Ethiopia background
Ethiopia is Africa's oldest independent country.
The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front came to power in 1991 by overthrowing the Marxist-Leninist regime, ‘the Derg’, which in turn had ended the imperial period with Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974. In 1994 the new constitution was ratified that put in place the current political system, ethnic federalism. The federal government is considered one of the strongest in Africa. Defined as a multicultural federation that operates on the basis of ethno-national representation and self-determination, ethnic federalism remains a debated issue in Ethiopia.
Over the past 20 years, four national elections have been held; whereof the 2005 election was the most contested with post-election violence as a consequence. The Ethiopian government is challenged by intra-state armed opposition as well as tense relations with its bordering neighbours, with an inter-state war with Eritrea in 1998-2000 and military invasion of neighbouring Somalia in 2006. Internally, there are a number of armed opposition groups operating in the country. Sporadic outbreaks of violence continue cross-border, covering bordering areas of Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya. Recent tensions in Ethiopia also point to a more pronounced picture of religion playing a role in conflict dynamics although, to date, religious tolerance has been relatively high.
Ethiopia's current context
While it still ranks low on the Human Development Index, the country is experiencing considerable economic growth and has been deemed one of the fastest growing non-oil economies in Africa in 2010. Nonetheless, periodic droughts and famines afflict the country and the 2011 Horn of Africa crisis has
severely affected the country, especially in the form of large refugee flows in the hinterlands from neighboring countries.
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front won a fourth term in elections in May 2010 with more than 99 per cent of the votes. The border tension with Eritrea continues to persist after the 1998-2000 interstate war. Internally, there are intermittent inter-communal clashes along ethnic, religious and political lines and a number of armed opposition groups maintain a low-level armed struggle against the government.
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