Ethiopia (view map)

Ethiopia is Africa’s oldest independent state. It remained free from colonial rule during the European scramble to control Africa, with the brief exception of Italian occupation by Mussolini from 1936 to 1941.

The country is landlocked by Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and Kenya, and is widely regarded as one of Africa’s poorest states with 38.7% of its 76 million population living below the poverty line. The majority of Ethiopians reside in rural locations, primarily in the Western Highlands, and rely on subsistence farming. The economy is based predominantly on agriculture which provides 80% of the country’s employment and 60% of total exports which include coffee, livestock, khat (a narcotic plant), gold, oilseeds and leather.

Ethiopia has been plagued by severe droughts and famine, forcing it to rely heavily on food aid and assistance from Western nations. Between 1973 and 1974 approximately 200,000 lives were lost in the Wallo province of Ethiopia, and many more deaths followed in 1984 and 1985 due to drought, crop failure, and shortages of food.

Following a referendum on Eritrean independence in 1993, in which Eritreans voted almost unanimously in favour of independence from Ethiopia, a series of border disputes led to open hostilities between the two countries. By 1999 full-scale war broke out leading to the loss of tens of thousands of lives. This conflict ended in 2000 when both parties accepted a peace agreement under the close supervision of the United Nations (UN).

In 2005, thousands of arrests were made following mass protests regarding concerns of vote rigging during the parliamentary elections in May of that year. Meles Zenawi, leader of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), went on to win his third term as Prime Minister.

In 2007 SCIAF were included in the Ethiopian CAFOD and Trocaire memorandum of understanding with the Ethiopian Assembly of Bishops. CAFOD, Trocaire and SCIAF now work jointly together to support new and existing partners in Ethiopia. Working jointly through the one office in country will offer a wider range of flexible support to our Ethiopian partners in a more efficient way. SCIAF, through the joint office, supports four partners in Ethiopia. In 2007, SCIAF provided a total of £160,000 in grants to its partners in Ethiopia.