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 Eritrea emerged from its long war of independence in 1993. A former Italian colony, Eritrea was occupied by the British in 1941. In 1952 the United Nations resolved to establish it as an autonomous entity federated with Ethiopia as a compromise between Ethiopian claims for sovereignty and Eritrean aspirations for independence. However, 10 years later the Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie, decided to annex it, triggering a 32-year-long armed struggle. This culminated in independence shortly after an alliance of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) and a coalition of Ethiopian resistance movements defeated Haile Selassie's communist successor, Mengistu Haile Mariam. In 1993, in a referendum supported by Ethiopia, the Eritrean people voted almost unanimously in favour of independence, leaving Ethiopia landlocked. Nonetheless, the two countries hardly became good neighbours, with Ethiopian access to the Eritrean ports of Massawa and Assab and unequal trade terms being among the main stumbling blocks to improved relations. In 1998 border disputes around the town of Badme erupted into open hostilities. This formally ended with a peace deal in June 2000, but not before leaving both sides with thousands of soldiers dead.
The Eritrean media has made great strides since independence in 1991. Under the Ethiopian Government there was only one small regional radio station broadcasting in Tigrinya and a local weekly newspaper published in Tigrinya and Arabic. Since independence the Eritrean Government has developed a new national radio station which broadcasts in Tigrinya, Arabic, Tigre, Afar, Saho, Kunama, Amharic and Oromifa. |