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Dissatisfaction with corruption and lack of
development contributed to the overthrow of the military
by Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie in 1974. He had
ruled the country a lot since 1930. A military council
took power and proclaimed a socialist state. Gradually,
the political climate hardened. Oppression and famine
caused resistance groups to take up arms. A collection
of rebel movements, the EPRDF, defeated the regime in
1991 and proclaimed a democratic federal republic. Since
then, the EPRDF has been in power.
Ethiopia's annexation of Eritrea in 1962 became the
starting point for the Eritrean independence war that
would last until 1991. Even in other parts of the
country it fermented with dissatisfaction. The
government's indifference to a famine disaster from 1972
to 1974 contributed to strikes, demonstrations, peasant
uprisings and armed forces mutiny. In early 1974, the
government was forced to resign and in September of that
year, Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed. He died in
captivity the following year.
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ABBREVIATIONFINDER:
List of most commonly used acronyms containing Ethiopia. Also includes historical, economical and political aspects of the country.
The military council, derg (Amharic committee), which
took over the government of the country proclaimed a
socialist state. Industries and agricultural land were
nationalized in 1975. Students were sent out into the
countryside to teach people to read and write. Dergen
had the support of many intellectuals and students, but
was gradually criticized for his refusal to reintroduce
civilian rule. After a violent power struggle in the
military, Mengistu Haile Mariam took power in 1977.
Red terror
Mengistu launched a campaign, called Red Terror, to
crush political opposition to the revolution. The
campaign robbed Ethiopia of a whole generation of
educated youth. Tens of thousands were killed or
tortured and hundreds of thousands fled to the United
States and Europe.
 The new state big farms were ineffective and
perennial drought caused famine for millions of people
in 1984–1985. About one million Ethiopians died of
starvation, and the government's decision to forcibly
move hundreds of thousands of people did not improve the
situation.
The armed resistance to the regime escalated. Despite
military aid from the Soviet Union and Cuba, the army
failed to crush the uprisings in Eritrea and Tigray. In
1989, the Tiger Liberation Front (TLF) merged with other
regime opponents, forming the Ethiopian People's
Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).
After a failed coup attempt in the military in 1989,
military power weakened, giving the guerrilla groups an
upper hand. The ravages of the war and new severe
drought again put millions of Ethiopians in the face of
famine. At the same time, the regime lost military and
financial support from the Soviet Union, where the
Communist regime fell. In 1990, Mengistu was forced to
admit that the planning economy had failed. He promised
market reforms, but it was too late. In May 1991,
Mengistu was forced to fly the country. The EPRDF troops
marched into Addis Ababa and seized power with US
support.
Meles Zenawi to power
At the same time, the Eritrean People's Liberation
Front (EPLF) entered the Eritrean capital Asmara. With
the EPRDF's consent, Eritrea was able to plan its
independence which was proclaimed in 1993.
The new rulers of Addis Ababa formed a transitional
government with participants from several political
groups. EPRDF President Meles Zenawi was appointed
provisional head of state. The former Marxist partial
alliance now advocated market economy and privatization
of state-owned enterprises, while the land would remain
state-owned.
The EPRDF soon came into conflict with the Oromo
Liberation Front (OLF), which had opposed the Mengistur
regime without joining the EPRDF. Prior to the 1992
local elections, fighting between the two parties
erupted. OLF, the dominant movement among the majority
people oromos, left the unity government together with
Ogaden's National Liberation Front (ONLF) and several
other groups. OLF boycotted the elections, which
contributed to a superior victory for the EPRDF.
In accordance with a new constitution that came into
force in 1995, Ethiopia was transformed into a
federation. Thirteen provinces were replaced by nine
newly created states divided by ethnic principles (see
Political system).
War on Eritrea
The 1995 parliamentary elections were boycotted by
the opposition parties and the EPRDF won yet another
overwhelming victory. EPRDF's strong man Meles Zenawi
became prime minister.
With Eritrea, Ethiopia initially had a close
cooperation. Gradually, there were rumblings about,
among other things, currency and trade issues.
Disagreements also existed around the unmarked border.
In May 1998, Eritrea conquered the small town of Badme,
whereupon Ethiopia declared war.
By the beginning of 1999, the countries had mobilized
over half a million soldiers together and fierce
fighting was fought. The UN launched intensive peace
talks. In May 2000, Ethiopia went on a major offensive
and recaptured all lost areas. By the time the ceasefire
was closed in June, up to 100,000 human lives had been
wasted. After mediation, the two countries signed a
peace agreement in December of that year.
The UN was commissioned to monitor a buffer zone
along the border through the UN mission in Ethiopia and
Eritrea (Unmee). The border dispute was referred to the
International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague for
arbitration. Despite the promise from both sides to
accept the Commission's decision, Ethiopia stepped up
when the 2003 decision became that Badme, where the
fighting first blossomed, would fall to Eritrea.
Ethiopia retained control of Badme, which resulted in
Eritrea making UNME's mission impossible and the UN
leaving the area in 2008 (see also Conflicts:
Ethiopia-Eritrea).
Criticized election victory
In the 2000 parliamentary elections, the EPRDF again
won by a wide margin. Neither the opposition nor
independent observers considered the election to be
correct. The opposition continued to protest against the
government and the police often brutally attacked
protesters. Outside the regions, various separatist
groups fought for their cause. In 2003 and 2004, more
than 500 people were reported killed in persecution by
the Anuak people in the state of Gambella in the west.
The Anuaks were accused of assaulting other, indigenous
groups.
Severe droughts mainly hit eastern Ethiopia in 2002
and 2003. The economy was severely hit and millions of
people became dependent on food aid from abroad for
their survival.
Ahead of the 2005 parliamentary elections, a series
of opposition parties formed two alliances: the
Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) and the United
Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF). It soon became
apparent that large sections of the population accepted
promises from the government on political diversity. The
climate was freer than before the previous elections;
among other things, the opposition had to be spoken in
state media. Unexpectedly, at least for the EPRDF, the
opposition gained nearly a third of the seats in the
Federal Assembly. In Addis Ababa, the CUD won a
landslide victory in the regional elections and received
all but one mandate. It paved the way for a first
democratic shift of power in Ethiopia, albeit at a
regional level.
However, the CUD management claimed that extensive
electoral fraud had occurred and refused to approve the
result. The party leadership called for civil
disobedience and protests against the government and the
electoral authority. Unrest erupted and the government
quickly brought in the hard gloves to end the protests.
A strike against regime opponents
Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated in the
weeks following the May elections and again in the fall
of 2005. Thousands were arrested during the protests and
a total of around 200 were killed; many are shot to
death by riot police. When Parliament convened in
October 2005, many CUD members boycotted the session.
One month later, the entire party leadership and over
100 others were arrested, including journalists and
human rights activists. Eventually, in July 2007, 38 of
them were sentenced to life imprisonment, and then
immediately pardoned.
Violence outbreaks and human rights violations after
the 2005 election sunk the EPRDF government's reputation
internationally. Earlier, the government had been
praised for introducing multi-party systems and for
investing in economic development and poverty reduction.
At the end of 2006, Ethiopia joined forces in Somalia
to support the so-called transitional government in
fighting against Islamists (see Foreign Policy and
Defense).
On April 2007, the ONLF launched an armed attack on
an oil field managed by a Chinese group. Nine Chinese
and 65 Ethiopians were killed in the assault, which was
seen as a threat to future foreign investment in the
country. The resistance movement motivated the attack by
the military forcing nomadic tribes away from their
pasture lands. Authorities shut out foreign observers
from the region and reports of fighting, genocide and
serious human rights violations appeared.
Meles Zenawi dies
Ahead of the May 2010 parliamentary elections, the
opposition was divided and weakened. Since 2005, a much
harsher political climate prevailed and the opposition
could not gather again. The election reinforced the
EPRDF's total control over the policy. A new opposition
alliance formed before the election, Medrek (Forum),
took a single mandate in the federal parliament while
one went to an independent candidate. The rest went to
EPRDF and a number of allied parties.
In August 2012, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi
unexpectedly passed away at a hospital in Belgium.
Concerns existed that his death would trigger a power
struggle and increase instability in the country. Others
harbored hopes of a more open and tolerant political
climate. But Deputy Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn
took power without any major course changes in any
direction. However, his appointment as head of
government meant a trend break, as he did not come from
the traditional power-bearing peoples of Tigreans and
Amharas. Hailemariam Desalegn belonged to the small folk
group Wolayta from the south and was also a Protestant.
In the May 2015 parliamentary elections, the EPRDF
and some allied regional parties took home all mandates;
the opposition was completely without representation.
Both the start of the election and the election day
itself were largely calm. The two largest opposition
groups, Medrek and the Blue Party, did not accept the
result and said that their supporters had been harassed.
Election observers from the African Union (AU) had no
objections, while the EU and the Carter Center, which
monitored previous elections, were not invited to
attend.
State of emergency and change of course
From the end of 2015, repeated government-hostile
protests in Oromia were extinguished by force. The
protesters turned to plans to expand the capital into
Oromia's territory. At the same time, they demanded
greater influence for the Oromos and the Amharas within
the ruling alliance. In October 2016, the government
introduced a state of emergency in an attempt to gain
control of the situation. The UN, which estimated that
600 protesters were killed in the unrest, called for an
international investigation. Tens of thousands of
protesters must have been imprisoned.
The state of emergency was first lifted in August
2017. The situation was then calmer, but during the
autumn new protests occurred, sometimes with fatal
outcome. At the same time, disputes were intensifying
between Oromos and Somalis who dispute land along the
border between the states of Oromia and Somali. During
the fall, the conflict claimed hundreds of lives. Over a
million people were reported to have escaped the unrest
that continued into the new year.
At the same time, the fragmentation within the EPRDF
increased. In an effort to ease the pressure, the
government released hundreds of prisoners in early 2018,
including several opposition leaders. In February 2018,
Hailemariam Desalegn left the post of head of government
"in the hope that it would contribute to a solution" to
the country's problems. After his departure, a new
six-month state of emergency was introduced.
The election of a new head of government came to be
of great importance. In April 2018, 42-year-old Abiy
Ahmed Ali was named new, young Prime Minister. Abiy was
the leader of the EPRDF oromo's people. It was the first
time during the party alliance's nearly 30-year reign
that a person from the majority people oromos was
elected prime minister. His entry would prove to be the
beginning of a period of political thunderstorms and
economic reforms. He would also resume the stagnated
peace process with Eritrea.
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