ABSTRACT
Ethiopia is the dominant country in the Horn of Africa and the third largest in Africa. Its origin goes back into the mists of time but it emerged as a modern state under Menelik II. An Italian invasion was beaten in 1896 and Abyssinia was expanded to become the heterogeneous state of Ethiopia. There was discontent among Muslims, as numerous as the Christians in a Christian state, and problems arose with the newly educated elite and the developing working class. From 1987, the government re-fashioned itself, granting self-government to a number of regional units, and the military leader, Haile Mariam Mengistu, became president. The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) took control of the government and endorsed the results of the referendum in Eritrea, which became independent on 24 May 1993. The support for Eritrea was contingent upon continued access for Ethiopia to the Red Sea port of Assab.
