Country ⁄ Region Briefings
Ethiopia
Located in the Northeastern corner of Africa, also known as the “Horn of Africa”, Ethiopia resides as a landlocked nation
between the Sudan and Somalia to the West and East, respectively, Eritrea and Djibouti to the North and Kenya to the South.
Ethiopia has a proud history as Africa’s oldest independent nation. Unlike many African countries, Ethiopia was never colonized
and has never experienced foreign rule outside of a five-year occupation by Mussolini.
However, Ethiopia’s 74.8 million people are among the world’s poorest. Despite being one of Africa’s leading coffee producers, they generated only $768.68 per person in 2004; only five other nations in the world produced less than Ethiopia that year. In addition, Ethiopia has experienced a series of famines over the last several decades, the most notable of which in 1984 resulted in the deaths of nearly one million people. The country’s dire economic situation is the result of harsh climate, inadequate governance and war.
Like many African nations, Ethiopia has experienced political turmoil. In 1974, a regime led by Haile Selassie was toppled and followed by a suppressive Marxist junta. While the country gained a democratic footing in 1991 with the overthrow of the junta, the spin-off of Eritrea into an independent nation spurred a border war in the late 1990’s that resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands. While a fragile truce was struck, the political situation between the two remains tense. A civil war brewing in Somalia to the East threats to further destabilize the region.
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