SUMMARY

After a long conflict, the Government of Ethiopia lost control over the territory of Eritrea in May 1991 (see Government of Ethiopia – EPLF). Subsequently, Eritrea claimed de jure independence in May 1993, after results from a UN-sponsored national referendum formalized independence for the territory.

During that time, Eritrea had a provisional government constituted of members from the EPLF; originally an armed non-state group that led the fight for independence. In 1993, the provisional government officially became the Government of Eritrea with the purpose of governing until national elections, scheduled for 1997, were held. However, national elections never transpired, having been postponed indefinitely, and the EPLF government remained in power.

Eritrea is a presidential republic with a one party system; the EPLF renamed itself the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice in 1994 and is the only legal political party in the country. The government is led by President Isaias Afewerki, who was indirectly elected by the legislature in 1993 and has remained in power by consolidating a repressive and autocratic regime ever since. A constitution was ratified in 1997 but not implemented and a new constitution began to be drafted in 2014 but has not been completed as of 2017. The National Assembly is the legislature and is comprised of 75 elected members and 75 members of the EPLF central committee, despite the constitution stating that all legislative members would be elected after the transitional period. However, scheduled elections for the National Assembly in 2001 were postponed indefinitely due to the conflict against the Government of Ethiopia.

The Government of Eritrea terminated the national press in 2001 and Eritrea ranked last in the Reporters without Borders World Press Freedom Index for nine years. The UN Human Rights Council reported that the Government of Eritrea was perpetrating gross, systematic and widespread human rights violations in 2015, after conducting a year-long investigation; the government rejected the findings as politically motivated.

The Eritrean Armed Forces consist of an army, navy and air force. Between independence and 1998, the number of armed forces personnel ranged between 47 100 to 55 000. However, this figure increased massively to 200 000 in 1999 and has remained at this level since then. The only exception was between 2001 and 2002, when the number of armed forces personnel dropped briefly to approximately 172 000 but quickly recovered in 2003. The society has been highly militarized with mandatory conscription for national service, which is sometimes for indefinite periods.

There are reports of the government receiving weapons from the Government of Libya, which supported it during its [interstate conflict against the Government of Ethiopia(/#/conflict/409 ) in 1999. However, this information has been neither confirmed or denied by the Government of Libya.