1991 May 24, Eritrean rebels
liberated Asmara from Ethiopian rule. Days later Ethiopian rebels from
Tigray took Addis Ababa with the help of Eritrean counterparts and
ended the 17-year rule of Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam.
(SFC, 6/24/99, p.A10)
1991 May 27, Ethiopia ordered its
troops to lay down their arms in the face of a rebel advance. An
estimated 60,000 Eritreans died in the rebel war with Ethiopia.
(AP, 5/27/01)(Econ, 2/19/05, p.80)
1991 Pres. Isaias Afeworki took
over the leadership of Eritrea and the People’s Front for Democracy and
Justice (PFDJ).
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A10)
1993 Apr 23-1993 Apr 25, Eritrea
voted to secede from Ethiopia.
(www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/hornafrica.html#eri)
1993 Apr 27, Eritrea declared
itself an independent state.
(www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/hornafrica.html#eri)
1993 May 24, Eritrea achieved
independence from Ethiopia after a 30-year civil war. Some 65,000
Eritreans lost their lives in the fight for independence. Pres. Meles
Zenawi of Ethiopia allowed Eritrea to secede as a reward for the
support of its rebel forces in 1991.
(WSJ, 3/4/97, p.A14)(SFC, 6/11/97, p.C16)(MC,
5/24/02)
1993 Eritrea elected a National
Assembly in a freely contested election and then chose former
liberation movement leader Isaias Afwerki as President.
(www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/hornafrica.html#eri)
1993 The Afar Revolutionary
Democratic Unity Front was launched in the land of the Afars, over
territory that straddled Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti. The Afars
numbered some 2 million and their territory had previously been called
the French Territory of Afars and Issas.
(Econ, 3/10/07, p.44)
1995 Dec 17, Eritrean and Yemeni
forces clashed over control of the Hanish Islands, located just north
of the Bab el-Mandeb. Eritrea used its warships to try to seize a
disputed island in the mouth of the Red Sea from Yemen. Yemen sent
warplanes to counter the attack.
(WSJ, 12/18/95,
p.A1)(www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/hornafrica.html#eri)
1996 Aug, Eritrean and Yemeni
forces again clashed over control of the Hanish Islands, located just
north of the Bab el-Mandeb.
(www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/hornafrica.html#eri)
1996 Oct, Eritrean and Yemeni
signed an agreement for arbitration over control of the Hanish Islands,
located just north of the Bab el-Mandeb. [see Oct 1998]
(www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/hornafrica.html#eri)
1996 Jun 6, More than 70
Eritreans, Ethiopians, and Sudanese were killed when their ship caught
fire near Dahlak Island off the Red Sea coast trying to slip into Saudi
Arabia from Eritrea. 33 survived and were admitted to hospitals in
Massawa.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A16)
1996 Dec 30, Five Belgians were
killed on an outing near Filfil along with their native driver.
(SFC, 12/31/96, p.A11)
1997 Mar 4, It was announced that
the US was providing as much as $20 million in military supplies to the
country.
(WSJ, 3/4/97, p.A14)
1997 Jun 11, Pres. Isaias Afwerki
led the country with a strong anti-corruption policy. Self-reliance was
a hallmark of the young nation.
(SFC, 6/11/97, p.C16)
1997 Aug, Ethiopia and Eritrea,
joint operators of the Assab refinery, decided to close it due to high
operating and maintenance costs. They then imported refined petroleum
products to meet domestic needs.
(www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/hornafrica.html#eri)
1997 Aug, Ethiopian officials set
up an administration in the contested region known as Bada, that
triggered skirmishes with Eritrea.
(SFC, 6/13/98, p.A14)
1997 Eritrea introduced its own
currency, the nakfa, and sought to make it directly exchangeable with
the Ethiopian burr in cross-border transaction.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A10)
1998 May 6, There was a border
skirmish between Ethiopia and Eritrea over the 150-square-mile area
called the Badme triangle. Later a settlement of the border war was
contingent on the borders prior to this date.
(SFC, 1/30/99, p.A12)(SFC, 3/10/00, p.A12)
1998 May 12, Eritrea accused
Ethiopian militiamen of invading its territory in a border skirmish.
Ethiopia later said 20 people were killed and 20 wounded by Eritrean
forces.
(WSJ, 5/15/98, p.A1)(SFC, 5/18/98, p.A12)
1998 May 28, Veterans were
mobilized to be sent to Ethiopian border where the 160-square-mile
Yigra triangle was under dispute. Eritrea claimed ownership under the
still binding Italian colonial borders.
(SFC, 5/29/98, p.D4)
1998 May, An international panel
in 2005, formed to resolve disputes between Eritrea and Ethiopia, said
Eritrea violated int’l. law when it invaded the north of Ethiopia in
May 1998.
(AFP, 12/22/05)
1998 Jun 3, Eritrean and Ethiopian
soldiers clashed in heavy fighting along their disputed border.
(SFC, 6/4/98, p.A11)
1998 Jun 5-6, Eritrea and Ethiopia
sent warplanes on bombing raids against each other. In Mekele,
Ethiopia, at least 40 people were killed and over 100 wounded.
(SFC, 6/6/98, p.A10)(SFC, 6/8/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 8, Eritrea appealed for
direct talks with Ethiopia to end the border war.
(SFC, 6/9/98, p.A14)
1998 Jun 9, Heavy fighting erupted
on the Ethiopian-Eritrean frontier in the latest stage of their
undeclared war.
(SFC, 6/10/98, p.A8)
1998 Jun 11, Fighting was reported
50 miles from Eritrea’s Red Sea port of Assab.
(SFC, 6/12/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 14, Ethiopia and Eritrea
agreed to halt the use of air strikes in their border war.
(SFC, 6/15/98, p.A10)
1998 Jul 17, In Eritrea a
Ukrainian IL-78 transport plane crashed near Asmara and killed 9 people.
(SFC, 7/18/98, p.A14)
1998 Sep 22, In Ethiopia the
government said that 2,000 Eritreans had been expelled over the past
week bringing the total to 6,500. It charged that Eritrea had forced
out 17,000 Ethiopians.
(SFC, 9/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Oct, The Permanent Court of
Arbitration ruled that the Hanish Islands are subject to the
territorial sovereignty of Yemen.
(www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/hornafrica.html#eri)
1998 Eritrea planned a new
constitution.
(SFC, 6/11/97, p.C16)
1998 Six private newspapers began
publishing in Eritrea in addition to the government published New
Eritrea.
(SFC, 5/13/98, p.A10)
1998-2000 An estimated 70,000 people were killed in
the border war between Eritrea and Ethiopia.
(Econ, 8/4/07, p.42)
1999 Jan 29, Amnesty Int'l.
reported that Ethiopia had forcefully deported 52,000 Eritreans since
the eruption of war in 1998.
(SFC, 1/30/99, p.A12)
1999 Feb 6, Ethiopia and Eritrea
resumed their clash after an 8-month lull. Heavy casualties were
reported.
(WSJ, 2/8/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 9, An Ethiopian plane
bombed an Eritrean village and at least 5 civilians were killed.
Eritrea reported that a large number of Ethiopian forces were killed
near Tsorena, but Ethiopia denied the Eritrean version of the fighting.
(SFC, 2/10/99, p.C2)
1999 Feb 14, Eritrea shot down an
Mi-24 Ethiopian helicopter gunship at Bure and the crew was killed.
Eritrea said that 16 civilians had been killed by Ethiopian aircraft
since Feb 6.
(SFC, 2/15/99, p.A9)
1999 Feb 15, Eritrea reported that
Ethiopia had begun a new round of shelling southwest of Assab.
(SFC, 2/15/99, p.C2)
1999 Feb 21, Ethiopian planes
struck the airport at Assab but Eritrean officials said the 12 bombs
dropped by 2 planes failed to hit their targets.
(SFC, 2/22/99, p.A14)
1999 Feb 23, Ethiopian troops
attacked Eritrea with tanks and aircraft.
(WSJ, 2/24/99, p.A1)
1999 Feb 24, Eritrea said that it
had destroyed 31 Ethiopian tanks, captured 3 others and shot down a
Mi-24 helicopter gunship.
(SFC, 2/27/99, p.A14)
1999 Feb 26, Ethiopia claimed to
have shot down a 2nd Eritrean MiG-29.
(SFC, 2/27/99, p.A14)
1999 Feb 27, Eritrea agreed to
accept an African sponsored proposal to end its border dispute with
Ethiopia. This followed an Ethiopian breakthrough at Badme.
(SFEC, 2/28/99, p.A23)
1999 Feb 28, Ethiopia claimed
victory over Eritrea and said that it had killed, wounded and captured
tens of thousands of Eritrean soldiers.
(SFC, 3/1/99, p.A12)
1999 Mar 15, Eritrea claimed to
have shot down an Ethiopian MiG-23 and to have destroyed 19 tanks.
Ethiopia denied the claims.
(SFC, 3/16/99, p.A9)
1999 Mar 17, Eritrea said it
repulsed Ethiopian troops after a 3-day battle. 300 Ethiopian soldiers
were reported dead and 57 tanks destroyed. Ethiopia said the results of
the battle were staged.
(SFC, 3/18/99, p.C3)
1999 Mar 28, Ethiopia claimed to
have killed tens of thousands of Eritrean soldiers since Feb 23.
Eritrea made equally high and unconfirmed claims of enemy casualties.
(WSJ, 3/29/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 30, Eritrea appealed to
humanitarian organizations to account for some 1,000 missing citizens
while Ethiopia continued shelling near Badme.
(SFC, 4/2/99, p.D3)
1999 Mar, At the Battle of Tsorona
Ethiopia sent waves of soldiers over minefields along a 3-mile front to
clear a path for better trained soldiers. Thousands died from
entrenched Eritrean troops and artillery fire.
(SFC, 6/24/99, p.A10)
1999 May 24, Ethiopia said Eritrea
had launched attacks at the western Badme front over the weekend, but
was thwarted by a counterattack that killed 400 Eritrean soldiers.
(SFC, 5/26/99, p.A12)
1999 May 25, Eritrea said that it
had foiled a series of Ethiopian assaults over 4 days at Badme and that
380 Ethiopian soldiers were killed.
(SFC, 5/26/99, p.A12)
1999 May 27, Ethiopia said it had
killed 865 Eritrean troops in a 2 day battle near the Mereb River on
the Badme front. Eritrea claimed that 585 Ethiopian troops were killed
over 5 days of fighting.
(SFC, 5/28/99, p.D3)
1999 Jun 11, Eritrea and Ethiopia
clashed in a 2nd day of heavy fighting on the western Badme front.
(SFC, 6/12/99, p.C1)
1999 Jun 14, Eritrea and Ethiopia
battled for a 5th day. Eritrea claimed to have killed, wounded or
captured over 12,000 soldiers, while Ethiopia claimed the same for
8,200 soldiers. Over half a million soldiers were stationed along the
600-mile border.
(SFC, 6/15/99, p.C5)(SFC, 6/24/99, p.A10)
1999 Jun 25, Eritrea and Ethiopia
began new fighting on their western front.
(SFC, 6/26/99, p.A16)
1999 Jul 26, Eritrea and Ethiopia
agreed to send delegates to Algeria to finalize arrangements to end
their 14-month border war.
(SFC, 7/27/99, p.A10)
1999 Aug 7, Pres. Isaias Afwerki
of Eritrea made an unconditional offer for cooperation with the OAU to
end its war with Ethiopia during a meeting with Algerian Pres.
Bouteflika, the OAU chairman.
(SFC, 8/9/99, p.A10)
1999 Aug 12, Ethiopia claimed to
have almost eliminated 3 rebel groups based in Somalia which it said
were supported by Eritrea. Most of the 1,103 killed or captured rebels
were of the Oromo Liberation Front.
(SFC, 8/13/99, p.D2)
1999 Sep 4, Ethiopia claimed that
the proposed outline for the implementation of a peace plan
contradicted an original agreement regarding the withdrawal of
Eritrea's forces. Eritrea the next day took the statement as
"tantamount to a declaration of war."
(SFC, 9/7/99, p.A14)
2000 Mar, A private group of US
Peace Corp volunteers worked to settle the 2-year border war based on
the "status quo ante" border on May 6, 1998.
(SFC, 3/10/00, p.A12)
2000 May 12, War erupted between
Eritrea and Ethiopia after Ethiopian troops left their trenches and
attacked Eritrean defenses. 600,000 troops were dug in along the
600-mile border.
(SFC, 5/13/00, p.A8)
2000 May 14, Ethiopia claimed a
major victory against Eritrea and claimed that 8 divisions had been
destroyed over the last 2 days. Eritrea said 25,000 Ethiopian soldiers
were killed or wounded.
(SFC, 5/15/00, p.A14)
2000 May 16, Ethiopian troops
penetrated into western Eritrea and attempted to cut off retreating
forces.
(WSJ, 5/17/00, p.A1)
2000 May 17, Ethiopian forces
pushed into Eritrean territory and the UN Security council approved an
embargo against both countries.
(SFC, 5/18/00, p.A11)
2000 May 18, Ethiopian troops
captured Barentu in Eritrea and some 250-550 thousand refugees were
reported displaced by the fighting.
(SFC, 5/19/00, p.A18)
2000 May 24, Eritrea decided to
withdraw from land it seized in 1998 following a 12-day offensive by
Ethiopia.
(SFC, 5/25/00, p.A12)
2000 May 26, Eritrea and Ethiopia
agreed to resume peace talks even as Ethiopia continued to push into
Eritrean territory.
(SFC, 5/27/00, p.A12)
2000 May 28, In Eritrea Ethiopian
warplanes bombed a nearly completed power plant in Massawa as thousands
of refugees fled north.
(SFC, 5/29/00, p.A12)
2000 May 29, In Eritrea Ethiopian
planes launched air raids on a military airstrip near Asmara as their
foreign ministers prepared for talks in Algeria.
(SFC, 5/30/00, p.A1)
2000 May 30, Ethiopia and Eritrea
opened peace talks in Algeria.
(SFC, 5/31/00, p.A10)
2000 May 31, Ethiopia declared
victory over Eritrea as peace talks continued in Algeria.
(SFC, 6/1/00, p.A16)
2000 Jun 5, Eritrea claimed that
an Ethiopian attack near Assab was foiled and that 3,755 Ethiopian
troops were “killed, wounded, or taken prisoner.”
(SFC, 6/6/00, p.A10)
2000 Jun 5, Ethiopia accused
Eritrea of rounding up 7,529 Ethiopian citizens and putting them under
armed guard for deportation.
(SFC, 6/6/00, p.A10)
2000 Jun 9, Eritrea accepted an
Organization of African Unity plan to end the conflict with Ethiopia.
(SFC, 6/10/00, p.A12)
2000 Jun 10, Ethiopian troops
stormed Eritrean positions on all 3 fronts of the disputed border in a
break of the cease-fire. The Ethiopian government accepted cease-fire
terms brokered in Algeria but asked for a “brief delay.”
(SFEC, 6/11/00, p.A31)
2000 Jun 15, Ethiopia accepted a
preliminary cease-fire plan and together with Eritrea planned to sign
documents in Algeria.
(SFC, 6/16/00, p.A19)
2000 Jun 18, In Algeria the
Foreign Ministers of Ethiopia and Eritrea signed an accord to cease
hostilities immediately in a two-year-old border war. The agreement
called for an int’l. peacekeeping force in a buffer zone reaching 15
miles into Eritrea.
(SFC, 6/19/00, p.A8)(SFC, 6/20/00, p.A12)(AP,
6/18/05)
2000 Dec 12, Ethiopia and Eritrea
signed a peace pact in Algiers. A 4,200 UN peacekeeping force was set
to patrol the border. Pres. Zenawi and Pres. Afwerki signed the accord,
which established a commission to mark the 620-mile border, exchange
prisoners, returned displaced people and hear claims for war damages.
(SFC, 12/4/00, p.E2)(WSJ, 12/5/00, p.A1)(SFC,
12/13/00, p.B3)
2001 Feb 6, Ethiopia and Eritrea
agreed to set up a 16-mile wide UN-patrolled security zone effective
Feb 12.
(SFC, 2/7/01, p.A14)
2001 Sep 18, Authorities ordered
all independent newspapers closed and arrested 6 former generals and
Cabinet ministers in an apparent crackdown on dissent.
(SFC, 9/19/01, p.B4)
2002 Apr 13, The Eritrea Ethiopia
Boundary Commission (EEBC), established to determine the new border,
released its report. The UN panel ruled in favor of Ethiopia on all
territory contested with Eritrea, but Ethiopia contested some of the
commission's decisions.
(WSJ, 4/15/02,
p.A1)(www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/hornafrica.html#eri)
2002 Sep 7, The U.N. Security
Council has decided to keep U.N. peacekeepers in Ethiopia and Eritrea
six more months to give the countries time to mark their border.
(AP, 9/7/02)
2002 Oct 12, It was reported that
164,000 Eritrean refugees had begun returning home from camps in Sudan.
Some 60,000 had already returned since 2001.
(SFC, 10/12/02, p.A10)
2002 Inflation in Eritrea was 24%.
(www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/hornafrica.html#eri)
2003 Apr, Sudan accused Eritrea of
supporting Sudanese rebels in the eastern part of Sudan.
(www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/hornafrica.html#eri)
2003 Sep 14, A Saudi importer
of some 58,000 Australian sheep was reported to be trying to give
them away for free. The sheep had been stranded for five weeks on
the ship, the Cormo Express, due to a 6% infection rate for scabby
mouth disease. Australia in 2002 had imposed tougher rules on ships
exporting livestock to the Persian Gulf after it was revealed that
14,500 sheep had died from heat stress in one month. Some 5,700 sheep
aboard the Cormo Express died before Eritrea accepted the animals.
(AP, 9/14/03)(Econ, 12/2/06, p.88)
2003 More journalists were jailed
in Eritrea than in an other country in Africa.
(Econ, 11/8/03, p.46)
2004 Aug 27, A group of Eritreans
expelled from Libya hijacked a plane which was flying them home and
forced it to land in Khartoum where they surrendered.
(AFP, 8/27/04)
2004 Nov 25, Ethiopia finally
accepted a special commission's ruling designed to resolve a border
dispute with Eritrea that sparked a devastating war between 1998 and
2000.
(AFP, 11/25/04)
2004 Michela Wrong authored “I
Didn’t Do It For You: How the World Betrayed a Small African Nation.”
(Econ, 1/22/05, p.80)
2005 May 17, Eritrean President
Issaias Afeworki met with Sudan Pres. Omar al-Beshir in Tripoli, Libya.
Beshir demanded that Eritrea refrain from harboring armed Sudanese
opposition and stops offering assistance to that opposition.
(AP, 5/17/05)
2005 Aug 26, The UN food relief
agency said that it's battling to feed 90,000 Eritrean and Ethiopian
refugees displaced in eastern Sudan mainly due to a serious funding
shortfall.
(AP, 8/27/05)
2005 Oct 4, The UN Security
Council warned Ethiopia and Eritrea against reigniting their border war
and urged Eritrea to immediately reverse its ban on all helicopter
flights by UN peacekeepers.
(AP, 10/4/05)
2005 Nov 8, The US State
Department issued its 7th annual report to Congress on religious
freedom. It cited Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi
Arabia, Sudan and Vietnam as restricting religious freedom.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Dec 7, The UN rejected an
Eritrean order to expel Western members of the peacekeeping mission
that monitors its tense border with Ethiopia amid concerns that war
between the two countries could re-ignite.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 14, The UN Security
Council agreed to Eritrea's demand to withdraw Americans, Canadians and
Europeans from the peacekeeping mission that monitors the tense border
with Ethiopia.
(AP, 12/14/05)
2005 Dec 21, An international
panel, formed to resolve disputes between Eritrea and Ethiopia, said
Eritrea violated int’l. law when it invaded the north of Ethiopia in
May 1998.
(AFP, 12/22/05)
2005 Michela Wrong authored “I
Didn’t Do It For You,” a survey of the recent history and present state
of Eritrea.
(WSJ, 6/17/05, p.W6)
2006 Jan 9, The US launched a
diplomatic initiative to try to mark the contested border between
Ethiopia and Eritrea, a dispute that led to a 2 1/2-year war in an area
where both countries are again massing troops.
(AP, 1/9/06)
2006 Feb 14, The UN said 13
Eritreans employed by the UN peacekeeping mission in Eritrea have been
detained by local authorities and another 30 are in hiding for fear of
being arrested.
(AP, 2/14/06)
2006 Mar 10, Legal experts from
Ethiopia and Eritrea flew to London for talks with international
mediators to discuss demarcating their common border.
(Reuters, 3/10/06)
2006 May 31, The UN Security
Council cut the number of peacekeepers deployed in Eritrea and Ethiopia
by at least one-third while extending the UN mission's mandate for
another four months.
(AP, 5/31/06)
2006 Jun 19, The Sudanese
government and the Eastern Front under Eritrean mediation signed a
ceasefire agreement and pledged to work for a comprehensive settlement
of their dispute.
(AFP, 10/10/06)
2006 Jun 27, Ethiopia claimed to
have killed more than 110 rebels allegedly sent by arch-foe Horn of
Africa neighbor Eritrea to destabilize the country since the beginning
of the month. Eritrea flatly rejected the claim.
(AP, 6/27/06)
2006 Jun 30, Three Darfur rebel
groups, that have refused to sign up to an African Union-mediated peace
deal for the troubled western Sudanese region, formed a new alliance to
fight Khartoum. Officials from the groups created the National
Redemption Front (NRF) after talks in the Eritrean capital and
reaffirmed their opposition to the Abuja peace agreement.
(AFP, 6/30/06)
2006 Jul 26, Somalia's virtually
powerless government said a cargo plane landed at the capital's airport
and was carrying weapons for Islamic militants who have seized control
of much of southern Somalia. A spokesman for the country's official
government, based 150 miles northwest of Mogadishu, said the plane was
carrying land mines, bombs and long-range guns from Eritrea for a
militia loyal to the Supreme Islamic Courts Council.
(AP, 7/26/06)
2006 Aug 11, In north Kenya
authorities said they caught at least 45 sympathizers or members of the
Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a small Ethiopian group operating on the
border. Brigadier General Kemal Gelchu, a dissident Ethiopian general
who defected this week to neighboring Eritrea, said that he would be
joining the OLF to fight for his Oromo people's rights.
(Reuters, 8/11/06)
2006 Sep 2, A small boat of
African migrants from Eritrea was intercepted off the coast of Sicily.
They said eight people died during their grueling trip. They had left
from Libya 10-12 days earlier.
(AP, 9/3/06)
2006 Sep 29, The UN Security
Council extended the mandate of peacekeepers in Eritrea and Ethiopia by
four months, and threatened to overhaul the mission if the two sides
don't make progress toward demarcating their border.
(AP, 9/29/06)
2006 Oct 10, The Sudanese
government and eastern rebels signed a power sharing agreement in the
Eritrean capital Asmara after months of peace talks. Under Eritrean
mediation, Khartoum and the Eastern Front signed a ceasefire agreement
on June 19 and pledged to work for a comprehensive settlement of their
dispute.
(AFP, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 16, The UN accused
Eritrea of moving 1,500 troops and 14 tanks into a buffer zone
established after a 2 1/2-year border war with Ethiopia in "a major
breach" of a cease-fire agreement reached in 2000.
(AP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 27, Eritrea rejected a UN
accusation that its recent movement of troops near the border with
Ethiopia represented a "major breach" of a cease-fire agreement between
the two countries.
(AP, 10/27/06)
2006 Nov 7, An independent
commission said it will demarcate the contested Ethiopian-Eritrean
border on maps and leave the rival nations to establish the physical
boundary themselves. It said both Ethiopian and Eritrean officials were
invited to a November 20 meeting in The Hague to discuss the procedure.
(Reuters, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 15, Eritrean President
Issaias Afeworki said the simmering border row between arch-foes
Eritrea and Ethiopia is a "solved problem."
(AFP, 11/15/06)
2006 Nov 17, UN aid bodies said
torrential rains and floods have hit up to 1.8 million people in the
Horn of Africa, driving tens of thousands from their homes and
threatening to trigger epidemics. Torrential rains have pounded the
Horn of Africa this month, bringing misery to large parts of Kenya,
Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Eritrea.
(AP, 11/17/06)
2006 Nov 20, Eritrea and Ethiopia
both rejected plans by a UN-appointed border panel to demarcate their
contentious frontier on paper.
(AFP, 11/21/06)
2006 Dec 12, Eritrea said it aims
to become the 1st country in the world to turn its entire coast into an
environmentally protected zone to ensure balanced and sustainable
development.
(AFP, 12/12/06)
2006 Eritrea denied the US Embassy
staff permission to travel outside the capital of Asmara. Washington
imposed similar restrictions on Eritrea’s diplomats in the US.
(SFC, 8/18/07, p.B2)
2007 Mar 3, Britain sent a crisis
team to Ethiopia in an effort to obtain the release of five British
embassy workers or their relatives who were kidnapped along with a
group of French while on a trip to remote northeastern Ethiopia. An
Ethiopian administrator accused Eritrean forces of kidnapping a group
of five Europeans and 13 Ethiopians in a remote part of Ethiopia, and
taking them to a military camp near the Eritrean border.
(AP, 3/3/07)(Reuters, 3/3/07)
2007 Mar 13, Five Europeans,
kidnapped in Ethiopia and held captive for 13 days, were released in
good health in Eritrea. 8 Ethiopians kidnapped with the group were
still missing.
(AP, 3/14/07)(WSJ, 3/14/07, p.A1)
2007 Mar 16, Ethiopia called for
international pressure to be applied on Eritrea, which it accuses of
holding eight Ethiopians still missing after the release of five
European captives.
(AP, 3/16/07)
2007 Mar 31, In Eritrea a ban on
female circumcision went into effect. A health survey by Eritrea's
government in 2002 found 62 percent of circumcised women in the Red Sea
state had the procedure done before their first birthday. Less than one
percent had been performed by trained health professionals.
(Reuters, 4/5/07)
2007 Apr 21, Eritrean President
Issaias Afeworki arrived in Sudan determined to kick-start talks to end
the violence in Darfur.
(AFP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 22, Government officials
said 8 Ethiopians held hostage for 52 days after they were kidnapped
along with five European tourists have been released unharmed. The
ex-hostages later told Ethiopian television that they had been
mistreated by their captors, who wore Eritrean army uniforms.
(AP, 4/22/07)(AFP, 4/27/07)
2007 Apr 24, In Ethiopia Ogaden
rebels raided a Chinese-run oil field near the Somali border, killing
65 Ethiopians and nine Chinese workers. An Ethiopian rebel group
claimed responsibility. The next day Ethiopia blamed Eritrea for the
attack. Eritrea issued a swift, angry denial.
(AP, 4/24/07)(AP, 4/25/07)(WSJ, 4/25/07, p.A1)
2007 Jul 26, UN arms experts
reported that Eritrea has secretly supplied "huge quantities of arms"
to a Somali insurgent group with alleged ties to al-Qaida in violation
of an international arms embargo and despite the deployment of African
peacekeepers.
(AP, 7/26/07)
2007 Nov 9, Egyptian border guards
opened fire on Hana Mohamed (24) of Eritrea after she failed to heed
their warnings to stop south of the Rafah border crossing. The young
woman bled to death after being shot in the legs.
(AFP, 11/10/07)
2007 Dec 1, A deadline for
Ethiopia and Eritrea to agree on the physical demarcation of their
border expired amid escalating tension between the two nations, leaving
the frontier only delineated on maps.
(AP, 12/1/07)
2007 Dec 22, Ethiopia claimed it
was receiving an influx of around 600 Eritreans fleeing political
oppression in their country every month.
(AP, 12/22/07)
2008 Jan 25, Ethiopia's
administration for refugee and returnee affairs said that more
than 450 Eritreans, including 234 soldiers, fled their country into
Ethiopia in January alone.
(AP, 1/25/08)
2008 Jan 30, The UN Security
Council renewed the mandate of the struggling UN peace force on the
Eritrea-Ethiopia border for six months despite a request from
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for just one month.
(Reuters, 1/30/08)
2008 Feb 4, The UN Security
Council sent a "firm and unwavering demand" that Eritrea immediately
lift fuel restrictions hampering the efforts of peacekeepers monitoring
a tense buffer zone between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
(AP, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 8, The UN said it is
being forced to prepare an imminent pullout from Eritrea and plans to
relocate all its peacekeeping troops there across the border in
Ethiopia.
(AP, 2/9/08)
2008 Feb 16, Egyptian border
guards shot and killed an Eritrean woman and arrested her two young
daughters after they tried to cross illegally into Israel.
(AP, 2/16/08)
2008 Mar 13, In Ethiopia a bus hit
a landmine near the disputed Ethiopian-Eritrean border, killing at
least eight people and wounding 27 others.
(AFP, 3/14/08)
2008 May 6, Djibouti, a key US
ally in the Horn of Africa, urged the UN Security Council to take
immediate action to prevent a conflict with its northern neighbor
Eritrea.
(AP, 5/6/08)
2008 Jun 10, Fighting between
Djibouti and Eritrea killed nine Djiboutians and wounded 60 others. The
UN Security Council joined the US on June 12 in condemning the Eritrean
military action.
(AP, 6/12/08)
2008 Jun 13, Amnesty International
said Egypt has deported 400 Eritrean asylum seekers back to Asmara and
plans to forcibly return 1,200 more who are being held in detention in
Egypt, putting them at serious risk of torture.
(AP, 6/13/08)
2008 Jul 12, Ethiopia said it has
arrested eight "Eritrean-trained" rebels suspected of carrying out
bombings that rocked the capital Addis Ababa and killed eight people
earlier this year.
(Reuters, 7/13/08)
2008 Jul 22, Sheik Hassan Dahir
Aweys took over the Islamist opposition Alliance for the Re-Liberation
of Somalia (ARS), which operates in exile in Eritrea.
(AP, 7/25/08)
2008 Jul 30, The UN Security
Council voted to end an 8-year-long peacekeeping mission between
Eritrea and Ethiopia despite continuing tensions, a move that the
United Nations' chief has warned could lead to a new war.
(AP, 7/30/08)
2008 Aug 26, A Maltese fishing
trawler rescued the migrants. Authorities said the survivors first told
the fishermen that 10 people were missing, but later said as many as 70
people from Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan made the sea voyage with them.
(AP, 8/28/08)
2008 Dec 22, A Sudanese official
said at least 18,000 Eritrean and Somali refugees have arrived in Sudan
since the start of the year, and the government is struggling to
provide them with aid.
(Reuters, 12/22/08)
2009 Mar 23, Sudan's president
traveled to Eritrea, choosing one of Africa's most politically isolated
nations for his first trip abroad since an international court sought
his arrest on charges of war crimes in Darfur. Adam Khater, the
Fellowship for African Relief's Darfur director, was shot to death at
his home in the town of Kongo Haraza, near Sudan's border with Chad.
(AP, 3/23/09)(AP, 3/24/09)
2009 May 22, The African Union
called on the UN Security Council to take "immediate measures" to
impose sanctions on Eritrea over its support for Islamist insurgents in
Somalia.
(AFP, 5/22/09)
2009 Jun 16, The US added six
African countries to a blacklist of countries trafficking in people,
and put US trading partner Malaysia back on the list. Chad, Eritrea,
Niger, Mauritania, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe were added to the list in
the annual report. Removed from the list were Qatar, Oman, Algeria, and
Moldova.
(AFP, 6/16/09)
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Subject = Eritrea
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