SUMMARY

For Ethiopia in May 1991 and the latter has remained in power since then. Just like the Derg, the present government has faced intermittent armed resistance within the country.

The context of intrastate armed conflict was closely tied to both the Derg's and the EPRDF's use of one-sided violence against civilians. However, killings of civilians have also occurred against the backdrop of peaceful political protest and have at times also been carried out by undisciplined troops, oftentimes under the influence of alcohol

The Derg government increasingly relied on the use of force, both against armed groups and against civilians, to hold on to power. The military possessed an almost unlimited range of powers and it became infamous for its brutality against civilians, especially in areas affected by rebels.

EPRDF refrained from targeting civilians during its early years in power, but as intrastate conflicts once against erupted in many of the regions of the country, one-sided violence carried out by the government again came to be a reality in peoples lives. Just like the Derg's armed forces, ENDF (Ethiopian National Defence Force, the national army) launched punitive operations against the civilian populations in areas where rebels were active.

The EPRDF government also carried out one-sided killings in the context of political protests. There were numerous reports of soldiers or police firing on unarmed people demonstrating, with student- and opposition demonstrators being particularly targeted. However, it seems as if any protest deemed uncomfortable by the security forces could be met by armed might, with demonstrations ranging from concerning the regional belonging of certain cities to shopkeepers protesting after police had raided their shops.

Further, when the Ethiopian government sent troops to Somalia, in order to oust the ARS/UIC (Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia/Union of Islamic Courts); there were events where Ethiopian troops used armed force against unarmed Somali civilians. Oftentimes these attacks occurred in relation to events where Ethiopian troops had recently been targeted by attacks from armed groups, such as the ARS/UIC .

The Government of Ethiopia first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 1989, when one-sided violence resulted in more than 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached in February of that year when government forces massacred between 600 and 1000 people in Sheib and surrounding villages in Semhar district.