遺忘了的35年｜厄立特尼亞的集郵紀錄編寫日期｜2026/6/16

雖然厄立特尼亞在1994年5月23日正式獨立，但美國駐厄立特尼亞領使館卻於上月23日在其社交網站貼文慶祝該國獨立35週年，顯然美國以及厄立特尼亞自身官方都是以戰爭勝利的1991年開始算起，不過無論如何這個紅海以西的長條型國家最令人難忘的是他們緊靠中國和俄羅斯的立場，仿是與世界為敵，事實上當初的獨立戰爭也是靠美國支持而成功。

I believe that many people have never heard of Eritrea, because it has never been in the field of vision of ordinary Hongkongese,

A forgotten 35 years｜Record of Eritrean philatelic service

but if say it is a country in the east of Ethiopia, it is probably imagined that it is. Eritrea was forcibly merged into the same country by Ethiopia in 1962, and before that,

我很相信不少人完全沒有聽過厄立特尼亞這個國家，因為牠不曾在一般香港人的視野之內，不過如果說埃塞俄比亞東方的一個國家，大概是想像到是那裡的了。事實上厄立特尼亞在1962年被埃塞俄比亞強行合併成同一國家，而在之前則可追朔至十九世紀中葉義大利入侵東非時期從埃塞俄比亞分割出來的一塊沿紅海海岸的土地。 厄立特尼亞和索馬利蘭與及北非的利比亞成為非洲甚至世界少數的義大利殖民地，這枚郵票就名正言順講明「殖民地」：1934年在拿坡里舉辦的第二屆殖民地藝術展覽，畫面上的駱駝就是經常出現在郵票上。 Eritrea, Somaliland and Libya in North Africa became one of the few Italian colonies in Africa and even the world. This stamp clearly explained the ‘colony’: the 2nd colonial art exhibition held in Napoli in 1934, camels on the picture often appear on the Italian Eritrea stamps. 埃塞俄比亞在兼併厄立特尼亞後理所當然發行關於這個地區的郵票，阿蕯布是厄立特尼亞區域第二大城市；同一時間厄立特尼亞人民解放陣線亦有發行郵票宣示主權。 Ethiopia naturally issued stamps about the region after the annexation of Eritrea. Assab is the second largest city in Eritrea; at the same time, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front also issued stamps to declare sovereignty. 埃塞俄比亞在十九世紀的歐洲殖民浪潮下保住了自己的政權免淪為義大利的殖民國家，卻把厄立特尼亞分割出去，直到第二次世界大戰前的1936年埃塞俄比亞終落入義大利手中與厄立特尼亞和索馬里成為義屬東非一部分，惟5年後義屬東非落入英國但英國未有打算歸併入英屬索馬里蘭，故直到1952年厄立特尼亞與埃塞俄比亞組成聯邦甚至被後者吞併。 厄立特尼亞人民解放陣線持續反抗近40年，在1991年推翻門格斯圖政府後獲得獨立公投的機會，結果不出所料絕大部分民眾支持厄立特尼亞獨立，1993年5月24日自埃國獨立，由於厄立特尼亞位於埃國東面整個紅海沿岸，埃國從此之後失去出海口成為內陸國家，海路貨物僅能靠連繫吉布提的古董鐵路綫運輸。 歷史就說完了，當然厄立特尼亞的歷史也不是這樣簡短，然而重點是崇尚馬克思列寧主義的厄立特尼亞人民解放陣線當年也得到美國和中國支持，在取得政權後卻在國內實行北韓式的高壓統治，雖然曾經承諾有多黨制和總統大選，卻一如一些共產主義國家及其「殖民地」般出爾反爾從不兌現，甚至推翻了多黨制的承諾。直到目前伊薩亞斯．阿費沃爾基(Isaias Afwerki)就任總統33年，惟他的統治方式除了人權組織外從未受到歐美「自由國家」質疑，近年更是與中國、北韓和俄羅斯等的「現代邪惡軸心」同一陣綫，祗是厄立特尼亞在國際政治舞台上毫不起眼，沒什麼人會當作一回事。 沒什麼人當作一回事的似乎還有他們的郵票，當很多人都以為這些新獨立而又「缺乏人文歷史」的國家會把發行郵票的權利賣給集郵代理時厄立特尼亞卻選擇自己計劃發行郵票，除了獨立戰爭後的一段時間由「土炮」印刷廠印刷郵票外，自獨立初期就已經固定由義大利國家鑄幣局和印刷局(Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, IPZS)包攬印刷全部郵票，這和內戰前夕的索馬里蘭十分類似，概因這兩地昔日都是義大利殖民地而衍生的經濟往來。不過這種關係也不持續太久，厄立特尼亞的郵票如同其他國家一樣絕大部分都給荷蘭Joh. Enschedé承印，不過有較特別的是千禧年前後發行的商業味頗重的動物小版張卻是由已結束的英國The House of Questa印刷；或者真的是這個國家無人知曉，他們的郵票發行至2016年的《25週年獨立日》(The 25th Anniversary Silver Jubilee of the Liberation of Eritrea)紀念郵票後竟然無疾而終， 厄立特尼亞獨立後便積極加入國際和地區組織，前身是1981年成立的地區優惠貿易區在1994年改組成東部和南部非洲共同市場(COMESA)，厄立特尼亞竟然就是創會會員。 After Eritrea became independent, it actively joined international and regional organisations. The country is a founded mermber of The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) formed in 1994 was a Preferential Trade Area which had existed since 1981. 這和我很早以前介紹過的東帝汶沒有太大分別。 早年厄立特尼亞郵電部印行的首日封都有印上他們的地址，我在2008年嘗試寫信去他們處探個究竟，也順道寄一個貼有郵票的信封給他們蓋銷作紀錄。不多久之後在信箱收到他們的回覆，除了有一張厄立特尼亞郵票簡介和訂購方式外，也有回信提及舊幣制埃塞俄比亞比爾(Birr)已停止流通，信封上的郵票僅作蓋銷退回。既然已知通訊地址，在稍後我再次將貼有現行使用中的立克法(Nakfa)幣值的原圖片和信封寄往當地蓋銷，如第一次的信封一樣完美漂亮。 其實厄立特尼亞發行過的郵票不多，縱使不時出現了國內的風景、動物以至人民生活，對不少人來說可說是非常陌生而缺乏興趣，但喜出望外的是稱兄道弟的中國在2013年「贈送」了一組郵票給厄立特尼亞以紀念兩國建交20週年， 非洲的扶輪社｜郵票市場上不時出現一些可疑的非洲國家各種題材「郵票」，它們的共同特徵是印上非政府組織的標誌，待集郵者或不知情收藏家購買，這些非法盜用國名印刷「郵票」在萬國郵政聯盟都有相關通告。 Rotary Club in Africa｜‘Stamps’ commonly feature logo of NGOs with various themes of some suspicious African countries appear in the stamp market from time to time, which attrative to junior stamp collectors or uninformed collectors. All of these ‘stamps’ illegally using the name of the country, and there are relevant notices by UPU. 當中有一枚係2017年登錄世界文化遺產的「非洲現代城市：阿斯馬拉」(Asmera: a Modernist City of Africa)，整個世界遺產包含了義大利殖民時期所建的包浩斯風格建築，經過二次世界大戰和獨立戰爭仍然保持完好。

it can be traced back to a piece of land along the Red Sea coast that was divided from Ethiopia during the Italian invasion of East Africa in the mid-19th century. Ethiopia kept its regime from becoming an Italian colonial country under the wave of European colonialism in the 19th century, but separated Eritrea until 1936, before World War II, when Ethiopia finally fell into the hands of Italy and became a righteous part of East Africa with Eritrea and Somaliland, five years later, East Africa was annexed to Britain, they had no intention of annexing it to British Somariland, so it was not until 1952 that Eritrea and Ethiopia formed a federation or even annexed by the latter.

The Eritrean People’s Liberation Front continued to resist for nearly 40 years, after overthrowing the Mengistu government in 1991, it got the opportunity to vote on independence. As expected, the vast majority of the people supported the independence of Eritrea. On May 24, 1993, it became independent from Ethiopia. Eritrea was located on the entire Red Sea coast to the east of Ethiopia, she has since lost its access to the sea and became a landlocked country. The sea freight can only be transported by the antique railway connecting to Djibouti.

The history story is over. Of course, the history of Eritrea is not so short. However, the key point is that the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front, which advocates Marxism-Leninism, was also supported by the United States and China at that time. After gaining power, it implemented North Korean-style high-pressure rule in the country, although it once promised a multi-party system and presidential election. But like some communist countries and their ‘colonies’, they never fulfilled their promises, and even overturned the multi-party system. Until now, Isaias Afwerki has been president for 33 years, but his ruling style has never been questioned by freedom European countries and the United States except for human rights organisations. In recent years, he has been on the same line with the ‘CRINK’ such as China, North Korea and Russia. It is only Eritrea on the international political stage. It’s inconspicuous, and no one will take it as a matter.

No people talke note on their stamps too, when many people thought that these newly independent and ‘lacking humanistic history’ countries would sell the right to issue stamps to philatelic agents, Eritrea chose its own plan to issue stamps, except for the period after the Revolutionary War, which was printed by the local printing factory. In addition to stamps, all stamps have been printed by Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato (IPZS) since the beginning of independence, which is very similar to Somariland on the eve of the Civil War. It seems because these two places used to be Italian colonies and economic exchanges. However, this relationship will not last long. Eritrean stamps are given to Dutch printer Joh. Enschedé just like other countries, but what’s more special is that the commercial animal small sheets issued around the millennium are printed by the completed British printer Questa. Without any reason their stamps were issued until 2016, ‘The 25th Anniversary Silver Jubilee of the Liberation of Eritrea’ commemorative issue and souviner sheet, and then no more stamp issue, which is as well as Timor-Leste I introduced a long time ago.

In the early years, the first day covers issued by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of Eritrea were printed with their addresses. In 2008, I tried to write them, and also sent them an stamped envelope for postmarking to my records. After not a long time, I received back their reply in the mailbox, in addition to a brief introduction and ordering method of Eritrean stamps, and a reply mentioning that the old currency Ethiopian Birr had stopped circulating, and the stamps on the envelope were only returned under cover with postmarked. After the correspondence address is known, I sent more maxicard and stamped envelope with the value of the Nakfa currency again later, all of them as well as first envelope is as perfect and beautiful.

Even if domestic scenery, animals and even people’s lives appear from time to time, it can be said that it is very strange and lacks interest for many people, but what is overjoyed is that China ‘presented’ a set of stamps to Eritrea in 2013 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between two countries. One of the stamps is the ‘Asmera: a Modernist City of Africa’ which was registered as a World Heritage Site in 2017. The site contains Bauhaus-style buildings built during the Italian colonial period, which are still intact after World War II and the War of Independence.

厄立特尼亞在千禧年前後似乎受到集郵代理的贊助印行了很普通但又有「銷售保證」的動物小版張和小型張，幸好這些動物都是非洲東部荒漠中找尋得到，這裡信封正背面都是貼上這種郵票，分別是1998年雀鳥小版張上其中三枚短尾鵰(Terathopius ecaudatus)、紅嘴奎利亞雀(Quelea quelea)、蛇鷲(Sagittarius serpentarius)和2001年世界自然基金會郵票土狼(Proteles cristatus)。至於原圖片我選擇了較易找到明信片的紅蛇鵜(Anhinga rufa)，這種雀鳥普遍地在撤哈拉沙漠以南的廣闊非洲大陸生存，因而有不少歐洲動物園早在二十世紀初便開始飼養，明信片發行商更是看中了牠的頸部能優雅地彎曲故大量印行明信片，這一幅是戰後法國出版商所印行。

Eritrea seems to be sponsored by philatelic agencies around the millennium to print very common but ‘sales guarantee’ animal small sheets and souviner sheets. Fortunately, these animals can be found in the eastern desert. The stamps affixed on front and back of the envelope here are Bateleur, Red-billed Quelea, Secretarybird issued on 1998 WWF stamp Aardwolf issued on the 2001. The left side maxicard, I chose African Darter which is easier to find postcards. This kind of bird generally lives on the vast African continent south of the Sahara, so many European zoos began to raise it as early as the early 20th century. Postcard publishers were even more liked that its neck could be bent elegantly, so they printed a large number of postcards, this one was printed by French publisher in post-war period.