Following the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia in 1993, the newly independent Eritrean government appealed to Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria for Eritrean Orthodox autocephaly.

In 1991 the Eritrean People's Liberation Front defeated the Ethiopian government.

The Italian Eritreans strongly rejected the Ethiopian annexation of Eritrea after the war: the Party of Shara Italy was established in Asmara in July 1947 and the majority of the members were former Italian soldiers with many Eritrean Ascari ( the organization was even backed up by the government of Italy ).

Following the collapse of the Mengistu government, Eritrean independence began drawing influential interest and support from the United States.

In May 1991 the EPLF established the Provisional Government of Eritrea ( PGE ) to administer Eritrean affairs until a referendum was held on independence and a permanent government established.

Politics of Eritrea takes place in a framework of a single-party presidential republic, whereby the Eritrean President is both head of state and head of government and a single-party state, led by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice.

Independent local sources of political information on Eritrean domestic politics are scarce ; in September 2001 the government closed down all of the nation's privately owned print media, and outspoken critics of the government have been arrested and held without trial, according to domestic and international observers, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

According to the Eritrean government, artisanal mining in 1998 collected 573. 4 kilograms of gold.

Financial services, the bulk of the services sector, are principally rendered by the National Bank of Eritrea ( the nation ’ s central bank ), the Commercial Bank of Eritrea, the Housing and Commerce Bank of Eritrea, the Agricultural and Industrial Bank of Eritrea, the Eritrean Investment and Development Bank, and the National Insurance Corporation of Eritrea, all majority owned by the government and ruling party.

In early 2005, likely in an effort to increase foreign capital reserves, the Eritrean government decreed that all transactions in Eritrea must be conducted in nakfa.

Foreign investment, although ostensibly favored by the Eritrean government, is nonetheless hindered by government regulations that seek to protect domestic industries from foreign competition and by a generally unfavorable investment climate.

The Eritrean People's Liberation Front ( EPLF ), an ally in the fight against the Mengistu regime, assumed control of Eritrea and established a provisional government.

It also accused Somali officials of collaborating with pirates, UN contractors of helping insurgents, and the Eritrean government of still supporting rebel groups in southern Somalia despite earlier sanctions imposed on the former.

Somalia's government and local businessmen, as well as United Nations officials and the Eritrean government all emphatically rejected the report's claims.

* December 16 – The Ethiopian government declares a state of emergency in the county of Eritrea over the activities of the Eritrean Liberation Front.

* September 7 – Representatives of the government of Ethiopia and Eritrean separatists meet in Atlanta with former U. S. President Jimmy Carter attempting to broker a peace settlement.

The Derg government turned back the Somali invasion, and made deep strides against the Eritrean secessionists and the TPLF as well.

Human Rights Watch has noted that arbitrary arrests, torture, and forced labor are rampant in the country, and that the Eritrean government refuses to implement a constitution approved in 1997 containing civil and human rights provisions.

The Eritrean War of Independence ( 1 September 1961 – 29 May 1991 ) was a conflict fought between the Ethiopian government and Eritrean separatists, both before and during the Ethiopian Civil War.

One of the most glaring reflections of the harshness of the regime in Asmara, the Eritrean capital, is the mandatory military service that citizens on average serve from age 18 until they are 55 and which has spurred many to flee.

The southern part of the Red Sea coast, along with the Red Sea coast of Djibouti, has been described as the Eritrean coastal desert, a harsh sand and gravel coastal strip covered in dune grasses and shrubs that is important as a channel for the mass migration of birds of prey.

Since 1993, the Eritrean People ’ s Liberation Front army has been involved in tree planting ; the annual average rate of deforestation during 1990 – 2000 was 0. 3 percent.

Eritrea has no domestic petroleum production ; the Eritrean Petroleum Corporation conducts purchases through international competitive tender.

According to the CIA World Factbook, the Eritrean Government has revenues of $ 715. 2 million, and outlays of $ 1. 021 billion.

There is a railway station in Asmara that connects the city with Massawa: the Eritrean Railway, built by the Italians between 1887 and 1932, has been recently restructured.

The Eritrean Railroad Authority has requested funding to continue the Italian-era plan to extend the route from Asmara to Tesseney and provide an opportunity for Sudan to efficiently use the Port of Massawa.

Afewerki has been the chairperson of both the EPLF and the PFDJ since the PFDJ assumed power at the end of the Eritrean War for Independence in 1991, in which the country ceded from Ethiopia.

He has been the chairperson of both the EPLF and the PFDJ since the PFDJ assumed power at the end of the Eritrean War for Independence and the Ethiopian Civil War in 1991.

Since the crackdown on the reformist movement, the PFDJ ruling party has not hesitated to suppress the protests of Eritrean people against the ruling elite depriving them of fundamental rights.

Since May 2002, the government has only authorised four religions to exist in Eritrea: Eritrean Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Sunni Islam.

A large Ethiopian and Eritrean population has also resulted in a string of Ethiopian restaurants, cafes and social clubs, stretching along Telegraph from about 30th Street in Oakland all the way into Berkeley.

Eritrean music has a unique rhythm that sets it apart from the rest of Africa.

Since Eritrean Independence, the National Museum of Eritrea has petitioned the Government of Ethiopia to return artifacts of these excavations.

The deal has duly materialized since then, with the commencement of online Eritrean services to Lahore and Karachi via Dubai four times per week on each route, with full fifth freedom passenger and cargo traffic rights on Pakistan-Dubai sector.

Eritrean Airlines has nonetheless announced that scheduled flights to Frankfurt will resume starting April 19, 2012.

In June 2011, a senior Eritrean Foreign Ministry official said that the US Administration has applied pressure prohibiting companies from leasing aircraft to Eritrea.

Kurds, Armenians, Panian of India, Greeks, Egyptian Copts, Ethiopians, Eritrean, Somalis, Chadians, Yemenis, Italians has been Sudanized since generations and well integrated in the Gedaref community.

Since the 1960s, the city has been the destination of large numbers of Ethiopian and Eritrean refugees fleeing conflict and war.

As of that date, Ethiopia has not withdrawn its troops from those positions on the Eritrean side of the demarcated border.

* Ethiopia has jammed the DW and VOA transmissions as well as ESAT Ethiopian Satellite Television and also as well Eritrean radio stations.

The Divine Liturgy and other religious services of the Eritrean Church are celebrated in the Ge ' ez language, which has been the language of the Church at least since the arrival of the Nine Saints ( Abba Pantelewon, Abba Gerima ( Isaac, or Yeshaq ), Abba Aftse, Abba Guba, Abba Alef, Abba Yem ’ ata, Abba Liqanos, and Abba Sehma ), who fled persecution by the Byzantine Emperor after the Council of Chalcedon ( 451 ).

To date, adherence to this principle has allowed African countries to avoid border wars ; the notable exception, the Eritrean – Ethiopian War of 1998 – 2000, had its roots in a secession from an independent African country rather than a conflict between two decolonized neighbours.