Eritrea

Eritrea

The present day State of Eritrea was home to the ancient kingdom of D'mt in the 7th and 8th centuries BCE, and several smaller successor kingdoms thereafter. Italy invaded and occupied the nation in 1890, where it became a part of Italian East Africa (along with Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland). When Italian forces were expelled in 1941, Eritrea came under British mandate. In 1952, upon encouragement from the United States, however, Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia under UN mandate, effectively becoming a province under Ethiopian administration. This sparked an independence movement and brought about the Eritrean War of Independence, which lasted from 1961 until 1991 when the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) defeated Ethiopian forces in Eritrea and took control of the country. In April 1993, in a referendum supported by Ethiopia, the Eritrean people voted almost unanimously in favor of independence. The nation again went to war with Ethiopia in 1998 over a border dispute, which ended in June of 2000.

The Eritrean Defence Forces consist of the Army, Navy and Air Force, with approximately 320,000 active duty personnel, making it one of the largest military forces in Africa.

Eritrean Camouflage Patterns

• Since its formation in 1991, Eritrea has primarily utilized common camouflage patterns found in many other countries and produced by Asian manufacturers. Of these, copies of the US six-color chocolate chip desert pattern seem to be the most common.

• Variations of the standard chocolate chip desert pattern have also been documented in use at various times, including some with more yellow or pink base tones.

• Equally common is a copy of the US m81 woodland camouflage pattern, seen here.

• A variant woodland pattern, seen here, has a much more greenish-tone to it.

Since the turn of the century, use of older woodland and six-color desert patterns has been gradually replaced by a copy of the French CE woodland, as well as the US-designed "tricolor desert" pattern. Although other camouflage patterns can still be encountered within the Eritrean Defense Force, these two appear to be the most common in the 2020s.

• As recently as 2020, a unique pixelated design has appeared on military personnel of the EDF. The design incorporates larger than normal pixelated shapes in black, medium green, and olive green on a khaki colored background. This does not appear to be a copy of another country's design, but something unique to Eritrean forces, and yet its appearance is very spartan. Use may be restricted to a single unit.

• Circa 2022, the Eritrean Navy began issuing its own digital camouflage pattern to some personnel, having an overall pale blue color palette.