Eritrea

Eritrea became an independent country on May 24, 1993, following a 30-year struggle for independence from Ethiopia.  The state of roughly 5 million people occupies a strategic location in the Horn of Africa with 1,300 kilometers of coastline along the Red Sea.  It is a poor, developing country that relies heavily on subsistence agriculture but is increasingly gaining revenue from mining.  Tourism facilities are very limited. Read the Department of State’s Fact Sheet on Eritrea for additional information on U.S.- Eritrea relations.