The Eritrean Islamic Jihad Movement (EIJM) is an organization that seeks to depose the current Eritrean government and install a new government based on the principles of Islamic law. Currently led by Shaikh Khalil Mohammed Amer, the EIJM was formed in 1980 and is the only opposition group that claims to represent the interests of Muslim Eritreans, who make up approximately half of Eritrea's population.<br /><p><br />Though the EIJM is based in Khartoum, Sudan, it runs the majority of its operations in the western lowlands of Eritrea near the Sudanese border. During the 1998 border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, Ethiopia formed an alliance with Sudan and the Eritrean political opposition to undermine the Eritrean government's ability to fight. The People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), the ruling party in Eritrea, has alleged that these ties currently serve to facilitate weapons transfers and provide training sites and safe haven to EIJM rebels. It cites the rebels' use of weapons of Sudanese origin (such as Kalashnikov assault rifles and RPG-7 grenade launchers) as proof of foreign involvement in its internal affairs. The EIJM has also been known to recruit from Eritrean refugee camps in Sudan.<br /><p><br /><br />The EIJM is a product of many mergers and alliances, and today it includes the members of the former Munezemet Arrewad al Muslimin al Eritrea (Eritrean Pioneer Muslim Organization), the former Jebhat Tahrir al Eritrea al Islamiya Wataniya (Eritrean National Islamic Liberation Front), the former Lejnet al Difae al Islami (Islamic Defense Committee), the former Harekat al Mustedafeen al Eritrea (Movement of Oppressed Eritreans), and the former al Intifada Islamiya (Islamic Uprising). Due to the diversity that characterized its formation, the EIJM is made up of a motley crew of political dissidents from other political parties and liberation movements, religiously-moderate opponents of the ruling party, and radical Islamists as well. Of its support base, a very small minority approves of terror tactics, though all agree that Muslim interests are severely underrepresented in the government, which is controlled solely by the overwhelmingly-Christian PFDJ.<br /><p><br /><br />Since Eritrea defeated Ethiopia in Eritrea's war of independence in 1993, the PFDJ has ruled Eritrea under the authority of a one-party "transitional government." The EIJM, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front  --  Democratic Party (EPLF-DP), and the 13-member Alliance of Eritrean National Forces (AENF) represent Eritrea's main opposition groups. <br /><p><br /><br />The U.S. Department of State has listed the EIJM as an al-Qaeda affiliate, though it should be noted that due to the high degree of fragmentation within the EIJM, only the most radical factions of the group actually have a direct connection to al-Qaeda.<br /><br />