Eritrea

After 28 years of fighting, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front and the government of the People’s Republic of Ethiopia took the first steps toward full-scale peace negotiations when they met at The Carter Center for 12 days in September 1989. 

Leaders from both sides had asked President Carter, during trips to the region in 1988 and 1989, to mediate. The negotiations at the Center marked the first time the parties agreed to talk without preconditions and in the presence of a third-party mediator. 

Two months later, the groups met again in Nairobi, Kenya. While they made progress, the parties continued to fight. In May 1991, Tigrayan insurgents forced Ethiopia’s president to flee the country, which led to Ethiopia’s defeat in the Eritrean conflict. In May 1993, Eritrea became an independent nation. 

By engaging in resolving a long-standing conflict and opening channels for critical dialogue between former enemies, President Carter helped change the course of history for Eritrea.

How it Started

For several years following Eritrea’s independence, the country suffered food shortages. The Carter Center’s Agriculture Program was invited to assist with food security programming in 1996 and worked in partnership with the Eritrea Ministry of Agriculture and the Sasakawa Africa Association. 

Our Work and Methods

Consistent food shortages forced Eritrea to import several hundred thousand tons of grain each year. The goal was to help Eritrea grow more of its own food to prevent famine and starvation. The program did this by:

• Providing farmers with credit for fertilizers and seeds to grow test plots
• Encouraging farmers, following successful harvests, to teach neighbors about new technologies, creating a ripple effect to stimulate self-sufficiency
• Surveying rural areas to determine which crops were best suited for development
• Testing new farming and fertilizer technology in villages
• Hosting field days to teach new farming techniques to more than 1,300 farmers

Impacts

• Served approximately 100,000 farmers
• Increased crop yields dramatically 
• Identified cost-effective local markets for surpluses
• Focused on post-harvest technologies, including processing and storing methods
• Encouraged neighboring countries to foster lasting cooperative efforts

These successes allowed the Center to end its in-country agricultural activities in 1999.