SUMMARY
After a long conflict, the Government of Ethiopia lost control over the territory of Eritrea in May 1991 (see Government of Ethiopia – EPLF). Subsequently, Eritrea claimed de jure independence in May 1993, after results from a UN-sponsored national referendum formalized independence for the territory.
During that time, Eritrea had a provisional government constituted of members from the EPLF; originally an armed non-state group that led the fight for independence. In 1993, the provisional government officially became the Government of Eritrea with the purpose of governing until national elections, scheduled for 1997, were held. However, national elections never transpired, having been postponed indefinitely, and the EPLF government remained in power.
Eritrea is a presidential republic with a one party system; the EPLF renamed itself the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice in 1994 and is the only legal political party in the country. The government is led by President Isaias Afewerki, who was indirectly elected by the legislature in 1993 and has remained in power by consolidating a repressive and autocratic regime ever since. A constitution was ratified in 1997 but not implemented and a new constitution began to be drafted in 2014 but has not been completed as of 2017. The National Assembly is the legislature and is comprised of 75 elected members and 75 members of the EPLF central committee, despite the constitution stating that all legislative members would be elected after the transitional period. However, scheduled elections for the National Assembly in 2001 were postponed indefinitely due to the conflict against the Government of Ethiopia.
The Government of Eritrea terminated the national press in 2001 and Eritrea ranked last in the Reporters without Borders World Press Freedom Index for nine years. The UN Human Rights Council reported that the Government of Eritrea was perpetrating gross, systematic and widespread human rights violations in 2015, after conducting a year-long investigation; the government rejected the findings as politically motivated.
The Eritrean Armed Forces consist of an army, navy and air force. Between independence and 1998, the number of armed forces personnel ranged between 47 100 to 55 000. However, this figure increased massively to 200 000 in 1999 and has remained at this level since then. The only exception was between 2001 and 2002, when the number of armed forces personnel dropped briefly to approximately 172 000 but quickly recovered in 2003. The society has been highly militarized with mandatory conscription for national service, which is sometimes for indefinite periods.
There are reports of the government receiving weapons from the Government of Libya, which supported it during its [interstate conflict against the Government of Ethiopia(/#/conflict/409 ) in 1999. However, this information has been neither confirmed or denied by the Government of Libya.
Ethiopia was ruled by successive emperors until 1974, when Haile Sellasie, the last emperor, was ousted. He was replaced by a pro-Soviet Marxist-Leninist military junta, the "Derg" led by Mengistu Haile Mariam. The Derg established a one-party communist state that ruled the country amidst intra- and interstate conflict and coup attempts for the following 17 years.
In May 1991 the Derg was overthrown by the rebel coalition EPRDF. The dominant group in the coalition was TPLF, a movement based in the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia. During the conflict against the Derg numerous disparate rebel groups with vastly different goals had joined forces against the common enemy. As some of these groups were separatists, an attempt at creating a new, more decentralized constitution was made after the Derg had been ousted. A Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE) was set up, dominated by the EPRDF, subsequently ruling Ethiopia for the following four years. During this period, far-reaching reforms were made, with market economy being introduced and state-owned companies privatized.
Furthermore, the period saw a decentralization of power, as a structure of ethnically based federalism was introduced. However, the separatist groups that EPRDF had cooperated with during the conflict against the Derg soon withdrew from the government, claiming that the new constitution was mere cosmetics trying to hide a continued northern dominance. They were further antagonized by the fact that EPRDF created supporting parties in the nine regions, so as to guarantee continued influence. Thus, by the mid-1990s, the EPRDF government faced intrastate armed conflict in a number of regions in the country.
EPRDF remained in power for over 25 years. Meles Zenawi, Interim President from 1991 to 1995, was elected Prime Minister in 1995, a position he retained well into the 2000s. Negasso Gidada Solon was elected president in 1995 and remained in office until his term expired in 2001. He was then replaced by Girma Wolde-Giorgis. However, the Ethiopian presidency is largely a symbolic office with little power. By 2018, discontent with the government, came to a head, and amidst large-scale popular protests, Abiy Ahmed came to power. In December 2019, Ahmed oversaw the transformation of EPRDF into Prosperity Party (PP), the latter consisting of all constituent parts of the former, apart from TPLF, which opted out. The first years of PP-rule saw a period of liberalization and political reform; previously banned opposition groups were allowed to return, political prisoners were released and media freedoms were expanded. However, as relations with TPLF grew increasingly strained, and eventually led to the eruption of the Tigray war, the political landscape changed again, becoming characterized by centralization, and growing restrictions on political freedoms.
Having been degraded due to heavy losses during the war against TPLF, the Ethiopian armed forces looked to quickly replace personnel losses and continues to be among the continents largest. It has an active army of 503 000 men, as well as an air force numbering 3000.
