[20190228]IF10466_厄立特里亚.pdf

https:/crsreports.congress.gov Updated February 28, 2019EritreaEritrea has been called a pariah state by some observers for its poor human rights record, political repression, and history of aid to rebel groups in the region. International support for the country, which gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993, declined after a border war with Ethiopia (1998-2000), amidst a severe crackdown on dissent. Recent political reforms in Ethiopia, however, have precipitated a rapprochement between those two countries, which ended a military stalemate along the border in July 2018. Ethiopia has since facilitated renewed ties between Eritrea and its rivals Djibouti and Somalia. In late 2018, in recognition of “historic rapprochements in the Horn of Africa,” the U.N. Security Council lifted sanctions that were imposed on Eritrea in 2009 in response to its border conflict with Djibouti and support for armed groups in the region. Such progress notwithstanding, Eritrea remains a closed society in which the government controls the economy and sharply limits civil liberties. Thousands of political prisoners reportedly remain in detention. Despite reports that it would curtail the countrys widely