Eritrea
This year marked the ratification of a new constitution for Africa's youngest
nation and the drafting of electoral laws in preparation for parliamentary
elections. Eritrea, which came into being in 1991 after the Eritrean People's
Liberation Front (EPLF) defeated the Ethiopian army, became a formal state
in 1993 following a U.N. supervised referendum in which citizens voted
for independence from Ethiopia. The new constitution contains provisions
for press freedom, but many of the country's institutions are still evolving
after its 30-year war with Ethiopia, and the current centralized provisional
government of President Issaias Afewerki will be replaced after the parliamentary
elections.
Although magazines and newspapers are beginning to appear, and are sold
and read freely, the media are controlled by the government, and there
is one television and one radio station. Private ownership of newspapers,
but not broadcast media, is allowed but newspapers must first obtain a
license from the Ministry of Information before publication, and all reporters
must be registered. 1997 produced the first controversial press incident
in Eritrea, that of the arrest without charges of Ruth Simon, an Agence
France-Presse correspondent.