Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2008
Eritrea is the site of Africa's longest war, the 29-year struggle for self-determination and liberation from Ethiopian occupation. Its people have the lowest income per capita in the world; but under conditions of great privation, they have built up a society that could prove to be a model for development. Almost all visitors to the areas under the control of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (E.P.L.F.) – land freed from Ethiopian rule for varying periods since 1970 – have commented on the egalitarian, fraternal, and sometimes libertarian nature of Eritrean society.
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