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Eritreas New Hard Currency Crop: Illegal Drugs |
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By Gedab News -
Sep 28, 2005
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Strapped for hard currency, the government of Eritrea is planting chat and another yet-undisclosed narcotic in the eastern escarpments of Eritrea.
Chat, also known as khat or Qat, is an amphetamine popular in the Horn of Africa and Yemen. The drug is believed to have been smuggled from Yemen. Gedab News has learned that the governments action was taken over the strong objection of Eritreas Ministry of Agriculture. The government bypassed the Ministry of Agriculture and assigned the Defense Department to oversee the project. The defense departments operation zones are already responsible for much of the countrys agricultural policy. The exact location is not known but is believed to be in the Fishe Mirara area. Chat is indigenous to Ethiopia and last year Ethiopia generated more hard currency from the sale of the drug than the sale of its major export, coffee. |
