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@Ethiopia

Introduction
Ethiopia

Background:

Unique among African countries, the ancient Ethiopian monarchy
maintained its freedom from colonial rule with the exception of the
1936-41 Italian occupation during World War II. In 1974, a military
junta, the Derg, deposed Emperor Haile SELASSIE (who had ruled since
1930) and established a socialist state. Torn by bloody coups,
uprisings, wide-scale drought, and massive refugee problems, the
regime was finally toppled in 1991 by a coalition of rebel forces,
the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). A
constitution was adopted in 1994, and Ethiopia's first multiparty
elections were held in 1995. A border war with Eritrea late in the
1990s ended with a peace treaty in December 2000. The
Eritrea-Ethiopia Border Commission in November 2007 remotely
demarcated the border by geographical coordinates, but final
demarcation of the boundary on the ground is currently on hold
because of Ethiopian objections to an international commission's
finding requiring it to surrender territory considered sensitive to
Ethiopia.

Geography
Ethiopia

Location:

Eastern Africa, west of Somalia

Geographic coordinates:

8 00 N, 38 00 E

Map references:

Africa

Area:

total: 1,127,127 sq km
land: 1,119,683 sq km
water: 7,444 sq km

Area - comparative:

slightly less than twice the size of Texas

Land boundaries:

total: 5,328 km
border countries: Djibouti 349 km, Eritrea 912 km, Kenya 861 km,
Somalia 1,600 km, Sudan 1,606 km

Coastline:

0 km (landlocked)

Maritime claims:

none (landlocked)

Climate:

tropical monsoon with wide topographic-induced variation

Terrain:

high plateau with central mountain range divided by Great Rift Valley

Elevation extremes:

lowest point: Denakil Depression -125 m
highest point: Ras Dejen 4,533 m

Natural resources:

small reserves of gold, platinum, copper, potash, natural gas,
hydropower

Land use:

arable land: 10.01%
permanent crops: 0.65%
other: 89.34% (2005)

Irrigated land:

2,900 sq km (2003)

Total renewable water resources:

110 cu km (1987)

Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):

total: 5.56 cu km/yr (6%/0%/94%)
per capita: 72 cu m/yr (2002)

Natural hazards:

geologically active Great Rift Valley susceptible to earthquak