Ethiopia

• Situated – Horn of Africa – Eastern Africa.

• Capital – Addis Ababa.

• Lies completely within the tropical latitudes.

• Borders with
 Eritrea – North
 Djibouti – Northeast
 Somalia – East
 Kenya – South
 South Sudan, Sudan – West.

Topography

• One of the most rugged in Africa

• Built on four geologic formations

• High central plateau with some mountains.

• Elevation – highest just before the point of descent to the Great Rift Valley
 Splits the plateau diagonally.

• Number of rivers cross the plateau
 Blue Nile flowing from Lake Tana.

Economy

• Based on agriculture – coffee, major agricultural
export crop.

• Limited reserves – gold, platinum, copper, potash,
natural gas, hydropower.
Population

• Highly diverse.

• Most – Speak a Semitic or Cushitic language.

• More than 77 different ethnic groups – own
distinct languages within Ethiopia.

• Africa’s oldest independent country.

• Second largest in terms of population.

Political structure

• Federal republic under the 1994 constitution.
 Prime minister – Head of government
 Titular president – Head of state.

• Bicameral legislature – House of Peoples
Representative & House of the Federation.

• Prime minister – Designated by the ruling
party in the House of Peoples’ Representatives.

• Nominates candidate for the presidency and subjected to a vote by both legislative
houses.

Local government

• Structure – allows the country’s ten regions a
significant amount of autonomy.

• Regional state – Headed by a president elected by the state council

• Cities – headed by a chairman.

• Regions – own parliaments, security forces and the right to a referendum for independent rule.

Ethiopia’s Tigray crisis

• Issue – Conflict between PM Abiy Ahmed’s party and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front is escalating.

• Conflict – Traced back to the time when Abiy Ahmed – the prime minister came to power in 2018.

Tigray region
 Wealthier than other parts of the country,
 It has got a well-trained army.

• Tigray People’s Liberation Front – fighting
for the autonomy of Tigray and reconstitution of Ethiopia on the basis of ethnically autonomous regions.
 Its Authority considerably reduced since Abiy took office.
• Ongoing conflict – 2 different political
ideologies for supremacy and control in the country.

• Tigray held local elections.

• PM ordered troops to counter a Tigray rebel
attack on federal army barracks.
 Result – Killing of several civilians.

• United Nations and Amnesty International –
Accused Ethiopia of war crimes, ethnic cleansing and the resort to rape and hunger
as weapons of war.