Ethiopia

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Ethiopia, with an area of 1.13 million square kilometers (437,600 square miles), is located in northeastern Africa, also known as the Horn of Africa. The country has a wide range of agro-ecological zones, ranging from 120 meters (394 feet) below sea level in the Dalol (northeast) to 4,620 meters (15,158 feet) high in the Ras Dashen (northwest). The Ethiopian landscape is dominated by a massive highland of mountains and plateaus. The Great Rift Valley, running in a northwest-southeast direction, bisects the highland area.

Although Ethiopia is in the tropics, a large part of the country enjoys a temperate climate. Most places enjoy two rainy seasons: Meher (the main rainy season), lasting from June to September, and Belg (a shorter season with lighter rain), lasting from February to April, with a long dry season from April to June.

With a population of 67 million, as estimated in 2004, Ethiopia is the most populated country in sub-Saharan Africa, second only to Nigeria. Most of the population is concentrated in the Ethiopian highland. Over 80 percent of the population lives in rural areas; however, urbanization is growing at a steady rate.

Ethiopia is an ancient country with a history extending over three thousand years. It is the oldest independent country in Africa, with the exception of its five-year occupation by fascist Italy from 1936 to 1941. Ethiopia's best-known twentieth-century ruler was Emperor Haile Selassie (1892–1975), who reigned from 1930 to 1974. He was an absolute monarch who enjoyed supreme authority. Although the 1955 constitution called for the establishment of a Chamber of

Deputies and a Senate to serve as parliament, the emperor controlled the members of both bodies.

In 1974 Selassie was overthrown by a military body known as the Derg (Committee). Mengistu Haile Mariam (b. 1937) emerged as the leader of the coup, and the country soon plunged into a Marxist-socialist political and economic system. Mengistu's rule was characterized by repression, civil war, and the suppression of opposition groups. Thousands perished under Mengistu's regime when they opposed the brutality of the military government.

In 1991 the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), a coalition of rebel groups led by the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF), forced Mengistu to flee the country. Melese Zenawi (b. 1955), the leader of the group, assumed power the same year.

The EPRDF developed a new constitution, which was approved in 1994, and the country was transformed into a federal republic with nine ethnic-based regions. The new constitution also called for the establishment of a bicameral parliament: the People's Representatives with 548 seats and the House of Federation with 108 seats.

In 1995 Negasso Gidada (b. 1943) became the president and Zenawi became the head of government (prime minister). Elections were held in May 2000, and despite complaints of election irregularities and violence, the EPRDF remained in power. Zenawi continued as prime minister, and in October 2001 Girma Woldegiorgis (b. 1924) replaced Gidada as the country's president.

Members of the Federal Supreme Court and other federal judges are named by the prime minister and subject to approval by the House of the People's Representatives. Political parties are allowed to exist, but there have been complaints of the government restricting them from operating independently and preventing the press from freely exercising its rights.

Eritrea; Federalism.

Clapham, C. Transformation and Continuity in Revolutionary Ethiopia. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

Markakis, John. Ethiopia: Anatomy of a Traditional Polity. New York: Oxford University Press, 1974.

Ofcansky, Thomas, and La Verle Berry, eds. Ethiopia: A Country Study, 4th ed. Washington, DC: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 1992.

Ullundorff, E. The Ethiopians: An Introduction to the Country and the People, 3rd ed. London: Oxford University Press, 1973.

Wubneh, Mulatu, and Yohannis Abate. Ethiopia: Transition and Development in the Horn of Africa. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1988.

Zewde, Bahru. A History of Modern Ethiopia, 1855–1991, 2d ed. Oxford, UK: James Currey, 2001.

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