A map of the Sahel region showing where Al Qaeda operates (AFP/Graphic)
Iran Deploys Troops, Ballistic Missiles To Eritrea
Posted on 10/10/2013 3:09:38 PM PDT by Pan_Yan
Eritrea declared independence in 1993 following a United Nations-backed referendum in which Eritreans voted to break away from Ethiopia. Eritrea's pro-independence leaders fought a guerrilla war against Ethiopia that ended in 1991. Relations between landlocked Ethiopia and Eritrea, which has a Red Sea coastline, have since remained tense, with both countries' armies occasionally clashing over an undefined common border. From May 1998 to June 2000, the neighbors fought a costly and bloody war over a disputed border territory. Both countries continue to accuse each other of supporting armed groups across the border.
...
Eritrea has long been accused of fomenting violence in Somalia in part to keep its archrival Ethiopia, which shares a long border with Somalia, concerned about conditions there. Increasingly isolated, Eritrea is under sanctions imposed by the African Union and the U.N. In late 2011 the U.N. Security Council expanded an arms embargo against Afworki's regime. Earlier this year the Obama administration blacklisted Eritrea's intelligence chief and a senior military official for their alleged roles in providing financial and logistical support to the al-Qaida-linked Somali Islamic extremist group al-Shabab. Eritrea's government denies the charges.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Or maybe... maybe...
Maybe what we're seeing today is their full potential.
That country exists solely because its founders were fighting communists. Yet another example of why allies are not necessarily friends.
Actually, they kicked out black communists. Their war on the marxist Mengistu regime is the cause of the Ethiopian famine in the 1980s.
Yes, but their president spent a couple of years being trained in China, making the waters even murkier.
That part of the world is beyond murky. I’d describe the waters as more opaque than a black hole.
bfl
(Hattip to JerseyanExile for the link)
Guess I can strike Eritrea off my bucket list...
Eritrea is more than 40% Christian (over 50% Muslim with a few percent traditional African religions). They only allow a few recognized religions to be practiced and persecute the others (e.g., Jehovah's Witnesses).
Because of their long struggle for independence, there was some hope in 1993 when they became independent that they might be a little more successful than the average African country (which existed as such because European colonialists drew lines on a map), but their record the last 20 years has been one of the worst, including a senseless war with Ethiopia. The per capita income is one of the lowest. One of the few bright spots is that their HIV rate is one of the lowest in Africa (0.8%).
They have some beautiful women there.
Don’t you hate it when a beautiful country with a nice coastline turns into a total $hi¥hole.
I worked for several years with a fellow from Eritrea. He fought for Eritrea’s independence and felt betrayed by the dictator he helped put into power. He has to pay $5,000 a year or they will jail his parents. He is also a flaming liberal and voted for Obama and has not spoken to me since I talked smack about Obama on Facebook even tho I helped him get his job and had heated but friendly political discussions with him nearly every day for several years.
A map of the Sahel region showing where Al Qaeda operates (AFP/Graphic)
Iran Deploys Troops, Ballistic Missiles To Eritrea
Thanks Pan_Yan.
You’d have thought he would’ve learned after the first dictator he helped put into power. No sympathy here.
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