Ethiopian Change

Ethiopia's Change: Borders, politics, and identity.

Ethiopia is an African country that has remained with it's tradition throughout the years and stability; however there have been few changes in this country. Ethiopia is bordered by several countries; Eritrea to the north, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Sudan and South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the South. Ethiopia has had border conflicts with Somalia and Eritrea.1

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During The African Scramble Ethiopia did not have issues with their borders because Ethiopia did not have kingdoms that gave way to how European colonies split up Africa. Ethiopia was never really colonized by Europe, which has made Ethiopia stay the nation it is today. Ethiopia was only colonized by Italy for a short period of time. This is one of the main reasons Ethiopia has had few changes, and is known for being a traditional country. Ethiopia's conflict with Somalia was from the reigion Ethiopia was assigned, Ogaden. Somalia wanted to claim this reigion back, and posed a threat to Ethiopia. This changed the borders in Ethiopia, with Somalians being in what was once Ethiopia's land. This Ogaden ordeal changed who lived in the country and the border of Ogaden being split. Somalia was still colonized by the British during this time. This conflict lasted from the 1940's-2009. This was all over territorial dispute, which seems to be an issue in Africa between countries borders because of The African Scramble. 3

 

Ethiopia's other conflict was with the country of Eritrea. Eritrea wanted to secede from Ethiopia. This caused a major war between countries. This war raged through the 2000's and by 2009 Eritrea and Ethiopia has to pay each other compensation for the war. Eritrea and Ethiopia still have issues towards each other and tensions. 4

 

The tensions between certain bordering nations have changed Ethiopia in being on their guard. For the most part Ethiopia has only had change in their borders, and political issues with surrounding nations. Ethiopia continues to be a traditionally sound, almost untouched nation.

 

 

Works Cited

 

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopia

 

2 www.gov.uk

 

3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian%E2%80%93Somali_conflict

 

4 http://www.eritrea.be/old/eritrea-ethiopia.htm