Foreign Direct Investment in Ethiopia?
Ethiopia has one of the strongest histories of any country in Africa. With the exception of a brief Italian occupation that only lasted five years Ethiopia has remained independent for the rest of their history. However that does not mean that the country has not had its fair share of political and military battles. The most recent change of power was in 1991 when the former military junta or coup groups that had gained power collapsed. The military group was known as the Derg and was plagued by drought, coup attempts, uprisings, and huge refugee issues. In 1991 the current government gained control and drafted a constitution in 1994. The present government is a Federal Republic with 2 head federal governments and 9 localized governments under the federal government. In the late 1990’s Ethiopia became entangled in a border dispute with neighboring Eritrea. Although there was a treaty made in December 2000 the treaty created the EEBC (Eritrea-Ethiopia Border Commission). However in November 2007 the EEBC issued specific coordinates to essentially set the official borders. However Ethiopia stated that the EEBC acted outside of its mandate and has not yet accepted the coordinates and still has not yet withdrawn troops from the area. This is important because of the fact that going through Eritrea is the closest route to sea trade. Other geographical features of note are the countries to the south and west. To the south of Ethiopia is Kenya which is probably one of the most developed nations near Ethiopia and has fairly good relations with Kenya who is a developed nation and large trading partner. To the west of Ethiopia is South Sudan, which is important because of how much oil South Sudan has. The oil that South Sudan has gives them huge amounts of power in Africa and the world as a whole. The nation nearby Ethiopia that is the most dangerous geographical feature is Somalia, which is a country very full of unrest. The final important geographical feature to take