| Climate Eritrea :
| hot, dry desert strip along Red Sea coast; cooler and wetter in the central highlands (up to 61 cm of rainfall annually); semiarid in western hills and lowlands; rainfall heaviest during June-September except in coastal desert
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| Terrain Eritrea :
| dominated by extension of Ethiopian north-south trending highlands, descending on the east to a coastal desert plain, on the northwest to hilly terrain and on the southwest to flat-to-rolling plains
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| Elevation extremes lowest Eritrea :
| near Kulul within the Denakil depression -75 m
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| Elevation extremes highest Eritrea :
| Soira 3,018 m
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| Natural resources Eritrea :
| gold, potash, zinc, copper, salt, possibly oil and natural gas, fish
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| Land use arableland Eritrea :
| 4,95%
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| Irrigated land Eritrea :
| 220 sq km (1998 est.)
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| Natural hazards Eritrea :
| frequent droughts; locust swarms
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| Environment current issues Eritrea :
| deforestation; desertification; soil erosion; overgrazing; loss of infrastructure from civil warfare
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| Geography note Eritrea :
| strategic geopolitical position along world's busiest shipping lanes; Eritrea retained the entire coastline of Ethiopia along the Red Sea upon de jure independence from Ethiopia on 24 May 1993
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