Ethiopia

National name:
Ityop’iya Federalawi Demokrasiyawi Ripeblik

Government
Federal republic

Geography
Ethiopia is in east-central Africa. The Blue Nile, or Abbai, rises in the northwest and flows in a great semicircle before entering the Sudan. Its chief reservoir, Lake Tana, lies in the northwest.

 Historical Background
Unique among African countries, the ancient Ethiopian monarchy maintained its freedom from colonial rule with the exception of the 1936-41 Italian occupation during World War II. In 1974, a military junta, the Derg, deposed Emperor Haile SELASSIE (who had ruled since 1930) and established a socialist  state. A constitution was adopted in 1994, and Ethiopia's first multiparty elections were held in 1995. A border war with Eritrea late in the 1990's ended with a peace treaty in December 2000. Final demarcation of the boundary is currently on hold due to Ethiopian objections to an international commission's finding requiring it to surrender territory considered sensitive to Ethiopia. Amid a growing threat from militant Islamists, Ethiopia began withdrawing troops from Somalia in January 2009. At this point, Somalia was far from stable. Indeed, Ethiopia's presence in Somalia sparked increased guerrilla warfare and even further weakened the transitional government.

Facts & Figures

Name

Ethiopia

Capital

Addis Ababa

Government

Federal Parliamentary republic 1

Language

Amharic

Race/Ethnicity

Oromo 34.49%, Amhara 26.89%, Somali 6.20%, Tigray 6.07%; Sidama 4.01%,Gurage 2.53%, Welayta 2.31% and around eighty other small ethnic groups.

Religion

Christianity: 62.8%, Islam: 33.9%,

Area

1,104,300 km

Population

85,237,338 - 2010 estimate 

Currency

Birr (ETB)