From Eritrea's Files

from Eritrea’s Files

Sometime in 1994, Eritrea Profile carried my columns entitled "From Eritrea's Files". With this post, I'm reviving the same columns with the same name on my blog. It'll be short notes and starts by asking "Did you know that...?"  It's not and will not be in any chronological order.

Did you know that ....?

• After the defeat of Italy at the Battle of Adwa in 1896, Francisco Crispi, the authoritarian Italian Prime Minister, resigned on March 4, 1896. His successor, Prime Minister Di Rudini, had almost finalized the handing over of Eritrea to the Belgian King Leopold until it was rejected by Italy's King Umberto. 

• Information provided by the forestry officer of BMA (British Military Administration of Eritrea in the 1940's) to Industrial Reference Service, showed that Eritrea exported an annual quantity of 500 qunitals of sena (cassia acutifolia Del) http://www.abcic.org/index.php?option=com_sobipro&pid=2861&sid=2944:Cassia-acutifolia-Del-Senna&Itemid=103 and (cassia obsutifolia). From the aforementioned leaves laxative decoction is obtained. Other medicinal plants that grow wild and are used by the indigenous people and were never exported include the following: messena (Albizzia Anthelmintica Brongn, a remedy against intestinal worms http://www.abcic.org/index.php?option=com_sobipro&pid=2861&sid=3038:Albizia-anthelmintica-A-Rich-Brongn-Syn-Albizia-ambalusiana&Itemid=103 Myrsine africana (its berries are a remedy against intestinal and tape worms) and many others.