Eritrea

In its centuries-long history, Eritrea was successively part of Ethiopia, of the Ottoman empire, an Italian colony (1890), occupied by the British (1941), federated with Ethiopia (1952), and annexed by Ethiopia, in 1962. After long years of war, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front and a coalition of Ethiopian resistance movements defeated in 1991 the dictatorial regime of Ethiopia. In 1993, in a referendum supported by Ethiopia, the Eritrean people voted almost unanimously in favour of independence. Tensions with Ethiopia remained, and border conflicts in 1998 led to a war which ended in 2000 under UN auspices. The final demarcation of the border was still on hold in 2005. Eritrea’s economy has suffered from the war, and the country is facing major problems of poverty. Up to 80 percent of the population lives from subsistence farming. The overwhelming majority of Eritrean Christians are Orthodox (Oriental). Before independence they came under the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church became autocephalous in 1994, with the help of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and joined the WCC in 2003. Another WCC member church present in the country is the Mekane Yesus Church (Lutheran), from Ethiopia. Catholic and Protestant presence dates from the 19th and 20th century. More recently, some Pentecostal and Evangelical groups have entered the country.