age 18-49: 14,482,885 (2005 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 8,072,755
females age 18-49: 7,902,660 (2005 est.)

Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males age 18-49: 803,777
females age 18-49: 801,789 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$295.9 million (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
3.4% (2005 est.)

Transnational Issues Ethiopia

Disputes - international:
Eritrea and Ethiopia agreed to abide by the 2002 Eritrea-Ethiopia
Boundary Commission's (EEBC) delimitation decision, but mutual
animosities, accusations, and armed posturing prevail, preventing
demarcation despite international intervention; Ethiopia refuses to
withdraw to the delimited boundary until technical errors made by
the EEBC that ignored "human geography" are addressed, including the
award of Badme, the focus of the 1998-2000 war; Eritrea insists that
the EEBC decision be implemented immediately without modifications;
Ethiopia has only an administrative line and no international border
with the Oromo region of southern Somalia where it maintains
alliances with local clans in opposition to the unrecognized Somali
Interim Government in Mogadishu; "Somaliland" secessionists provide
port facilities and trade ties to landlocked Ethiopia; efforts to
demarcate the porous boundary with Sudan have been delayed by civil
war

Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 73,927 (Sudan), 15,901 (Somalia),
10,700 (Eritrea)
IDPs: 100,000-280,000 (border war with Eritrea from 1998-2000 and
ethnic clashes in Gambela; most IDPs are in Tigray and Gambela
Provinces) (2006)

Illicit drugs:
transit hub for heroin originating in Southwest and Southeast Asia
and destined for Europe and North America, as well as cocaine
destined for markets in southern Africa; cultivates qat (khat) for
local use and regional export, principally to Djibouti and Somalia
(legal in all three countries); the lack of a well-developed
financial system limits the country's utility as a money-laundering
center

This page was last updated on 8 February, 2007

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@European Union

Introduction European Union

Preliminary statement:
The evolution of the European Union (EU) from a regional economic
agreement among six neighboring