OFFICIAL NAME:
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Geography
Area: 1.1 million sq. km (472,000 sq. mi.); about the size of Texas, Oklahoma, and
New Mexico combined.
Cities: Capital--Addis Ababa (pop. 2.3 million). Other cities--Dire Dawa (180,000), Harar (138,000), Dessie (105,000), Nazret (100,000), Bahir Dar (95,000), Awassa (90,000)
Terrain: High plateau, mountains, dry lowland plains.
Climate: Temperate in the highlands; hot in the lowlands.

People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Ethiopian(s).
Population (1997 est.): 58 million.
Annual growth rate: 3%.
Ethnic groups (est.): Oromo 35%, Amhara 30%, Tigre 6%-8%, Somali 6%.
Religions: Muslim 40%, Ethiopian Orthodox Christian 45%-50%, Protestant 5%, indigenous beliefs, remainder.
Languages: Amharic (official), Tigrinya, Oromifa, English, Somali.
Education: Years compulsory--none. Attendance (elementary) 46%. Literacy--25%. Health: Infant mortality rate-112/1,000 live births.
Work force: Agriculture--80%. Industry and commerce--20%.

Government
Type: Federal Republic.
Constitution: Ratified 1994.
Branches: Executive--President, Council of State, Council of Ministers. Executive power resides with the prime minister. Legislative--bicameral parliament. Judicial--divided into Federal and Regional Courts.
Administrative subdivisions: 10 regions.
Political parties: Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and 50 other registered parties, most of which are small and ethnically based.
Suffrage: Universal.
Central government budget: $1.76 billion.
Defense: $128 million (7.3%).
National holiday: May 28.
Flag: Green, yellow and red horizontal stripes from top to bottom, with gold five-pointed star and rays on a blue circular background.

Economy
Real GDP: $6.1 billion.
Annual growth rate (last 5 years): 8%.
Per capita income: $110.
Average inflation rate (last 3 years): 3.5%.
Natural resources: Potash, salt, gold, copper, platinum, natural gas (unexploited).
Agriculture (40% of GDP): Products--coffee, cereals, pulses, oilseeds, khat, meat, hides and skins. Cultivated land--67%.
Industry (13.7% of GDP): Types--textiles, processed foods, construction, cement, hydroelectric power.
Trade (1996): Exports--$783 million. Imports--$1.65 billion.
Official exchange rate (Feb. 1998): 6.92 Ethiopian Birr=U.S.$1.
Fiscal year: July 8-July 7.

GEOGRAPHY
Ethiopia is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered on the north and northeast by Eritrea, on the east by Djibouti and Somalia, on the south by Kenya, and on the west and southwest by Sudan. The country has a high central plateau that varies from 1,800 to 3,000 meters (6,000-10,000 ft.) above sea level, with some mountains reaching 4,620 meters (15,158 ft.). Elevation is generally highest just before the point of descent to the Great Rift Valley, which splits the plateau diagonally. A number of rivers cross the plateau--notably the Blue Nile rising from Lake Tana. The plateau gradually slopes to the lowlands of the Sudan on the west and the Somali-inhabited plains to the southeast.

The climate is temperate on the plateau and hot in the lowlands. At Addis Ababa, which ranges
from 2,200 to 2,600 meters (7,000-8,500 ft.), maximum temperature is 26^o C (80^o F) and
minimum 4^o C (40^o F). The weather is usually sunny and dry with the short (belg) rains
occurring February-April and the big (meher) rains beginning in mid-June and ending in mid-September.

PEOPLE
Ethiopia's population is highly diverse. Most of its people speak a Semitic or Cushitic language. The Oromo, Amhara, and Tigreans make up more than three-fourths of the population, but there are more than 80 different ethnic groups within Ethiopia. Some of these have as few as 10,000 members. In general, most of the Christians live in the highlands, while Muslims and adherents of traditional African religions tend to inhabit lowland regions. English is the most widely spoken foreign language and is taught in all secondary schools. Amharic was the language of primary school instruction but has been replaced in many areas by local languages such as Oromifa and Tigrinya.

HISTORY
Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Africa and one of the oldest in the world. Herodotus, the Greek historian of the fifth century B.C. describes ancient Ethiopia in his writings. The Old Testament of the Bible records the Queen of Sheba's visit to Jerusalem. According to legend, Menelik I, the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, founded the Ethiopian Empire. Missionaries from Egypt and Syria introduced Christianity in the fourth century A.D. Following the rise of Islam in the seventh century, Ethiopia was gradually cut off from European Christendom. The Portuguese established contact with Ethiopia in 1493, primarily to strengthen their hegemony over the Indian Ocean and to convert Ethiopia to Roman Catholicism. There followed a century of conflict between pro- and anti-Catholic factions, resulting in the expulsion of all foreign missionaries in the 1630s. This period of bitter religious conflict contributed to hostility toward foreign Christians and Europeans, which persisted into the 20th century and was a factor in Ethiopia's isolation until the mid-19th century.

Under the Emperors Theodore II (1855-68), Johannes IV (1872-89), and Menelik II (1889-1913), the kingdom began to emerge from its medieval isolation. When Menelik II died, his grandson, Lij Iyassu, succeeded to the throne but soon lost support because of his Muslim ties. He was deposed in 1916 by the Christian nobility, and Menelik's daughter, Zewditu, was made empress. Her cousin, Ras Tafari Makonnen (1892-1975), was made regent and successor to the throne.

In 1930, after the empress died, the regent, adopting the throne name Haile Selassie, was crowned emperor. His reign was interrupted in 1936 when Italian Fascist forces invaded and occupied Ethiopia. The emperor was forced into exile in England despite his plea to the League of Nations for intervention. Five years later, the Italians were defeated by British and Ethiopian forces, and the emperor returned to the throne.

After a period of civil unrest which began in February 1974, the aging Haile Selassie I was deposed on September 12, 1974, and a provisional administrative council of soldiers, known as the Derg ("committee") seized power from the emperor and installed a government which was socialist in name and military in style. The Derg summarily executed 59 members of the royal family and ministers and generals of the emperor's government; Emperor Haile Selassie was strangled in the basement of his palace on August 22, 1975.

Lt. Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam assumed power as head of state and Derg chairman, after having his two predecessors killed. Mengistu's years in office were marked by a totalitarian-style government and the country's massive militarization, financed by the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, and assisted by Cuba. From 1977 through early 1978 thousands of suspected enemies of the Derg were tortured and/or killed in a purge called the "red terror." Communism was officially adopted during the late 1970s and early 1980s with the promulgation of a Soviet-style constitution, Politburo, and the creation of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia (WPE).

In December 1976, an Ethiopian delegation in Moscow signed a military assistance agreement with the Soviet Union. The following April, Ethiopia abrogated its military assistance agreement with the United States and expelled the American military missions. In July 1977, sensing the disarray in Ethiopia, Somalia attacked across the Ogaden Desert in pursuit of its irredentist claims to the ethnic Somali areas of Ethiopia. Ethiopian forces were driven back far inside their own frontiers but, with the assistance of a massive Soviet airlift of arms and Cuban combat forces, they stemmed the attack. The major Somali regular units were forced out of the Ogaden in March 1978. Twenty years later, the Somali region of Ethiopia remains under-developed and insecure.

The Derg's collapse was hastened by droughts and famine, as well as by insurrections, particularly in the northern regions of Tigray and Eritrea. In 1989, the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (TPLF) merged with other ethnically based opposition movements to form the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). In May 1991, EPRDF forces advanced on Addis Ababa. Mengistu fled the country and was granted asylum in Zimbabwe, where he still resides.

In July 1991, the EPRDF, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), and others established the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE) which was comprised of an 87-member Council of Representatives and guided by a national charter that functioned as a transitional constitution. In June 1992 the OLF withdrew from the government; in March 1993, members of the Southern Ethiopia Peoples' Democratic Coalition left the government.

In May 1991, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), led by Isaias Afwerki, assumed control of Eritrea and established a provisional government. This provisional government independently administered Eritrea until April 23-25, 1993, when Eritreans voted overwhelmingly for independence in a UN-monitored free and fair referendum. Eritrea was declared independent on April 27, and the U.S. recognized Eritrean independence on April 28.

In Ethiopia, President Meles Zenawi and members of the TGE pledged to oversee the formation of a multi-party democracy. The election for a 547-member constituent assembly was held in June 1994, and this assembly adopted the constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in December 1994. The elections for Ethiopia's first popularly chosen national parliament and regional legislatures were held in May and June 1995. Most opposition parties chose to boycott these elections, ensuring a landslide victory for the EPRDF. International and non-governmental observers concluded that opposition parties would have been able to participate had they chosen to do so.

The Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia was installed in August 1995. The EPRDF-led government of Prime Minister Meles has promoted a policy of ethnic federalism, devolving significant powers to regional, ethnically based authorities. Ethiopia today has 10 semi-autonomous administrative regions which have the power to raise and spend their own revenues. Under the present government, Ethiopians enjoy greater political participation and freer debate than ever before in their history, although some fundamental freedoms, including freedom of the press, are in practice somewhat circumscribed.

Principal Government Officials
President--Negasso Gidada
Prime Minister--Meles Zenawi
Deputy Prime Minister--Kassu Ilala
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense--Tefera Waluwa
Minister of Foreign Affairs--Seyoum Mesfin

Ethiopia maintains an embassy in the U.S. at 2134 Kalorama Road, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008 (tel. 202/234-2281) headed by Ambassador Berhane Gebre-Christos. A separate trade and commercial office is located at 1800 K Street, N.W., Suite 824, Washington, D.C. 20006 (tel. 202/452-1272).

DEFENSE
The Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) has approximately 100,000 personnel, which makes it one of the largest military forces in Africa. This number is significantly smaller than the 250,000 plus troops that existed during the Derg regime that fell to the rebel forces in 1991. The U.S. was Ethiopia's major arms supplier from the end of World War until 1977, when Ethiopia began receiving massive arms shipments from the Soviet Union. These shipments, including armored patrol boats, transport and jet fighter aircraft, helicopters, tanks, trucks, missiles, artillery, and small arms have incurred an unserviced Ethiopian debt to the former Soviet Union estimated at more than $3.5 billion. Since the early 1990s, the ENDF has been in transition from a rebel force to a professional military organization with the aid of the U.S. and other countries. Training in demining, humanitarian and peace-keeping operations, professional military education, and military justice are among the major programs sponsored by the U.S.

ECONOMY
The current government has embarked on a program of economic reform, including privatization of state enterprises and rationalization of government regulation. While the process is still ongoing, the reforms have begun to attract much-needed foreign investment.

The Ethiopian economy is based on agriculture, which contributes 45% to GNP and more than 80% of exports and employs 85% of the population. The major agricultural export crop is coffee, providing 65%-75% of Ethiopia's foreign exchange earnings. Other traditional major agricultural exports are hides and skins, pulses, oilseeds, and the traditional "khat," a leafy shrub which has psychotropic qualities when chewed.

Ethiopia's agriculture is plagued by periodic drought, soil degradation caused by overgrazing, deforestation, high population density, and poor infrastructure, making it difficult and expensive to get goods to market. Yet it is the country's most promising resource. A potential exists for self-sufficiency in grains and for export development in livestock, grains, vegetables, and fruits.

Gold, marble, limestone, and small amounts of tantalum are mined in Ethiopia. Other resources with potential for commercial development include large potash deposits, natural gas, iron ore, and possibly oil and geothermal energy. Although Ethiopia has good hydroelectric resources ,which power most of its manufacturing sector, it is totally dependent on imports for its oil. A landlocked country, Ethiopia uses the seaports of Assab and Massawa in Eritrea. Ethiopia also uses the port of Djibouti, connected to Addis Ababa by rail, for international trade. Of the 23,812 kilometers of Ethiopia's all-weather roads, 15% are asphalt. Mountainous terrain and the lack of good roads and sufficient vehicles make land transportation difficult. However, the government-owned airline is excellent. Ethiopian Airlines serves 38 domestic airfields and has 42 international destinations.

Dependent on a few vulnerable crops for its foreign exchange earnings and reliant on imported oil, Ethiopia lacks sufficient foreign exchange. The financially conservative government has taken measures to solve this problem, including stringent import controls and sharply reduced subsidies on retail gasoline prices. Nevertheless, the largely subsistence economy is incapable of supporting high military expenditures, drought relief, an ambitious development plan, and indispensable imports such as oil and, therefore, must depend on foreign assistance.

FOREIGN RELATIONS
Ethiopia was relatively isolated from major movements of world politics until the 1895 and 1935 Italian invasions. Since World War II, it has played an active role in world and African affairs. Ethiopia was a charter member of the United Nations and took part in UN operations in Korea in 1951 and the Congo in 1960. Former Emperor Haile Selassie was a founder of the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Addis Ababa is the host capital for the UN Economic Commission for Africa and the OAU.

Although nominally a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, after the 1974 revolution, Ethiopia moved into a close relationship with the Soviet Union and its allies and supported their international policies and positions until the change of government in 1991. Today, Ethiopia has very good relations with the U.S. and the West, especially in responding to regional instability and, increasingly, through economic involvement. Ethiopia's relations with Eritrea are extremely close, reflecting the shared revolutionary struggle against the Derg. Continuing instability along Ethiopia's borders with Sudan and Somalia contributes to tension with the National Islamic Front regime in Sudan and several groups in Somalia.

U.S.-ETHIOPIA RELATIONS
U.S.-Ethiopian relations were established in 1903 and were good throughout the period prior to the Italian occupation in 1935. After World War II, these ties strengthened, on the basis of a September 1951 treaty of amity and economic relations. In 1953, two agreements were signed: a mutual defense assistance agreement, under which the U.S. agreed to furnish military equipment and training, and an accord regularizing the operations of a U.S. communication facility at Asmara. Through fiscal year 1978, the U.S. provided Ethiopia with $282 million in military assistance and $366 million in economic assistance in agriculture, education, public health, and transportation. A Peace Corps program emphasized education, and United States Information Service educational and cultural exchanges were numerous.

After Ethiopia's revolution, the bilateral relationship began to cool as a result of the Derg's identification with international communism and U.S. revulsion at the Derg's murderous means of maintaining itself in power. The U.S. rebuffed Ethiopia's request for increased military assistance to intensify its fight against the Eritrean secessionist movement and to repel the Somali invasion. The International Security and Development Act of 1985 prohibited all U.S. economic assistance to Ethiopia with the exception of humanitarian disaster and emergency relief. In July 1980, the U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia was recalled at the request of the Ethiopian Government, and the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Embassy in the U.S. were headed by Charges d'Affaires.

With the downfall of the Mengistu regime, U.S.-Ethiopian relations improved dramatically. Legislative restrictions on assistance to Ethiopia other than humanitarian assistance were lifted. Diplomatic relations were upgraded to the ambassadorial level in 1992. During FY 1997, the U.S. provided about $77.2 million in assistance to Ethiopia, of which $39.9 million was food aid ($6.4 million in emergency food assistance). U.S. development assistance to Ethiopia is conditional on progress in democracy and human rights as well as economic reforms. Some in military training funds, including training in such issues as the laws of war and observance of human rights, also are provided. The Peace Corps returned about 3 years ago to Ethiopia where, in the past, it had one of its largest programs. In FY 1999, the Peace Corps expects to have more than 100 volunteers in-country.

Principal U.S. Officials
Ambassador--David Shinn
Deputy Chief of Mission--Martin G. Brennan

Chiefs of Sections Administrative--Bernie Gross
Consular-- Raymond Baca
Political/Economic--Herb Thomas
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)--Keith Brown
Defense Attache Officer--Lt. Col. Kevin Kenny
U.S. Information Service (USIS)--Michael Seidenstricker
Peace Corps Director--Lis A. Doane

The address and telephone/fax numbers for the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia are
P.O. Box 1014, Entoto Street, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Tel: 251/1/550-666; fax: 251/1/552-191.

Travelers can check the latest health information with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. A hotline at 877-FYI-TRIP (877-394-8747) and a web site at http://www.cdc.gov/travel/index.htm give the most recent health advisories, immunization recommendations or requirements, and advice on food and drinking water safety for regions and countries. A booklet entitled Health Information for International Travel (HHS publication number CDC-95-8280) is available from the U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402, tel. (202) 512-1800.

Further Electronic Information
Department of State Web Site. Available on the Internet at http://state.gov, the Department of State web site provides timely, global access to official U.S. foreign policy information, including  Background Notes; daily press briefings; Country Commercial Guides; directories of key officers of Foreign Service posts and more.

National Trade Data Bank (NTDB). Operated by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the NTDB contains a wealth of trade-related information. It is available on the Internet (www.stat-usa.gov) and on CD-ROM. Call the NTDB Help-Line at (202) 482-1986 for more information.