Ethiopia: GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS



Overview: The Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia was adopted by the country’s transitional government in December 1994 and came into force in August 1995. At that time, power also was formally transferred to the newly elected legislature, the Federal Parliamentary Assembly. The constitution provides for a parliamentary form of government and an administration based on nine states. It enshrines the separation of church and state and basic human rights and freedoms, and guarantees that all Ethiopian languages will enjoy equal state recognition, although Amharic is specified as the working language of the federal government. Ethiopia has a tradition of highly personal and strongly centralized government, a pattern the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (the present government) has followed despite constitutional limits on federal power.



Constitution: Ethiopia’s present constitution was created and ratified in 1994 by a constituent assembly. The constitution establishes Ethiopia as a federal republic with a parliamentary form of government.



Branches of Government: The legislative branch is made up of a bicameral parliament; the upper chamber is the House of the Federation (108 seats); the lower chamber is the House of People’s Representatives (548 seats). Members of the upper chamber are elected by the states’ parliamentary assemblies, whereas members of the lower chamber are elected by popular vote. All recognized national groups are guaranteed representation in the upper house; representation in the lower chamber is on the basis of population, with special set-asides for minorities. Terms in both chambers are five years, with elections last held in May 2000 and scheduled next for May 2005. Legislative power is vested in the House of People’s Representatives. The executive branch includes the president, prime minister, Council of State, and Council of Ministers. The president is elected by both legislative chambers for a six-year term. The leader of the largest party in the lower chamber becomes prime minister, who submits cabinet ministers for the chamber’s approval. All ministers serve for the duration of the legislative session. Executive power is in the hands of the prime minister, who is also the commander in chief of the armed forces. The current president is Girma Wolde-Giorgis, who has served in that position since 2001. The current prime minister is Meles Zenawi, who has served since August 1995. The judicial branch is composed of federal and state courts. The Federal Supreme Court is the highest court and exercises jurisdiction over all federal matters; lesser federal courts hear cases from the states. The president and vice president of the Federal Supreme Court are recommended by the prime minister and approved by the lower chamber of the legislature.



Administrative Divisions: Ethiopia is divided into nine ethnically based states: Afar, Amhara, Banishangul/Gumuz, Gambela, Hareri, Oromiya, Somali, Tigray, and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples, as well as two special city administrations: Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa. The states are subdivided into zones, districts, and sub-districts.



Provincial and Local Government: Each of the nine states has its own parliamentary assembly, which elects representatives to the upper chamber of the federal parliament, the House of the Federation. Each has taxing powers and its own budget, but in practice the assemblies have had to rely on the central government for funding.



Judicial and Legal System: In 2004 the United States Department of State reported that the judiciary remains weak and overburdened, with a significant backlog of cases. Although the judicial and legal system are beginning to show signs of independence, routine abuses or neglect by the government of rights afforded under the Ethiopian constitution occur, and severe shortages of personnel and funding hamper effective operation of the courts. The government continues to decentralize and restructure the judicial system and has established courts at the state, zonal, district, and local levels. The structure of the state judiciary mirrors that of the federal judiciary. Efforts to strengthen the state court system mean that regional cases now are more likely to have a local hearing.



Electoral System: Elections for state assemblies and for the House of People’s Representatives are by universal suffrage at age 18 and secret ballot. A National Election Board prepares and conducts elections for federal and state offices. According to international and local observers, the 2000 national elections were generally fair and free in most areas, despite reports of serious irregularities in some areas.



Politics and Political Parties: The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) is a coalition of ethnically based parties founded by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in 1989 to unite insurgent groups fighting against the military government. The TPLF was and remains the dominant member, and since 1991 it has provided most of Ethiopia’s military and political leadership. The TPLF’s most important partners are the Amhara National Democratic Movement and the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization. A large number of other parties, sponsored by the TPLF and often labeled “democratic organizations,” are allied with the EPRDF and hold seats in parliament. In the national elections held in 2000, the EPRDF and affiliated parties carried 519 of 548 seats in the lower chamber of parliament. The EPDRF and affiliated parties also control all regional parliamentary assemblies by a large margin. A number of opposition parties exist and are permitted to contest elections. These include the Joint Action for Democracy in Ethiopia and the Southern Ethiopian People’s Democratic Coalition, both composed of several member groups united by their opposition to the EPRDF.



Mass Media: Radio and television remain under the control of the Ethiopian government. Nine radio broadcast stations, eight AM and one shortwave, are licensed to operate. The major radio broadcasting stations (all AM) are Radio Ethiopia, Radio Torch (private), Radio Voice of One Free Ethiopia, and the Voice of the Revolution of Tigray. The single television broadcast network is Ethiopian Television. In keeping with government policy, radio broadcasts occur in a variety of languages. Print media, because of high poverty levels, low literacy rates, and poor distribution outside of the capital, serve only a small portion of the population. The paucity of distribution is mirrored by a scarcity of diversity in the official press. Since 1991 private newspapers and magazines have started to appear, and this sector of the media market, despite heavy-handed regulation, continues to grow. The Ethiopian government has a history of restricting the freedom of the press, and during the last few years has imprisoned a number of independent journalists. In 2003 the government suspended the only independent media organization in the nation, the Ethiopian Free Journalists Association, charging it with failure to comply with the state’s onerous bureaucratic regulations. Major daily newspapers include Addis Zemen, the Daily Monitor, and the Ethiopian Herald.



Foreign Relations: Ethiopia has engaged in international diplomacy with its neighbors since at least the mid-seventeenth century and with the European world since the mid-nineteenth century. It was a member of the League of Nations and a founding member of the United Nations (UN). Under Haile Sellassie I, the Organization of African Unity, now the African Union, and the UN Economic Commission for Africa located their headquarters in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia participated in UN missions in Korea (1950–53) and Congo (1960–64) and, more recently, in Burundi, Liberia, and Rwanda. Since 1991, and leaving aside Eritrea and Somalia, Ethiopia’s relations with the African and European communities in general have been constructive and stable. Relations with Eritrea have been hostile since the peace agreement that ended the 1998–2000 war over their border. An international commission—the Eritrean-Ethiopian Boundary Commission—proposed a demarcation of the border in April 2002, but Ethiopia has requested modifications of the findings, a position Eritrea rejects. The issue remains unresolved, leading some observers to speculate about a resumption of hostilities. Since 1998, Ethiopia has attempted to isolate Eritrea from its African neighbors and to maintain its political dominance in the Horn of Africa region. In an effort to develop a regional bloc, Ethiopia settled a long-lasting border dispute with Sudan, returning some land in order to secure access to Port Sudan as an alternative to Djibouti. In Somalia, Ethiopia continues to support groups opposed to the transitional government, and it has sent its forces into the country to track down Ethiopian dissidents and to support friendly factions. Ethiopia’s relations with Djibouti, which has handled all of Ethiopia’s land commerce since the loss of Eritrean ports, are by necessity close, despite disagreements over transit fees and policy toward Somalia. Geopolitical events, notably the inception of the U.S. war on terrorism, have served to strengthen Ethiopia’s relations with the United States and other Western nations, as the country is now regarded as a key ally in the effort to constrain the spread of Islamic fundamentalism. In 2003 Ethiopia joined Sudan and Yemen in an agreement ostensibly about trade but that has strategic implications for Eritrea. Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda are currently engaged in talks about a new agreement to share the waters of the Nile.



Membership in International Organizations: Ethiopia is a member of the following organizations for international cooperation: the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Criminal Police Organization, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the International Labour Organization, the Nonaligned Movement, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the United Nations (UN) (including subsidiary UN agencies such as the Conference on Trade and Development, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and the World Health Organization), and the World Trade Organization. Ethiopia is also a member of the following international lending institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), the International Development Association, the International Finance Corporation, and the International Monetary Fund. Finally, Ethiopia is a member of the following multilateral African organizations: the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States, the African Development Bank, and the African Union.

Major International Treaties: Ethiopia is a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity; Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction; Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, and Stockpiling of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction; Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna; Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous, or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare (Geneva Protocol); Basel Convention on Hazardous Waste; Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer; United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa; and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Ethiopia has signed, but not ratified, the African Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty (The Treaty of Pelindaba); Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques; and United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Ethiopia is not a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.