Chapters › Independence to today · Ethiopia & Eritrea (Horn)
Derg & Federal Ethiopia
1974 CE – present
Approximate area of control
Research in progress No sourced map of this era's territory yet, so no area is drawn.
Key events
- GERD on Blue Nile (construction from 2011)
Capitals / sites
Addis Ababa
Geopolitics
Ethiopia–Sudan relations ran through mutual proxy war. LOC says relations were 'generally good until the mid-1980s'; Haile Selassie had mediated the 1972 settlement, but Ethiopia resented Eritrean guerrillas operating from Sudan; Sudan recalled its ambassador in Jan 1977, openly backed Eritrean movements, a 1980 treaty eased tensions, and the 1981 Ethiopia–Libya–South Yemen pact and Ethiopian support for the SPLA revived them (LOC_ETH1991_BORDER). HRW says the Derg gave the SPLA uniforms, logistics, arms, training 'and even political direction', and that when Mengistu fell in 1991 the SPLA and several hundred thousand refugees fled back into Sudan (HRW1998_SPLA) [VERIFY]; an archive-based study adds supply routes, a radio station and Gambella camps (EJOSSAH_DERG_SPLA) [VERIFY]. Under the federal government (since 1991) the flashpoints are the GERD, built 30 km from the border, and al-Fashaga: Sudan's claim rests on the 1902 Anglo-Ethiopian Treaty and the 1903 Gwynn Line; Ethiopian farmers cultivated it from 1996 with Khartoum's tacit acquiescence, until the SAF retook almost all of it after the Tigray war began in Nov 2020 (GEO-015). In the 2023 war, Ethiopia is described as leaning towards the RSF (ICG_ETH_ERI; ICG_B204) [VERIFY]; GEO-056 (single anonymous Sudanese government source) alleges training and supply [SINGLE-SOURCE, contested].
Culture
Research in progress We have not yet read a source for this section. It will be added once one is checked; nothing is filled in by guesswork.
Economy
Chatham House reports that the SAF's 2020 move gave Sudan control over '600,000 acres of valuable agricultural land' in al-Fashaga, with sesame and other cash crops previously exported via Ethiopia; GERD water releases have disrupted Sudan's Roseires dam (unannounced release 2020; silt clogging turbines 2021), and in mid-2022 the parties agreed to share GERD operating data; Bashir had expected flood control, irrigation and cheap surplus electricity from the dam (GEO-015) [SINGLE-SOURCE for the acreage]. See GEO-016/GEO-017 for the energy-trade argument.
Regional power
Research in progress We have not yet read a source for this section. It will be added once one is checked; nothing is filled in by guesswork.
Open data flags
- culture_dominance: no source-backed text yet
- regional_power: no actors scored
- Ethiopia-RSF alignment: ICG excerpt + contested single anonymous source (GEO-056) – VERIFY
- Imperial 1974 start: era file covers Derg+federal only
Sources
- U.S. Library of Congress, Federal Research Division (T.P. Ofcansky & L. Berry eds.) Ethiopia: A Country Study (research completed 1991) – 'Ethiopia's Border Politics' U.S. Library of Congress (US government; dated) link [en]
- Human Rights Watch Global Trade, Local Impact: Arms Transfers to all Sides in the Civil War in Sudan – 'The SPLA' chapter Human Rights Watch (rights NGO) link [en]
- (author not verified) The Derg-SPLM/A Cooperation: An Aspect of Ethio-Sudan Proxy Wars Ethiopian Journal of the Social Sciences and Humanities (EJOSSAH) vol.5 no.2 (academic; Ethiopian MoD archives) link [en]
- International Crisis Group Sudan's Calamitous War: Finding a Path toward Peace (Africa Briefing N°204) International Crisis Group (independent conflict-prevention NGO) link [en]
- International Crisis Group Ethiopia and Eritrea Slide Closer to War amid Tigray Upheaval International Crisis Group link [en]
- A.A. Mazrui (ed.) General History of Africa VIII: Africa since 1935 – Sudan passages ('North Africa and the Horn', pp.148–150; economy and political-succession passages) UNESCO link [en]
- Wikipedia contributors Derg Wikipedia link [en]
- Wikipedia contributors Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Wikipedia link [en]