The remains of what is thought to be the oldest settled agricultural community in Africa have been discovered on the outskirts of the Eritrean capital, Asmara. Experts say the sites are of "global importance", and believe they could change the way the history of the Horn of Africa is viewed.

The New York-based rights watchdog, Human Rights Watch (HRW), has called on the Eritrean government to free immediately nine journalists detained in September 2001 following the government's imposition of a ban on all private and independent publications in the country, HRW said in a press statement on Thursday.

Eritrea faces a rapid expansion of the HIV/AIDS
pandemic within the next few years, the Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) warned on Tuesday. Dominique Mathiot, the UNAIDS Country
Programme Adviser, believes the number of people infected by HIV could increase significantly.

The United Nations is to end the refugee status of hundreds of thousands of Eritreans who have fled decades of fighting in their country, the UN said on Wednesday. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said they were no longer at risk from war – which has blighted the country for more than 30 years.

Eritrea’s first National Book Fair is being held this week in the country’s capital, Asmara. The fair, attended by Eritrean authors, publishers and booksellers, is intended to promote reading and literature in a country where, after 30 years of war, books are considered an expensive luxury. Many schools have no books for their pupils, the country’s only two public libraries are in Asmara and the handful of bookshops which exist offer a very limited range. “There is a shortage of books but also little awareness of reading, especially in the countryside,” said Arefaine Tecle, a school librarian and member of the fair’s organising committee. “Our main objective is to promote literature, to tell people that reading is good for them and that it is fun. We also want to make readers aware of indigenous books and authors.”

The ruling on Eritrea's border with Ethiopia, announced earlier this month, is likely to have an impact on crucial humanitarian issues in Eritrea such as reintegration and refugee repatriation.

The Eritrean government is to demobilise 5,000 soldiers this week as part of a pilot project, the head of the National Commission for Demobilisation (NCD) said.

An innovative scheme to help illiterate women learn to read and write has been launched in two regions of Eritrea.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned about the safety of 13 Eritrean journalists currently in the custody of your government.

Your Excellency, I am writing on behalf of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, a non-profit, non-governmental organization that works to promote and protect freedom of expression around the world, to express our grave concern over the detention of 10 Eritrean journalists currently on a hunger strike.

A press freedom lobby group has called on the government of Eritrea to release 10 journalists who have been detained without trial since September. The New York-based International Press Institute described their treatment as "cruel, inhuman or degrading". The journalists began a hunger strike on 31 March.

Eritreans around the world have been protesting against a resolution issued by the European Parliament last month accusing Eritrea of human rights violations.

Eritrea has strongly criticised a resolution adopted by the European Parliament which accuses Asmara of human rights violations and says President Isayas Afewerki is ruling the country "with an iron grip".

The resolutions of the recently concluded National Assembly session seriously undermine the rule of law and the protection of human rights in Eritrea, Amnesty said today in reaction to the legislature's failure to adequately address the deteriorating human rights situation in the country.

Although slow to adopt the internet, Eritrea is now finding that initial demand for connectivity exceeds gateway capacity. As the technology resource
person for a USAID project this year Carole Roberts describes recent developments and the future plans to meet the new demand.

The goal of the program is to develop community capacity for health education / information and to promote activities on such topics as: Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses, hygiene and sanitation, mine awareness and injury prevention, and prevention of communicable diseases such as HIV and STDs. Fluent in written and spoken English; Arabic an asset.

The United Nations country team on Tuesday launched its Consolidated Appeal (CA) for Eritrea for the year 2002, requesting a total of US $120 million to fund a series of emergency and reintegration programmes drawn up by 11 UN agencies and partner NGOs.

Eritrea, a country of 3.5 million people, is infested with about two million mines and units of unexploded ordnance (UXO), Andebrhan Weldegiorgis, the commissioner for coordination with the UN peacekeeping mission, has told the UN General Assembly in New York.

Four EU diplomats, who had been recalled from Eritrea in protest against the expulsion in October by the Eritrean authorities of the Italian ambassador, have arrived back in the capital, Asmara.