Address: 2/4 Digsa Street, Asmara, Eritrea
Telephone: +291 1 15 12 74
Email: ercsec@tse.com.er

Caritas Eritrea, known locally as the Eritrean Catholic Secretariat, helps those affected by conflict and persistent poverty in the country. The 32-year conflict between eritrea and ethiopia ended with a declaration of independence in 1993, but a border conflict from 1998 to 2000 escalated into a full-scale war that killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides, displaced a million farmers, and seriously damaged the country’s infrastructure. Sporadic tensions and unrest continue.

These conflicts have been fought against a backdrop of poverty and food insecurity: two-thirds of the population receive food aid, and economic progress is hampered by the fact that much of the Eritrean workforce is in the military.

Erratic rainfall is affecting crops on a large scale; drought is killing livestock and threatening the livelihoods of 2.5 million Eritreans; 600,000 people have limited or no access to food supplies.

Caritas Eritrea has committed to implementing supplementary feeding programs for 35,000 people at risk. She coordinated activities with her partners and the diocesan offices in Asmara, Keren and Barentu. Emergency aid projects include a $2.5 million appeal to mitigate the effects of drought in 2004. The aid was distributed through church clinics and village distribution centers, and five kids or lambs were given to 1,500 farm households, with priority given to poor female-headed households. Emergency medicines were distributed to sick people in 29 church clinics and health centers; two mobile clinics worked in the Gash Barka area.