THE GEOGRAPHY (Foreign Office UK)
Area: 1.1 million sq km
Population: 65,891,874 (2001 est)
Capital City: Addis Ababa
People: Oromo 40%, Amhara and Tigre
32%, Sidamo 9%, Shankella 6%, Somali
6%, Afar 4%, Gurage 2%, Other 1%
Language(s): Amharic, Tigrinya,
Oromigna, Guaragigna, Somali, Arabic,
other local dialects and English (being
the major foreign language taught in
schools)
Religion(s): Orthodox Christianity
35-40%, Islam 45-50%, animist 12%,
other 3-8%
Currency: Ethiopian birr
Major political parties: Afar National
Democratic Party (ANDP), All Amhara
Peoples Organisation (AAPO), Amhara
National Democratic Movement
(ANDM); Coalition of Alternative
Forces for Peace and Democracy
(CAFPD), Ethiopian Democratic Party
(EDP), Oromo Liberation Front (OLF),
Oromo People's Democratic
Organisation (OPDO), Sidama Peoples
Democratic Organisation (SPDO),
Tigrayan Peoples Liberation Front
(TPLF).
Government: Ethiopian People's
Revolutionary Democratic Front
(EPRDF), an alliance of TPLF, ANDM
and OPDO
GEOGRAPHY
Ethiopia is almost 450,000 square miles
in area (twice the size of France)
sharing borders with Djibouti, Eritrea,
Kenya, Somalia and Sudan. It is
completely landlocked. It is divided into
nine ethnic-based regions plus the
capital, Addis Ababa and the city of Dire
Dawa.
THE HISTORY (Foreign Office UK)
Ethiopia is the oldest independent
country in Africa. With 65.9 million
people, it is the third most populous
African country (after Nigeria and
Egypt), and one of the poorest in the
world. The population is multi-ethnic.
Most of the people of the highlands
around Addis Ababa belong to the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church; most
lowlanders are Moslems.
With the exception of five years of
Italian rule from 1936-41, Emperor
Haile Selassie ruled Ethiopia from
1930-74. The Provisional Military
Administrative Council (PMAC), or
Derg ousted him in 1974. Colonel
Mengistu Haile Mariam took power in
1977. His brutal Marxist dictatorship
was overthrown by the Ethiopian
People's Revolutionary Democratic
Front (EPRDF) in May 1991.
Elections for the Transitional
Government were held in June 1992. A
new Constitution was adopted in
December 1994. The new Federal
Democratic Republic of Ethiopia came
into being in August 1995, appointing Dr
Negasso Gidada as President, and Meles
Zenawi as Prime Minister.
THE ECONOMY (Foreign Office UK)
Basic Economic Facts
GDP: US$6.3bn
GNP per head: US$100
Inflation: 1.3%
Major Industries: Agriculture and animal
husbandry 80%, Government and
services 12%, Industry and construction
8%.
Major trading partners: Exports:
Germany 16%, Japan13%, Djibouti 10%
Saudi Arabia 7% (1999 estimate).
Coffee accounts for 55% of Ethiopia's
exports. Imports: Saudi Arabia 28%,
Italy 10%, Russia 7%, US 6% (1999
estimate)
Exchange rate: 8.41 Ethiopian
Birr/pound sterling (January 2002)
Aid & development
Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries
in the world with a large proportion of
the population living on less than $1 a
day. The economy is highly dependent
on agriculture: over 85% of Ethiopians
are subsistence farmers. Rural Ethiopia
is exceptionally poor. The value of
Ethiopia's exports per capita is the
lowest in the world; and exports have
been hard hit by the collapse in the
world coffee price, traditionally
Ethiopia's largest export. Despite the
effects of the war between Ethiopia
and Eritrea, growth in GDP has been
impressive with average increases in
GDP in the period of 1993 to 2000 of
5.2 percent. However, low commodity
prices are now affecting the economy.
Ethiopia's economic growth prospects
for 2003 will also be stalled by a sharp
fall in agricultural production resulting
from the drought in 2002. An
estimated 12.5 million people will be
affected by food shortages. Growth is
expected to contract to between 0 and
-2% in 2003, far below the originally
forecasted 6%. That said the
combination of a commitment to sound
macroeconomic policies, reduced
military expenditure, HIPC debt relief,
coupled with improve rains and harvest
in 2004, should see agricultural
production rebound and growth levels
increase in 2004/2005. In the
meantime Ethiopia's current priority
will be to avert famine and mobilise
food aid to badly affected arrears.
Humanitarian support from the UK
includes both food and non-food relief.
The total amount committed in 2002
and 2003 is over £48m to date. On the
longer term, we have engaged in a
development partnership with Ethiopia.
We hope it will help this country tackle
the roots of poverty. A ten-year
Memorandum of Understanding was
signed by Clare Short in January 2003.
This set out our mutual commitments
in support of the Government of
Ethiopia's poverty reduction
programmes, and included an indication
that we plan to provide at least £60
million of direct budget support over
the next three years. The IMF and W
orld Bank continue to support further
economic reforms.
The UN, World Bank, EU and African
Development Bank are the key
multilateral donors. The main bilateral
agencies are the US, UK, Italy,
Germany, Sweden, Norway, Japan,
Finland and the Netherlands.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Ethiopia's Relations with Neighbours
Eritrea
A dispute over an ill-defined border
between Eritrea and Ethiopia flared
into military conflict in May 1998.
There were an estimated 100,000
casualties.
On 18 June 2000 both sides signed a
Cessation of Hostilities Agreement
(CHA). The Agreement calls for an
immediate cease-fire, for both sides to
withdraw to positions held before
hostilities began in May 1998, and for a
UN peacekeeping force to be deployed
in a 25km-wide buffer zone until
international arbitrators demarcate the
600-mile long border.
Both parties have shown commitment
to the peace process to date. They
accepted the Boundary Commission
(BC) decision on 13 April 2002 on the
position of the border and have now
both returned their POWs. UNMEE
deploys a 4000-strong peacekeeping
force in the TSZ, led by British Force
Commander Major General Gordon
(since Nov 2002). India, Jordan and
Kenya are the major troop
contributors. Under the Peace
Agreement, UNMEE will remain in place
until the delimitation and demarcation
of the border has been completed.
Demarcation should begin by November
2003. Ethiopia has recently signalled its
concerns with the Boundary
Commission's decision. The
international community has increased
its efforts to keep the peace process
on track and underline that the BC
decision is final and binding and the
importance of an expeditious
demarcation.
Somalia
Relations with Somalia are more
fragile. Ethiopia still harbours
memories of Somalia's occupation of
the Ogaden in 1977/78 and is
concerned by the activities of armed
Opposition groups operating inside
Ethiopia supplied through lawless
southern Somalia.
Djibouti
Ethiopia is land-locked and Djibouti
serves the majority of Ethiopia's port
needs. Djibouti's relations with Ethiopia
fluctuate from good to poor. Disputes
over revised tariffs and the Ethiopian
proposal to establish a container port
inside Ethiopia, that would deny Djibouti
of a substantial amount of port work,
strain a relationship that is vital for
both countries.
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