4th Century: Christianity became the state religion in the ancient city-state of the kingdom Aksum,
now in North-Ethiopia.

6th C-10th C: Aksum flourished. But from the 9th century, like all the other Christian kingdoms
of North Africa and the Nile, Ethiopia was threatened by Islam. Christianity managed to
survive due to Ethiopia's isolation.

12th C: King Gadla Lalibela began to build grand churches in the city Lalibela.

1769-1855: Political power in Ethiopia, ruled by fifteen puppet emperors went through a
process of decentralization.

1855: Emperor Teodros II consolidated his authority and reunified the Ethiopian empire.

1855-1908: Successive Ethiopian emperors from the Amhara and Tigray groups expanded the
influence of their own peoples by securing territories occupied by other ethnic groups.
Since the mid-1800s, the emperor's army had erected ketemas, garrison towns, to rule Oromo
and Somali areas. Political authorities imposed the Amhara-Christian culture upon those
residing in ketemas in the southern periphery and extracted resources from them.

1880s: Italy expanded its colonial sphere to include most of what is now Eritrea.

1889: In the Treaty of Ucciali, Emperor Menelik accepted Italy's colonization of Eritrea.
During the 19th century, Ethiopia had joined the Great Powers (i.e., Britain, France, and
Italy) and had expanded its territory beyond Gondar and Shoa to include the Ogaden.

1896: The war between Italy and Ethiopia (after Menelik rejected to agree to an Italian
protectorate over all of Ethiopia and renounced the Treaty of Ucciali) resulted in an
Ethiopian victory at the battle of Adwa.

1908: The current boundaries of Ethiopia were established. Four successive emperors (until
the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie I by a military coup in 1974) built and consolidated
their power.

1930: Haile Selassie I became Emperor. Under his regime, the country's major economic
resource was coffee produced mostly in peripheral Oromo areas. The relations between
Amhara-Tigray landlords and Oromo tenants had become set. A similar pattern was established
in the Afar and Somali-residing Ogaden region for large-scale government-run agribusiness
schemes.

1936-1941: Italian Fascist Mussolini conquered Ethiopia. Haile Selassie was exiled.

1941: After the collapse of Mussolini, the British military administration was established
in Eritrea. British armies liberated Ethiopia and restored Haile Selassie to his throne.
Haile Selassie had successfully repressed ethnic sentiments for self-determination of the
Oromos, Somalis, and Afar and reconsolidated his authority.

1952: Ethiopia was joined in a federation with Eritrea (former Italian colony) by the
United Nations. However, Haile Selassie abrogated the federation and attempted to unify
Ethiopia and Eritrea under his control within the next ten years.

1958: The Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF), mostly consisting of Muslim separatist, was
formed in Cairo by students and workers.

1961, November: The ELF launched an open rebellion in western Eritrea, armed with weapons
brought in from Sudan.

1962: Haile Selassie had the Eritrean Assembly dissolve the federal executive and integrate
Eritrea fully into Ethiopia.

1972, February: Three groups split away from the ELF and established the Eritrean Peoples
Liberation Front (EPLF).

1973: The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) was formed. The legitimacy of the Haile Selassie
regime was widely challenged as the country's economy fell into disarray and patterns of
inequality persisted.

1974: Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed by revolutionary Marxist-Leninist military
leaders.

1975: The monarchy was abolished by the armed forces. Rebellion in Eritrea gathered
momentum. The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) was established.

1976: A communist military regime, the Derg (Amharic for Committee) was formally established
in Addis Ababa. The Derg advanced no policies to accommodate minority groups.

1977, February: communist colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam seized power after an internal
struggle within the military leadership.

1977, April: Relations between Ethiopia and the United States were severed when the
Mengistu regime turned to the Soviet Union for military aid. Several groups opposed the
regime because of ideological and political differences.

1976-1978 The country was severely challenged by nationalist movements and rebellions in Eritrea and in the Ogaden in these years.

1983: Drought and war with Eritrea caused one of Africa's worst famines. Millions died in
spite of massive food and medical aid from Europe and America.

1984: The Workers' Party of Ethiopia (WPE) was set up in order to control politics and to
legitimize Mengistu's policies. Although the WPE was declared to promote democracy and
popular participation in party activities, no ethnic groups were represented among the mass
organizations constituting the WPE. Those who raised nationality issues were labeled
Anti-revolutionaries.

The feudal land tenure system was dissolved under the Mengistu regime. All rural and most
urban land became the property of the state. For the first phase of the Mengistu regime,
there were dramatic enhancements in formal educational opportunities (the illiteracy rate
dropped from 90 percent to less than 40 percent) and health care. The country's economy
experienced slight improvement during the middle years of the Mengistu regime, but, between
1980 and 1988 agricultural production had declined by 0.4 percent per year. The last days of
the Mengistu regime manifested the patterns of inequality of the imperial regime.

1987, February: A civilian (Marxist-Leninist) Constitution was introduced, proclaiming the
People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE). The PDRE was led by an 835-member National
Shengo (assembly) which aided Mengistu in consolidating his power.

1987 September: The Shengo initiated regional reorganization by creating 24 administrative
regions and five autonomous regions (Eritrea, Assab, Dire Dawa, Tigray, and Ogaden) in order
to deflect nationalist discontent. The government's genuine intention to grant autonomous
status to Assab and Dire Dawa (the country's two economic cores) was to separate them from
the regions of Eritrea and Ogaden. Most nationalist movements such as EPLF, TPLF, and OLF
dismissed the PDRE's initiative and began to coordinate military strategy to increase their
anti-government activities.

1988 November: Mengistu announced reform policies to promote private sector investment.

Late 1988: The Mengistu regime faced another major drought and intensified
ethno-nationalist movements. When Mengistu was informed that the Soviet Union would soon
stop providing military aid, he declared a state of emergency.

1989 January : The TPLF (led by Meles Zenawi) organized the Ethiopian People's
Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), a coalition of rebel forces against the Mengistu
regime.

1989 May: While Mengistu was visiting East Germany in search of military aid, there was a
coup attempt in Addis Ababa. Mengistu hastily returned and brutally put down the coup. Some
army units defected and took their arms with them to join opposition forces.

Late 1989: The OLF, EPLF, and EPRDF cooperated amongst themselves. Soldiers who defected
from Mengistu's army after the abortive coup and prisoners of wars were recruited to the
organizations. The EPRDF created the Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO), its own
Oromo affiliate, and established other organizations representing various ethnic groups. The
EPRDF rejected Marxist slogans, advocated pragmatic policies, and encouraged close military
and political cooperation with the TPLF and EPLF.

1990 March: The WPE's new economic policy aimed to end the country's centrally planned
economy and initiate a mixed economy of state, private, and cooperative. Yet it appeared to
be too late to revive the country's economy. Moreover, civil wars aggravated the quality of
life. Mengistu, as did emperor Haile Selassie, failed to address the nationalities problem.
The number of Ethiopian soldiers increased to more than 500,000 by 1990, but Ethiopian
forces rapidly declined in military position. The TPLF and the EPRDF took over the entire
Tigray region and large parts of Wollo, Gondar, and Shoa.

The EPLF controlled all towns in Eritrea except Asmara, Massawa, and Assab. The United
States attempted to negotiate peace between Ethiopia and the EPLF while the Italian
government tried to arrange talks between Ethiopia and the TPLF.

1991: An all-parties peace conference for Ethiopia was planned in London, but the EPRDF advanced within 23 miles of the capital, Addis Ababa. The EPLF captured Massawa and closed in on Asmara.

1991 May 21: Herman Cohen, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African affairs,
secured Mengistu's exile to Zimbabwe. Before his flight, Mengistu had appointed a new prime
minister, Tesfaa Dinka, for the London peace talks.

1991 May 27: Herman Cohen convened peace talks in London between the rebels and the
Ethiopian regime. A cease-fire agreement was reached by all parties. Prime Minister Tesfaa
Dinka boycotted the talks to oppose Cohen's approval for the rebels to enter Addis Ababa in
spite of the cease-fire agreement. There was a massive airlift of 16,000 Ethiopian Jews.

1991 May 28: The EPRDF, many of its members teenagers, captured Addis Ababa against little
resistance from the government army of more than half a million. Subsidiary organizations
within the EPRDF, such as the TPLF, the OPDO, the Ethiopian People's Democratic Movement
(EPDM), and the Ethiopian Democratic Officers Revolutionary Movement (EDORM), were expected
to play a key part in the new Ethiopian state.

In Eritrea, the EPLF captured the cities of Asmara and Assab.

1991 July: After its victory, the EPRDF (led by Meles Zenawi) held a national conference
and established the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE), seeking to form a broad-based
political pact. A transitional charter was adopted by a multiparty conference and was to
remain in force until the general election scheduled for 1993. An 87-member Council of
Representatives elected by the conference confirmed Meles Zenawi as transitional President.
The OLF, the Afar Liberation Front (ALF), and several Somali organizations agreed to join
the pact. But former members of the WPE and Mengistu's followers, radical leftist groups
including the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP) and the All-Ethiopian Socialist
Movement, and some conservative Ethiopian nationalist groups such as the Coalition of
Ethiopian Democratic Forces (COEDF), opposed the EPRDF leadership.

The TGE included an ethnically mixed council of seventeen ministers representing seven
ethnic groups. The EPRDF had the largest single bloc in the Council of Representatives while
the OLF was the second largest. The Council was given the authority to establish a
commission which would draw up a draft constitution.

In Oromo areas, the OLF had expanded the ranks of its military (eight thousand in 1991) by
recruiting the members from the areas heavily occupied by the Oromo and former soldiers of
Mengistu's army.

Early 1992: In preparation for the elections, the Council declared the encampment of all
armed groups, designating them (including the EPRDF) to serve as an interim national army
and to provide police services. Armed conflicts erupted between the EPRDF and Oromo members
in the Oromo region. The EPLF at Makele attempted to arrange talks between the EPRDF and the
OLF.

1992 April: An encampment accord was made between the EPRDF and the OLF.

The National Electoral Commission (NEC), consisting of ten multi-ethnic members drawn from
the Council, was founded to establish local administrations with broad ethnic and political
representation. As the date for the regional and local elections approached in the early
summer of 1992, ethnic tensions intensified.

Following the Islamic Front for the Liberation of Oromia (IFLO), which had withdrawn from
the elections earlier, the All-Amhara People's Organization (AAPO), the Ethiopian Democratic
Action Group (EDAG), the Gideo People's Democratic Organization (GPDO), and the OLF also
withdrew. Approximately 50-60 percent of the voting-age population refused to participate in
the elections. The NEC had to postpone the elections in many areas and yet the elections
went ahead as planned on June 21, 1992. The OLF decamped and broke into small units which
triggered the resumption of civil war.

1992 June: The number of registered political parties swelled to over two hundred, but only
a few had a sizable number of members. The OLF withdrew from the government (the Council of
Representatives).

1992 October: President Meles officially abolished press censorship, but several
provisions in the new law allowed the government ample routes to informally censor the media
and to harass journalists.

Early 1993: The TGE made appointments to the country's first independent judiciary.
Political and economic reforms have attracted great favor from foreign donors. To reduce the
nationalities problem, Meles announced that his government would form a multi-ethnic
national army.

Popular discontent by those opposed to the TGE's policy and those favoring ethnically based
secession for certain groups continued to run high. However, the insurrection was largely
contained.

1993 March: President Meles confirmed that multi-party legislative elections would not
take place until 1994. The transitional period scheduled to end in 1993 was extended.

1993 April: Eritrea declared independence following the referendum. The TGE and the
Provisional Government of Eritrea (PGE) maintained cooperative relationships.

Meles ousted five political groups (who called themselves the Southern Coalition and pressed
for a dissolution of the Council of Representatives) from the Council.

1993 July: The EPRDF appeared to be experiencing its most serious internal crisis since
assuming power in May 1991.

1993 September: The Council issued a decree relating to elections for a constituent
assembly which barred members of the WPE from participating. The Council also excluded all
former security personnel and ex-soldiers who had not completed the national rehabilitation
program. During late 1993, the governing coalition narrowed substantially.

1993 December: The TGE allowed a conference on peace and reconciliation organized by
approximately 50 internal and exiled opposition groups. But seven participants from abroad,
including the two leading figures of the exiled OLF, were arrested (and then released in
January 1994). The TGE itself boycotted the conference.

1994 April: The TGE attempted to implement a policy which respected the languages and
cultures of historically oppressed minorities and allowed them a certain amount of regional
autonomy based upon their ethnic affinities. Therefore, the TGE created fourteen new
regions. A region consisted of several districts (woreda, the basic unit of national and
regional autonomous government). The Oromo's region is the largest (220 woreda out of 600
for federated Ethiopia), followed by Amhara (126), Tigray (62), and Somali (47). While the
TGE controlled defense, foreign affairs, economic policy, and citizenship, the law enabled
the new regional governments to have broad political powers. Still, the EPRDF clearly
declared that regional autonomy should be guaranteed only within the framework of a unified,
federated Ethiopia. Neither the aspirations of ethnic groups for their rights to
self-determination nor ethnic tensions, however, were appeased by this new policy. For
instance, some Oromo people, including members of the OLF, increased their demands for the
creation of an independent state of Oromia.

1994 June 5: The Constitutional Assembly was selected in an election boycotted by
non-EPRDF parties. Despite the TGE's promise to include many groups in the assembly, the
Amhara and Oromos continued to be poorly represented. The charter articulated the right of
each nationality to govern its own affairs within the context of a federated Ethiopia by
establishing autonomous regions based upon ethnic identities. Yet, human rights violations
by the TGE were continually reported.

The heightened ethnic tensions (often with low-intensity civil war) slowed the
constitution-making process. Multi-party elections to install a new democratic government
were delayed indefinitely.

1994 December: A new constitution, which restructured Ethiopia into nine ethnically-based
federated states with a national parliament, was ratified by the country's constituent
assembly. This was the result of long-term negotiations which began in 1991 following the
collapse of the Mengistu regime.

The TGE had strengthened the economy with free market policies since 1992.

1995 January 1: An estimated 250,000 people staged a demonstration in Addis Ababa in
support of the new constitution. However, opposition groups said that they would not approve
a new constitution.

1995 February: Ethiopian authorities ordered rival Muslim groups to stop fighting after 9
people were killed and 130 wounded in the Great Anwar mosque, the largest mosque in Addis
Ababa. Violence erupted between two Muslim groups both claiming to be representatives of
Ethiopia's Islamic Affairs Supreme Council. The authorities banned all marches in Addis
Ababa for two weeks beginning February 24.

Over 280 members of the outlawed Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) had been on trial at Zeway
town, which was 120 miles south of Addis Ababa. They were accused of waging war against the
interim government.

1995 March 24: A UN official said that more than 93,000 Ethiopian refugees living in
Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, and Kenya since 1991 would be repatriated this year. But the UNHCR
said that no plan had been made to repatriate the 360,000 refugees from Somalia, Sudan,
Djibouti, and Kenya living in Ethiopia.

1995 March 30: Nine Italian tourists on a camel trek on the Eritrean border with Ethiopia
(where the fierce nomadic Afar people resided) were kidnaped for ransom by desert tribesmen.
Ethiopia launched an intensive search for the tourists.

1995 April 6: The missing Italian tourists were released and arrived in Addis Ababa. No
ransom was paid to secure their freedom. Claudio Pozzati, leader of the tourist group,
thanked the Afar tribesmen who eventually handed them over to the Ethiopian military.

1995 April 15: Voters began registering for Ethiopia's first multi-party elections in May. The Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), the Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO), the Southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Union (SEPDU), and the TPLF, who ousted Mengistu and set up the TGE, were expected to dominate the elections. These groups had championed Eritrean independence and self-determination for all nationalities in a federal system for the multi-ethnic state.

1995 May 1: The International Commission of Jurists accused Ethiopian leaders of
suppressing political dissent and violating human rights. Between 1992 and 1994, thousands
of government opponents were reported to be held without trial for expressing their
political opinions.

1995 May 4: The leaders of Coalition of Alternative Forces for Peace and Democracy in
Ethiopia (CAFPDE), an opposition coalition of more than 30 parties, including the OLF and
the southern Ethiopian People's Democratic Coalition (SEPDC), boycotted and dismissed the
elections as a sham. The CAFPDE refused the appeals of Western donors, particularly the
United States, to join the elections, arguing that the elections only served the interests
of the EPRDF.

Three people were killed in the eastern town of Harar when a grenade was lobbed into a bar.
Also, at least 15 people were killed and 10 wounded in the eastern town of Dire Dawa when a
grenade exploded in a busy market frequented by ethnic Somalis. The eastern region of
Ethiopia is a stronghold of Oromo and Ogadeni opposition parties which boycotted the polls
and the site of a low intensity guerrilla war by ethnic militants.

1995 May 5: Elections in the Somali-speaking East and the Afar-dominated Northeast were
postponed until May 27 because the government said there were logistical, rather than
security, problems.

1995 May 7: Ethiopia held the first multi-party parliamentary elections in its 2000-year
history. More than 15 million of Ethiopia's 55 million people registered to vote for a
550-seat national parliament and regional councils. Most opposition parties boycotted the
election. More than 280 foreign monitors were present in Addis Ababa. As expected, President
Meles Zenawi's EPRDF ruling coalition won by a landslide.

1995 May 15: The Organization of African Unity (OAU) said that the elections held in
Ethiopia were free and fair. The state-run Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) reported that the
Oromo People's Democratic Organization (OPDO) took 18 of the 20 constituencies for the
federal parliament and regional council in the southern region of Bale and the western
region of Illibabor, both Oromo strongholds.

1995 May 17: The Ethiopian News Agency said that the OLF in the eastern town of Harar
dissolved its central committee and threw out leaders in exile in order to continue to stir
violence in the Ogaden region.

1995 May 26: Elections scheduled for May 27 were delayed in the ethnic Somali and the Afar
regions. External Economic Co-operation Minster Abdulmejid Hussein, the chairman of the
Ethiopian Somali Democratic League (ESDL, a coalition of 14 groups), expressed
disappointment over the polls delay. He observed that Somali-inhabited regions were more
peaceful than Washington, D.C.

Update

1995: The State Department's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1995 reported
Ethiopia continued on the road to democracy in 1995 with the holding of national and
regional election in May and June. A new constitution was adopted in December 1994.

The military continued low-level operations to counter armed attacks by the OLF and IFLO
(Islamic Front for the Liberation of Oromiya) throughout the year.

The military, ONLF (Ogaden National Liberation Front), al-Itihad, OLF and IFLO were all
reported to have committed summary executions during clashes in parts of Oromo and Somali
states.

The government continued to detain persons without charge. These included several hundred
Oromo youth suspected of participating in the OLF armed campaign against the government.

May 1995: The ruling coalition won a landslide victory in the country's first multi-party
general election. Many opposition parties boycotted the election because they claimed they
were prevented from campaigning and some of their activists were detained. The OAU and
Western diplomatic missions declared the elections to be free and fair.

July 1995: Election results for the Afar and Harer (or Harar) regions were announced. In
the Afar Region, APDO (Afar People's Democratic Organization) won seats for the federal
parliament in five constituencies and ALFP (Afar Liberation Front Party) in four. In the
regional parliament, APDO has 24 MPS, ALF has 12, and ANLF (Afar National Liberation Front)
has six. In Harer Region, the Oromo People's Democratic Organization and the Hareri National
League won seats.

August 1995: The Council of Representatives transferred power to the newly elected
government, of the EPRDF (Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front) . President
Meles Zenawi was elected Prime Minister.

September 1995: There were unconfirmed reports of renewed fighting between military units
of the government and guerrilla units of OLF near the river Wabe. Several incidents of
attacks on government troops were reported.

December 1995: Tigrayan regional forces are believed to have operated in collaboration with
Eritrean forces to invade Afar Region with the objective of pushing Afars and Ugugumo
militiamen towards the desert area and away from the border region.

Ethiopian authorities have appealed to Western donors for food aid to help feed about 3.2
million people who will face hunger in 1996. The Commissioner for Disaster Prevention, Simon
Mechale, said most of the affected people were displaced persons from Eritrea.

16 December 1995: EPRDF military units besieged the home of Ali Mirah, spiritual leader of
the Afars and founder of ALF. Neither the sultan nor his son was home at the time. The EPRDF
has attempted to reduce the weight of Ali Mirah's ALF which tends to operate beyond the
control of Addis Ababa in the Afar Region. Just prior to regional balloting, the ALF split
allowing APDO, which is less representative of the Afars and close to EPRDF, to win the
majority of seats in the regional elections.

January 1996: The State Department's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1996
reported that throughout 1996, the military conducted low level operations against the OLF
in parts of Oromo Regional State. Federal and regional authorities, especially in Oromo,
arrested and detained hundreds of people without charge for activities allegedly in support
of opposition groups.

In August, Taye Wolde Semayat, the chair of the Ethiopian Teachers' Association was arrested
and charged with leading an Amhara extremist organization that carried out terrorist attacks
against foreigners.

There remained about 400,000 refugees in Ethiopia. Most came from Somalia and Sudan.

Political participation remained closed to a number of organizations that have not renounced
violence and do not accept the legitimacy of the government. They include: Medhin, Coalition
of Ethiopian Democratic Forces, Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party and the OLF.

23 January 1996: The leader of ONLF claimed that the government killed more than 100
civilians in a punitive campaign against the local population. Sheikh Ibrahim Abdullah,
while on a visit to Saudi Arabia, spoke of ongoing battles between the government and ONLF
forces. In the past, Amnesty international has reported cases of arbitrary arrests, killings
and torture of pro-independence elements in the Ogaden. Following the ONLF victory in
regional elections in 1993, the Front called for a referendum to determine the future of the
region. Ethiopia responded by removing pro-independence ONLF members from the regional
assembly which triggered an armed conflict.

May 1996: ARDUF claimed that armed clashes have occurred in recent months between state
security forces of the Tigray Region and Afar militia and civilians in the area bordering on
Eritrea. ARDUF had previously claimed responsibility for armed operations by Ugugumo militia
against Eritrean security forces last year.

Summer 1996: Flooding in Central Ethiopia has forced about 50,000 people to flee their
homes around the Awash river.

6 July 1996: One faction of the Ogaden National Liberation Front, a mostly Somali
organization that split in 1995, and the Oromo Liberation Front have announced their
intentions to coordinate their diplomatic, political, and military activities. The joint
communique does not explicitly opt for independence on their territory but expresses their
desire for a referendum on this issue.

31 August 1996: The Deputy Secretary General of ARDUF was arrested in Djibouti where he
was undergoing medical treatment. He was in Djibouti without incident in May 1995 when the
Ethiopian government was trying to negotiate a settlement with ARDUF. However, the
negotiations faltered in April 1996 and government forces went on the offensive against
ARDUF positions in the foothills of the Danakil Depression. The Afars had to abandon their
bases in the region as the government troops pushed them back along the Sabba Valley close
to the Djibouti frontier. The rebels stood up to an offensive in early June which reportedly
produced many casualties on both sides. ARDUF claimed it was able to regain Hanad Eela base
and reoccupy the outskirts of Aala, Buri, and Yallo in July.

March 1997: Agriculture reform was introduced in Amhara Regional State. The reform
dispossessed Amhara farmers suspected of being opponents of the present regime. It led to a
massive peasant protest march on Addis Ababa.

11 April 1997: Ethiopia said more than 275,000 people in the Afar region are in need of
emergency food aid due to lack of rainfall in the past year. In March, the government
announced that emergency food aid was needed in three southers states to feed more than one
million people. In December 1996, 34,000 quintals of grain were sent to drought stricken
regions including Somali Regional State and Afar Regional State.

21 April 1997: The OLF (Oromo Liberation Front) denied that its goal is to establish an
Islamic state in Ethiopia. The Oromo make up 60% of Ethiopia's population which is split
about 50-50 between Christians and Muslims. There is growing fear that Ethiopia could slip
into a bloody religious war, especially if its neighbors, such as Sudan, continue to
encourage extremist elements within Ethiopia and the region. Both Ethiopia and Eritrea
accuse Sudan of supporting Islamic rebels trying to overthrow their governments and both
Ethiopia and Eritrea have given support to rebels in Sudan trying to overthrow the
government of al-Bashir.

After the defeat of Mengistu, the OLF joined the government of national unity led by Meles,
but its representatives quit shortly after.

26 April 1997: Five months after the opening of talks between the government and ARDUF,
talks are stalled over ARDUF's demand for self-rule inside Ethiopia and its relations to
Eritrea. Ethiopian authorities reject any form of indirect rule.

28 May 1997: Thirteen Oromo soldiers defected to the Islamic forces of al-Itihad which is
based in Somalia. They were led by Izadin Ali Bali who was the commander of three units
based along the Somali-Ethiopian border. The defectors said they had suffered ethnic and
religious discrimination from the Tigray members of Ethiopia's army.

The al-Itihad, an Islamic fundamentalist organization, was blamed for a wave of terrorist
attacks throughout Ethiopia during 1996-1997.

12 June 1997: There were reports of heavy fighting between forces from the Ethiopian
government and militiamen loyal to al-Itihad al-Islam along the Somali border region of
Gedo. Early reports said Ethiopian forces captured the Somali towns of Luq and Bulo Jawo and
dozens of villages.

17 June 1997: Lack of rain in 5 zones of Afar Regional State has led to severe food
shortages in the region. Over 260,000 people affected by the shortages are to receive food
aid.

July 1997: The migration of Amhara farmers towards the Wollega region in Oromo State has
sparked tensions between the Oromo and their Gumuz neighbors. Provoked by land shortages and
March 1997 legislation introduced in Amhara which dispossesses farmers suspected of being
opponents of the government, some young farmers moved into southern Oromo region.

8 August 1997: An estimated 1.2 million people in Tigray, Oromia, Amhara and South
Ethiopia Regional States are in need of emergency food assistance. Amhara is among the worst
hit regions with food production down 24%.

15 August 1997: ONLF and ARDUF signed a document in which the two organizations agreed to
cooperate and to coordinate their political, diplomatic, and military efforts to reinstate
the national and democratic rights of the Afar and Ogaden people.

In Oromo and Somali regions, groups such as the OLF and ONLF have been suppressed as
terrorists. Human rights groups have documented hundreds of disappearances in these
regions.

September 1997: A new Islamic rebel group, the Oromo-Somali-Afar Liberation Alliance is
seeking to establish an Islamic state in Ethiopia and Eritrea. It was formed in Mogadishu 31
August 1997 and comprises the United Oromo People's Liberation Front, the Oromo Abbo
Liberation Front, the Somali People's Liberation Front, the Oromo People's Liberation
Organization, the Afar People's Liberation Army and the Islamic Union of Western Somalia.
The OSALA accuses Ethiopia's two Semitic brothers (Amhara and Tigray) of imposing their
Judeo-Christian hegemony over the country. The Oromo resumed their armed struggle in 1993,
but the OLF has distanced itself from the idea of setting up an Islamic state in Ethiopia.

October 1997: The Horn of Africa Bulletin reported the possibility of talks between the
government and the OLF. The government has been repressing OLF supporters because it is
believed to be cooperating with al-Itihad.

11 October 1997: According to police, three OLF members were killed and two captured while
carrying illegal weapons. They had reportedly attacked a village called Jeldu in western
Shewa zone in July.

18 October 1997: About 350 representatives of ARDUF and APDO of Afar Regional State have
ended a conference on Afar issues. Government officials proposed that ARDUF align itself
with the government, prompting several representatives to quit the conference and vow to
restart armed rebellion against the state. On 9 October, this group allegedly attacked the
Aissaita military post and used bazooka's to fire on the house of APDO representative Ali
Sirro.

November 1997: Floods displaced some 2500 people in Afar after three rivers burst their
banks.

The Djibouti and Ethiopian joint committee of administrators of the frontier regions held
their 7th meeting in Tadjurah, Djibouti. They discussed increasing cooperation between the
two countries to fight smuggling and cope with Afar rebel groups. FRUD, a Djiboutian Afar
rebel group, has complained that Ethiopia has been operating in Djiboutian territory in an
effort to clean our Afar rebels.

An ARDUF faction which refused to sign a peace agreement with the Ethiopian government has
recently signed cooperation agreements with several other rebel groups. They include a
faction of the ONLF which is in armed conflict with the Ethiopian government, the Sidama
Liberation Movement which appeared in the 1970s, ended its operations in the mid-1980s,
reappearing in June 1991, and the Kafa and Shekacho People's United Front.

15 November 1997: Over the past few weeks, Ethiopian authorities have reportedly
increased police operations against Oromos suspected of being terrorists. The government
blames the OLF for two recent bombings in Addis Ababa. Other observers blamed Islamic
fundamentalist movements rather than the OLF. Informal negotiations between the OLF and
government during the spring broke down after splitting the OLF into two positions: that of
its secretary-general Gelassa Dilbo who wanted to continue the struggle against the regime
and that of his deputy Lencho Letta who was more in favor of legalizing the OLF.

26 December 1997: Authorities arrested seven leaders of the new Human Rights League. They
were arrested over the past four weeks in a government crackdown against alleged supporters
of the banned OLF. The Human Rights League was formed by Oromo in Addis Ababa in December
1996. The Oromo Relief Association, which was also shut down by the government, has gone to
court to challenge its closure.

24 January 1998: The two principal parties sharing power in Somali Regional State have
decided to merge into a single party. The ONLF and Ethiopian Somali Democratic League agreed
to set up a joint committee to prepare the merger and administer the State until the merge
is complete.

February 1998: Epidemic cases of malaria, TB, measles, and malnutrition and diarrhoea have
appeared in Afar and Somali states.

Drought has affected at least five million people in Tigray and other northern regions. They
are in need of food aid and some have migrated out of the drought-stricken areas.

Extensive flooding since November has left many people internally displaced in the Gode and
Afder zones of Somali Regional State.

23 March 1998: The ONLF released and Austrian woman held after being caught trespassing
February 25th on their area of control in Ogadenia.

27 March 1998: Dr. Kassu Illala, Deputy Prime Minister for economic affairs said special
development efforts are being made to redress regional developmental imbalances particularly
seen in Gambella, Benishangol-Gumz, and Somali and Afar Regional States. Establishing
schools and providing skilled manpower from the federal government are two priorities. The
health service bureau of Afar region says there has been a rise in health service in the
region due to an increase in the number of health professionals and institutions over the
past four years.

21 April 1998: Eight thousand Somali refugees from Ethiopia were repatriated. There are
plans to repatriate 60,000 more in the coming months.

May 1998: Ethiopian troops crossed into Eritrea on the trail of Afar bandits and opposition
groups based in the Danakil Depression. By May 20th, Ethiopian forces had reportedly
occupied Sorona and Badda.

4 June 1998: Over 4000 refugees have returned home from Sudan over the past 6 months. They
have reintegrated into their communities in Amhara, Tigray and Oromia regions. Since 1991,
over 900,000 refugees have returned home to Ethiopia.

5 June 1998: Fifty people were killed when Eritrea bombed Mekele, capital of Tigray
province. Eritrea and Ethiopia have been engaged in a low-intensity border war for several
weeks. At issue is a 160 square mile region which Eritrea says was not fully settled when
Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia in 1993.

6 June 1998: ARDUF, which is fighting on both sides of the Eritrean-Ethiopian border, is
respecting its self-declared cease-fire and has appealed to the two governments to resolve
their border dispute.

12 June 1998: Eritrea said Ethiopia had withdrawn its forces from near Badda. The
Ethiopian government had sent its forces into the area in July 1997 on the pretext of
warding off Afar opposition forces. Ethiopia then dismantled the Eritrean administrative
institutions and replaced them with an Ethiopian administration.

The Ethiopian government decided to reduce its Eritrean Embassy staff and close its consular
offices in Tigray and Afar regions.

The border dispute has led to 126,000 people being displaced in Tigray region. Reuters
reported that 95% of the former guerrillas of the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front had been
mobilized and were driving towards the border.