Part 263

Ports and harbors: Bata, Luba, Malabo

Merchant marine: total: 3 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 7,997 GRT/7,105 DWT ships by type: cargo 1, passenger 1, passenger-cargo 1 (1996 est.)

Airports: 3

Airports - with paved runways: total: 3 (1996 est.) 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 under 914 m: 1 (1996 est.)

Military

Military branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Rapid Intervention Force, National Police

Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 95,788 (1997 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service: males: 48,696 (1997 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure: $2.5 million (FY93/94)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP: NA%

Transnational Issues

Disputes - international: maritime boundary dispute with Gabon because of disputed sovereignty over islands in Corisco Bay ______________________________________________________________________

ERITREA

Introduction

Historical perspective: on 29 May 1991, ISAIAS Afworke, secretary general of the Peoples' Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), which then served as the country's legislative body, announced the formation of the Provisional Government in Eritrea (PGE) in preparation for the 23-25 April 1993 referendum on independence for the Autonomous Region of Eritrea; the referendum resulted in a landslide vote for independence which was proclaimed on 27 April 1993

@Eritrea:Geography

Location: Eastern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Djibouti and Sudan

Geographic coordinates: 15 00 N, 39 00 E

Map references: Africa

Area: total : 121,320 sq km land: 121,320 sq km water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly larger than Pennsylvania

Land boundaries: total: 1,630 km border countries: Djibouti 113 km, Ethiopia 912 km, Sudan 605 km

Coastline: 2,234 km total; mainland on Red Sea 1,151 km, islands in Red Sea 1,083 km

Maritime claims: NA

Climate: hot, dry desert strip along Red Sea coast; cooler and wetter in the central highlands (up to 61 cm of rainfall annually); semiarid in western hills and lowlands; rainfall heaviest during June-September except on coastal desert

Terrain: dominated by extension of Ethiopian north-south trending highlands, descending on the east to a coastal desert plain, on the northwest to hilly terrain and on the southwest to flat-to-rolling plains

Elevation extremes: lowest point : Kobar Sink -75 m highest point: Soira 3,013 m

Natural resources: gold, potash, zinc, copper, salt, probably oil (petroleum geologists are prospecting for it), fish