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/ 16 January 2008

Eritrea accepts ‘virtual’ border with Ethiopia

Eritrea has accepted a ”virtual demarcation” of its border with Ethiopia and wants Addis Ababa to remove its troops from Eritrean soil, a statement published on Wednesday said. The two nations have been deadlocked over a 1 000km border since a 2002 decision by an independent boundary commission gave the flashpoint town of Badme to Eritrea.

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/ 28 November 2007

Eritrea-Ethiopia border deadline looms

It’s hard to see the looming threat of war with Ethiopia as you walk Eritrea’s tree-lined boulevards or enter its Italian-style cafes. But beneath the Eritrean capital’s tranquil surface, many Eritreans say they are worried about a repeat of the 1998 to 2000 border war that killed about 70 000 people.

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/ 11 November 2007

Eritrea sorts war-torn past for archive chest

Surrounded by yellow papers crackling to the touch, archivists painstakingly catalogue documents and photographs that make up the history of a nation — and the vertebrae of Eritrea’s national archive. It’s a record of one of Africa’s most remarkable rebel armies, documenting the past spirit of optimism that drove their 30-year bitter guerrilla war.

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/ 27 October 2007

Eritrea accuses Ethiopia of plotting to invade

Eritrea accused arch-foe Ethiopia on Saturday of plotting to invade it ahead of a late-November deadline to mark their disputed border on maps. Analysts and diplomats fear heightened tensions on the Horn of Africa rivals’ frontier could erupt into a new conflict seven years after they fought a war that killed about 70 000 people.

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/ 16 October 2007

Eritrea security chief survives assassination bid

Eritrea’s powerful head of internal security, Colonel Simon Ghebredengel, survived an assassination attempt last week in Asmara, a senior government official said on Tuesday. ”There was a failed assassination attempt on Saturday October 13 on the colonel,” Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu said. ”He is in a very stable condition.”

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/ 28 September 2007

Eritrea warns UN of Ethiopian attack

Eritrea, in a letter published on Friday, urged the United Nations to force its arch-foe, Ethiopia, to urgently implement a border ruling, warning it feared Addis Ababa was preparing to resume war. In the letter, Foreign Minister Osman Saleh said he believed that Ethiopian threats to scrap the Algiers peace deal that ended their bloody 1998 to 2000 border war were a precursor to an attack.

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/ 16 September 2007

Eritrea backs Somali opposition against Ethiopia

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki has backed a new Somali opposition alliance, saying arch-foe Ethiopia’s fight against insurgents in Mogadishu was doomed to fail, state media reported on Saturday. The formation of the group, including top Islamist leaders, in Asmara this week has generated yet more friction between Ethiopia and Eritrea.

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/ 13 September 2007

Somali govt dismisses ‘terrorist’ alliance

Somalia’s government on Thursday said a new opposition movement vowing war on Ethiopian troops in the Horn of Africa nation was a ”terrorist alliance” posing no real threat. Somali opposition figures forged the Alliance for the Liberation of Somalia on Wednesday in a move analysts said may boost Islamist-led insurgents fighting the interim government.

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/ 12 September 2007

Somali opposition: ‘We are the future’

Somali opposition figures meeting in Eritrea united to form a new ”liberation” movement on Wednesday to seek a military or diplomatic solution to conflict in their homeland, a spokesperson said. The main aim of the organisation, called the Alliance for the Liberation of Somalia, is to secure the exit of Ethiopian troops who are backing the interim government in Somalia.

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/ 10 September 2007

Somali opposition vows to defeat Ethiopia

Somalia’s opposition leaders predicted on Monday that a further surge in an Islamist-led insurgency in the capital, Mogadishu, could defeat Ethiopian troops supporting the government there within two months. "The liberation forces are gaining strength day after day," said Zakariya Mahamud Abdi, spokesperson of a congress in Eritrea’s capital, Asmara.

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/ 5 September 2007

Goats and remittances keep Somali economy afloat

Livestock exports and money sent home by Somalis abroad have propped up the Horn of Africa nation’s economy despite a war over the New Year that gave way to an Iraq-style insurgency, the World Bank said on Wednesday. Somalia’s entrepreneurs have learned to thrive despite a lack of government, feuding warlords and an Islamist-led guerrilla war.

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/ 4 September 2007

Somali opposition figures to unite in Eritrea

Somali opposition leaders, including several senior Islamists, are to meet in Eritrea from Thursday to try to unite against the Ethiopian-backed government at talks intended to a rival a Mogadishu peace conference. Many Somali dissidents have already made their home in Eritrea, which has been accused by the United States and United Nations of sending arms to insurgents.

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/ 20 August 2007

Eritrean president warns United States

Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki warned Washington that its policies were leading the world on a ”dangerous path”, an official statement said on Monday. Two days after Washington said it was considering adding Eritrea to its list of ”state sponsors of terrorism”, Issaias gave an angry two-hour interview broadcast late on Sunday on state television.

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/ 30 July 2007

Somali Islamists defend insurgency

Somalia’s exiled opposition leaders on Monday lashed out at the international community’s support for the Ethiopian-backed interim government and defended the deadly insurgency against Mogadishu. "The resistance of Somali people is a legitimate response" to Ethiopian occupation, former Parliament speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden said.

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/ 26 July 2007

Exiled Somali MPs reject call for peace talks

Somali opposition politicians exiled in Eritrea dismissed calls on Thursday to attend a peace meeting in Mogadishu that is also being opened up to Islamists and even insurgents who have attacked the conference venue. Organisers appeared to be heeding donor calls for inclusiveness when they announced the move on Wednesday.

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/ 29 June 2007

Bright future for Eritrean cinema

In the flickering light of Asmara’s Impero Cinema, Eritreans sit gripped by a tale of brave soldiers risking all in love and war. Eritrea’s young film industry is booming. Only 14 years after the Horn of Africa country acquired its independence from Ethiopia, about 60 new films are released every year in the nation’s main Tigrinya language.

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/ 20 June 2007

Eritrea remembers tens of thousands of war dead

Thousands of Eritreans marched through the streets on Wednesday to a cemetery atop a hill overlooking the capital to honour tens of thousands of people killed in two wars against their former Ethiopian masters. Some holding orange flowers, Eritreans bowed their heads in silence to celebrate an estimated 90 000 people killed in a 30-year independence struggle.

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/ 22 April 2007

Eritrea exits African bloc over Somalia dispute

Eritrea said on Sunday it had suspended its membership in an East African regional body after a rift with arch-foe Ethiopia at a meeting on Somalia this month threatened to divide the region. The withdrawal from the seven-member Inter-Governmental Authority on Development is the latest sign of deteriorating relations between Asmara and regional countries over Somalia.

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/ 18 April 2007

Leave Somalia or face all-out war, Ethiopia told

Ethiopia must withdraw its troops from Somalia immediately or face an all-out war that ”no army” could resist, three senior Somali leaders warned on Wednesday. The three, including top Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and Hussein Aidid, who holds a post in Somalia’s government, were meeting in the Eritrean capital for talks.

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/ 5 April 2007

Eritrea bans female circumcision

Eritrea has banned the life-threatening practice of female circumcision, the Eritrean Information Ministry said in a statement. Anyone who requests, incites or promotes female genital mutilation will be punished with a fine and imprisonment, said a government statement posted on the internet late on Wednesday.