Reference/Background - 500 Plus Days. Human rights violations and the suffering of the Irob people under the invading Eritrean army. Document released by the Irob Community in North America; October 1999.

Commentaries:

• Let Justice be Done Late Than Never By Samuel Fasika; Oct 26
  
• Grim Realities Of The Eritrean Economy From the East African Forum; Oct 26
  
• Double Standards Will Not Be Tolerated Ethiopian Gov't; Oct 26
  Note: Eritrea's silly shrieking concerning the latest repatriation was simply an effort to avoid receiving its own people - just like the over 300,000 Eritrean refugees in the Sudan who are begging to return home but prevented from doing so by the Eritrean dictator. He doesn't want non-EPLF supporters flooding back into the country. No other country in the world has rejected its own refugees after independence like Eritrea has. The Ethiopian government should completely ignore Eritrea's games and repatriate the Eritreans using this shortest and safest route in a humanitarian and comfortable manner.

• Click here to skip below to documentation of above.... Also see the article: State-Directed Ethnic Engineering in Eritrea

• Illiterate Intellectuals by M. Girma, Oct 26; An example of such would be the prominent Eritrean Phd Professor who made the truly wacko claim that Italy, Sweden, France, the UN, the OAU, Canada, and the EU were engaged in a global conspiracy. In his words “a massive cover up designed to protect Meles Zenawi and his minority government.”

New Websites added in links section (Oct 27)

News:

• Ethiopia Wants "Dialogue" Over OAU Peace Accord PANA Oct 31
  
• Fifth private bank launched in Ethiopia Reuters; Oct 29
  
• Ethiopian, Eritrean Players Fight in Nairobi PANA Oct 29

• Ethiopia claims successful repulsion of Eritrean attack AFP; Oct 27
  
• INTERVIEW-Ethiopia says no peace until Eritrea withdraws Reuters; Oct 27
  
• Meeting Reviews Implementation of Ethiopia-Djibouti Accords PANA, Oct 27
  
• Ethiopia Still Has Misgivings Over Peace proposals PANA, Oct 26
  
• Meager donations not enough for Eritrean war displaced camp AFP; Oct 26

• Victims of Horn of Africa's fruitless frontier war Daily Mail and Guardian; Johannesburg, South Africa. October 25 1999 (Eritrean POWs interviewed. Some are underaged teenagers)

• Ethiopia, Yemen sign security co-operation accord Reuters; Oct 24
  
• Ethiopia/Somalia VOA; Oct 23
  
• Somali Faction Leader Ends Visit To Ethiopia ; PANA Oct 23
  
• Eritrean deportees arrive in Assab after dangerous crossing: Eritrea AFP; Oct 23 Note: This case does not involve deportees, rather they are people who want to be repatriated to their country. Foreign correspondents in Asmara need to do a better job of INDEPENDENT reporting rather than near-verbatim regurgitation of Eritrean government statements.

• Sudan: Leaders are walking a tightrope Financial Times; Oct 21
  
• Ethiopia coffee exports up Reuters; Oct 18
  
• Ethiopia says Eritrea bars repatriations from Ethiopia Reuters; Oct 17

Reference/Background - International Institute for Strategic Studies ranks Eritrea number one in the world for arms spending in 1998 as a percentage of gross domestic product. If the entire military budget is considered, even in 1997 (before the war), Eritrea's spending was in the neigborhood of 20% of GDP. Now the figure is easily over 50% of GDP. No wonder the Eritrean economy is comatose:

Eritrea 35.8 percent
Saudi Arabia 15.7 percent
Afghanistan 14.5 percent
North Korea 14.3 percent
Oman 13.6 percent
Kuwait 12.9 percent
Qatar 12.0 percent
Angola 11.7 percent
Israel 11.6 percent
Maldive Islands 11.1 percent