The Anglo-Ethiopian Society
Lecture - ONLINE - Ethiopia and Eritrea: Friends or Rivals?
Martin Plaut
Tuesday 5th April 2022
Online event starting at 19:00 GMT - Public lecture (all welcome to join).
Note - Register for the event on Eventbrite and you'll be emailed a Zoom link shortly before the event.
Eritreans fought for their freedom from Ethiopia for thirty years, only to have their revered leader turn on his own people. Independent since 1993, the country has no constitution and no parliament. No budget has ever been published. Elections have never been held and opponents languish in jail. International organisations find it next to impossible to work in the country.
Nor is it just a domestic issue. By supporting armed insurrection in neighbouring states it has destabilised the Horn of Africa. Eritrea was involved in the Yemeni civil war, while the regime has backed rebel movements in Somalia, Ethiopia and Djibouti.
Martin Plaut's "unflinchingly honest book", Understanding Eritrea: Inside Africa's Most Repressive State was first published in 2016, with an updated edition published in 2019. Martin will talk about the changing relationships between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Martin Plaut, the BBC World Service's former Africa Editor, has published extensively on African affairs. An adviser to the Foreign Office and the US State Department, he is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies.