Eritrea

The state of Eritrea is located in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Ethiopia to the south, Djibouti to the southeast, and Sudan to the west. It is directly across the Red Sea from Saudi Arabia and Yemen and is bisected by the East African Rift. The strategically important Bab-el-Mandeb Strait connects the coasts of Eritrea and Yemen. In the 19th century, Eritrea became an Italian colony, then part of a UN-brokered federation with Ethiopia, which later annexed the territory. Eritrea became an independent nation in 1993.

Eritrea’s contemporary history is defined a great deal by its secessionist war against Ethiopian rule, which ended in 1991 and culminated in its independence, internationally recognized in 1993. Eritrea has had a complex relationship with the United States since ...