Country profilesEthiopia

Humanitarian profile

Drought, floods and conflict leading to displacement mean millions of Ethiopians are dependent on food aid. Ethiopia is home to a growing number of refugees from Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan. The government passed a law in 2009 barring non-governmental organisations working on human rights and good governance from receiving more than 10 percent of their funding from foreign sources.

Country snapshot

Ethiopia is unique in Africa for never having been colonised, apart from a brief occupation by Italy under Fascist leader Benito Mussolini.

Military coups, dictatorship, brutal purges and conflict with neighbouring Eritrea and Somalia have dominated Ethiopia's modern history. In the mid-1980s, famine blighted the country, Africa's second most populous, and up to 1 million Ethiopians starved to death.

Ethiopia held its second multi-party elections in 2005. But a post-election crackdown on opposition supporters in which almost 200 people died tarnished its fledgling democracy. The ruling party won elections in 2010 which were widely criticised as virtually all opposition leaders were in jail.

Ethiopia is a key regional ally in the U.S. war against terrorism.

The Horn of Africa nation is often described as the cradle of humanity, boasting an ancient history and some of the earliest traces of mankind including the remains of a 3-million-year-old skeleton discovered in 1974. Although Ethiopia is the second oldest Christian country in the world, about half its population is Muslim. It is also the spiritual home of the Rastafarian movement which worships the late Emperor Haile Selassie as a living messiah.

Ethiopia is Africa's top coffee producer and agriculture is the economy's main driver. The donor-dependent country is ranked near the bottom of the Human Development Index, with a large part of the population reliant on food aid and remittances from its sizeable diaspora.

The 53-member African Union (AU) is headquartered in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

Government

Ethiopia is a federal republic with elections every five years. Ethiopia had a highly centralised government until 1991 under Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, but the 1994 constitution devolved power to nine ethnically-based regions. These regions have the power to raise taxes and spend the income.

The executive branch includes a president, Council of State, and Council of Ministers. Executive power resides with Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, a former rebel who toppled Mengistu in 1991. He has been prime minister since 1995. His Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) ruling party is made of up of parties from all major ethnic groups.

Politics has been defined by power struggles between the Amhara and Tigray ethnic groups. The largest community, the Oromo, have never held power in modern times. A number of rebels groups fighting for independence operate in the country, running hit-and-run attacks.

In 2007, rebels of the Ogaden National Liberation Front attacked a Chinese oilfield in the vast desert province which borders Somalia. The Chinese withdrew.

Economy

Ethiopia has enjoyed some of Africa’s fastest growth rates in recent years with a fall in the number of people living in poverty. The ruling party has embarked on massive investment in infrastructure such as roads and energy. Foreign investors are putting money into large-scale farming and oil and gas exploration.

Ethiopia's economy remains overwhelmingly reliant on agriculture -- both for export and to sustain the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers. Agriculture accounts for 45 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and 85 percent of total employment.. However, frequent drought and poor farming methods undermine output.

Ethiopia, which is Africa's biggest coffee producer, is also the world's fourth largest exporter of sesame seeds. A drop in demand and a fall in prices hit coffee exports hard during the global recession of 2008-9. Ethiopia's other main exports are pulses and seed oils, leather and flowers.

The country is one of the world's largest recipients of foreign aid. and one in 10 people rely on food aid. Remittances are crucial to Ethiopia, with some estimates putting their hard currency generating capacity equal with coffee exports.

Ethiopia runs a large current account deficit - roughly the equivalent to one-tenth of its total GDP.

History

Legend has it that the Ark of the Covenant in which Moses is said to have stored the Ten Commandments has been hidden from sight in Ethiopia since 642 BC. Some Ethiopians believe that Prince Menelik I -- said to be the result of a union between Israel's King Solomon and the Ethiopia Queen of Sheba -- took the Ark from Jerusalem to Ethiopia while he was in power around 950 BC.

The Ethiopian monarchy maintained its freedom from colonial rule, with the exception of the 1936-41 occupation by Italy. Emperor Haile Selassie assumed the throne in 1930 and tried to open up Ethiopia to the world but was deposed by Marxist military officers in 1974 after a severe famine.

Haile Selassie died the following year. It is thought that he was murdered by his captors, strangled to death in his bed and secretly buried under a latrine in his palace or denied the medical treatment that could have kept him alive.

In 1977, Lieutenant-Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam, one of the group that toppled the emperor, seized power and executed more than 60 of the emperor's officials.

He replaced ancient feudalism with totalitarian rule from 1977, marked by "Red Terror" purges and war, with catastrophic hunger compounding Ethiopia's woes.

Under Mengistu, tens of thousands were butchered, tortured or detained. Suspected opponents were executed by garrotting or shooting, their bodies were then tossed into the streets.

Relatives of the dead said when they went to collect bodies of loved ones at the morgue they were asked to pay for the bullets that killed them. Thousands of civilians were caught in the crossfire of the war against northern rebels and 700,000 peasants were forcibly resettled to starve the rebels of support.

In 1977, Somalia invaded Ethiopia in an attempt to lay claim to its ethnic Somali Ogaden region but was driven out by the Ethiopian army with Soviet and Cuban aid. The conflict fuelled a deep-seated distrust between the two neighbours.

In 1984, Mengistu became secretary-general of a new Workers Party of Ethiopia, modelled on the Soviet Communist Party. His Marxist policies, which he began abandoning in 1990 with some economic reforms, were economically disastrous.

One million Ethiopians starved to death in a famine that began in 1984. For months, Mengistu denied that famine was ravaging Ethiopia's north instead flying in planeloads of whisky to celebrate the anniversary of his revolution.

Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe in 1991 after guerrilla forces led by current Prime Minister Meles Zenawi toppled his 17-year Derg regime. In 2008, Ethiopia's Supreme Court sentenced the so-called "Butcher of Addis Ababa" to death in absentia for genocide.

When Meles became leader, he was hailed as part of a new generation of democratic African statesmen and courted by Western leaders such as Bill Clinton and Tony Blair.

Ethiopia fought a border war with neighbouring Eritrea from 1998 to 2000 which killed 70,000 people in fighting that often recalled the trench warfare of World War One. Under the terms of a peace deal, an independent boundary commission issued a ruling on the border in 2002. Ethiopia rejected the decision and relations with Eritrea remain hostile.

Meles' international standing took a battering in 2005 when the country's most open elections ended in brutality. The government declared victory but the opposition said the poll was rigged. Street riots erupted leading to the deaths of 193 protesters and seven policemen.

In December 2006, Ethiopia invaded Somalia to oust an Islamist movement from the capital. Ethiopian troops were deeply unpopular among Somalis, sparking an insurgency and boosting support for the Islamists. Ethiopia has denied reports that its troops have crossed into Somalia since they officially withdrew in 2009.Legend has it that the Ark of the Covenant in which Moses is said to have stored the Ten Commandments has been hidden from sight in Ethiopia since 642 BC.

Some Ethiopians believe that Prince Menelik I -- said to be the result of a union between Israel's King Solomon and the Ethiopia Queen of Sheba -- took the Ark from Jerusalem to Ethiopia while he was in power around 950 BC.

The Ethiopian monarchy maintained its freedom from colonial rule, with the exception of the 1936-41 occupation by Italy.

Emperor Haile Selassie assumed the throne in 1930 and tried to open up Ethiopia to the world but was deposed by Marxist military officers in 1974 after a severe famine.

Haile Selassie died the following year. It is thought that he was murdered by his captors, strangled to death in his bed and secretly buried under a latrine in his place or denied the medical treatment that could have kept him alive.

In 1977, Lieutenant-Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam, one of the group that toppled the emperor, seized power and executed more than 60 of the emperor's officials.

He replaced ancient feudalism with totalitarian rule from 1977, marked by "Red Terror" purges and war, with catastrophic hunger compounding Ethiopia's woes.

Under Mengistu, tens of thousands were butchered, tortured or detained. Suspected opponents were executed by garrotting or shooting, their bodies were then tossed into the streets.

Relatives of the dead said when they went to collect bodies of loved ones at the morgue they were asked to pay for the bullets that killed them. Thousands of civilians were caught in the crossfire of the war against northern rebels and 700,000 peasants were forcibly resettled to starve the rebels of support.

In 1977, Somalia invaded Ethiopia in an attempt to lay claim on its ethnic Somali Ogaden region but was driven out by the Ethiopian army with Soviet and Cuban aid. The conflict fuelled a deep-seated distrust between the two neighbours.

In 1984, Mengistu became secretary-general of a new Workers Party of Ethiopia, modelled on the Soviet Communist Party. His Marxist policies, which he began abandoning in 1990 with some economic reforms, left a country ravaged by economic decline, famine and regional conflicts that consumed half the state budget.

One million Ethiopians starved to death in a famine that began in 1984. For months, Mengistu denied that famine was ravaging Ethiopia's north and aid workers have recalled how he flew in planeloads of whisky to celebrate the anniversary of his revolution.

Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe in 1991 after guerrilla forces led by current Prime Minister Meles Zenawi toppled his 17-year communist Derg regime. In 2008, Ethiopia's Supreme Court sentenced the so-called "Butcher of Addis Ababa" to death in abstentia for genocide.

When Meles became Ethiopian leader, he was hailed as part of a new generation of democratic African statesmen and courted by Western leaders such as Bill Clinton and Tony Blair.

His Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) ruling party is made of up of parties from all major ethnic groups. The EPRDF introduced a system of "ethnic federalism" to Ethiopia with major ethnicities controlling the regions where they dominate.

Ethiopia fought a two-year 1998-2000 border with neighbouring Eritrea which killed 70,000 people in fighting that often recalled the trench warfare of World War One. Under the terms of a pace deal, an independent boundary commission issued a ruling on the border in 2002 but Ethiopia rejected the decision and relations with Eritrea remain hostile.

Meles' international standing took a battering in 2005 when the country's most open elections ended in brutality. The government declared victory, the opposition said the result was fixed and in a crackdown by police and soldiers about 200 street protesters were killed.

In December 2007, Ethiopia deployed troops across the border to Somalia to prop up its weak government, under attack from Islamist militias intent on imposing strict sharia law. Ethiopian troops were withdrawn in January 2009.

Legal snapshot

The top court in Ethiopia is the Supreme Court. The prime minister puts forward recommendations for the president and vice-president of the Supreme Court to parliament which must endorse them.

Ethiopia's law is based on common law. In reality, the rule of law is weak partly because the judiciary is close to the executive powers. In 2008, the U.S. State Department said the judicial system in Ethiopia is poorly staffed, underdeveloped and inexperienced. Surveys show that ordinary Ethiopians consider corruption to be rampant.The top court in Ethiopia is the Supreme Court. The prime minister puts forward recommendations for the president and vice-president of the Supreme Court to parliament which must endorse them.

Ethiopia's law is based on common law. In reality the rule of law is weak partly because the judiciary is close to the executive powers.

In 2008, the U.S. State Department said the judicial system in Ethiopia is poorly staffed, under developed and inexperienced.

Ethiopia ranked 120th out of 180 countries in Transparency International's 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index alongside Kazakhstan, Vietnam and Mongolia (1st position is perceived as least corrupt).

Surveys show that ordinary Ethiopians consider corruption to be rampant.