African News: Libya And Eritrea

By Author: Mike Kofi Okyere
Total Articles: 3698
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Libya

The Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya is situated in North Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt, Sudan, Niger, Chad, Tunisia and Algeria. The country has over 700 thousand square miles of land in which the majority is made up of deserts. This is Africa's fourth largest area and is the globes' seventeenth largest region.

Berbers gave Libya its name. At one time Neolithic inhabits resided in Libya. The skillful domestication natives grew crops and raised cattle in the lands. Later, descendents of Greece, Byzantines, Vandals, Romans, Carthaginians, and Phoenicians moved to the area and began their rule.
In 1947, Libya gained its independence from Italy, and it officially gained total independence from France and the United Kingdom under the UN Trusteeship in 1951. Currently, the government is Jamahiriya with its capital in Tripoli.

The majority of Libya's economy is derived from the production of oil, which account for the vast majority of export income and 25% of GDP. In fact, Libya has the highest per person GDP values in all of Africa, and thus, Libya has a relatively ...
... low level of poverty.

There are over six million people who inhabit the country, and it is one of the least dense countries in the world. More than 50% of the population lives in urban areas of Tripoli and Benghazi, while 90% of the entire population lives only in 10% of the land. The vast majority of people in Libya subscribe to Sunni Islam, and the country considers itself to be highly connected to the Arab community.

Eritrea

Eritrea, located in East Africa, borders Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and the Red Sea. Included in Eritrea are some of the Hanish Islands and Dahlak Archipelago.
Originally an Italian colony, then governed as a British protectorate, Eritrea gained its ultimate independence from Ethiopia in 1991. Since its independence, the Eritrean government, which is an unicameral parliament republic-democracy, has enacted various economic policies to stimulate the country, but it has been difficult because of the continuous conflicts surrounding the region.
Economically, Eritrea is mostly based upon the agricultural industries, with 80% of the population involved in agriculture. With a population of over four million, the country is very ethnically heterogeneous, with many different minorities and languages. The two more predominant religions in Eritrea is Christianity and Sunni Islam.