GEOGRAPHIC BRIEF ON ETHIOPIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000100050002-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 55
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 5, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: April 1, 1971
• Content Type: REPORT

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Secret
DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence Report
Geographic Brief on Ethiopia
Secret
CIA/BGI GR 71-8
April 1971
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Directorate of Intelligence
April 1971
INTELLIGENCE REPORT
Geographic Brief on Ethiopia
Introduction
1. The great, high plateaus of Ethiopia set
the country apart from its neighbors, and the ruling
classes like to refer to themselves as an island
of Christianity isolated in a sea of Islam."
THE WORLD POSITION OF ETHIOPIA
v*41
ta*,?
1W44.
v- MIEN&
`4117711
ISRAEL
11
.61mm
U.S.S.R.
Ethiopian Airlines route
Ethiopian time zone: GMT plus 3 hours
Population 24 million
Area: Ethiopia 455,000 sq. mi.
Calif., Nev., Ariz., Utah 468,000 sq. mi.
1000
Statute Miles
2000
LIA
I,/Irate,-
hidia
500300 3-71
Note: ThIs report was prepared by the Office of
Basic and Geographic Intelligence and coordinated
within the Directorate of Intelligence.
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Metaphors aside, the many realitites of physical
and cultural isolation that have plagued -- and
protected -- this ancient nation throughout the
centuries have an important effect on her position
in a rapidly changing world.
2. Ethiopia, equal to three Californias in
area, has a population of nearly 25,000,000 people
(see Map 500300). The surface of her Northwestern
Plateau, where most Ethiopians live, lies between
6,000 and 9,000 feet above sea level. It is a
cool, well-watered land, isolated from the rest
of Africa by great escarpments, rugged mountains,
and hot, barren deserts -- and from the rest of the
Christian world by the sometimes hostile lands of
Islam. The rugged terrain also imposes a kind
of internal isolation, and many of the various
peoples that make up the Empire are as remote from
each other -- in race, language, culture, and
religion -- as they are from the peoples of
foreign lands.*
3. Although technically a continuous dissected
plateau, the high country of Ethiopia is actually
comprised of a large number of individual plateaus.
These plateaus vary from tens to hundreds of square
miles in extent and are separated from each other
* The measurement of time itself in Ethiopia may
provide some insight into the effects of long
isolation. When, in the 18th century, Western
Christians adopted the Gregorian calendar, Ethiopia
retained the 13-month Julian calendar; this calendar
contains 12 months with 30 days each and l month,
Pagume, with S. The Julian calendar is 7 years and
8 months behind the Gregorian; September 11, 1970,
was New Years Day, 1962, in Ethiopia. Although the
Ethiopian has accepted the 24-hour day, his days
are separated at sunrise and sunset rather than at
meridian and midnight; thus, when the Westerner's
watch indicates 8:00 a.m., the Ethiopian's is 2:00
o'clock daytime. Similarly, the Ethiopian
considers the Westerner's 9:00 p.m. to be 3:00
o'clock at night. Although airports and hotels
catering to foreign visitors set their clocks at
G.m.t. + 3, the rest of the country adheres to the
older system.
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by deep, steep-walled canyons and swiftly flowing
streams. They contain excellent crop and grazing
lands which support surprisingly dense populations
of sedentary farmers and stock raisers, most of
whom are Christian. There is little communication
between neighboring groups. The rims of two adjacent
plateaus may be only a few miles apart but the people
on one may live their entire lives without visiting
the other. The hot, humid valleys, with their
strange vegetation, insects, and animal life,
reinforcing an almost unique tradition of religious
and social conservatism, tend to keep the plateau
dweller at home unless some catastrophe, such as
war, famine, or disease, forces him to leave.
4. The low, arid regions of the east and
north are occupied by a sparse, mostly Moslem,
population of pastoral nomads who move with the
seasons to seek pasture for their camels, sheep,
and goats. In the grasslands and open forests
of the southwest and west, the agrarian, animist
Shankella, the only true Negroes* in the Empire,
live in a sort of buffer zone between the Christian
farmers of the highlands and the Moslem herdsmen
of the Sudan.
S. The centuries-long record of Ethiopian
independence can be ascribed in a large measure to
its almost complete lack of strategic value. It
contained no critical terrain, controlled neither
straits nor important land routes, and it had no
resources that European powers considered worth
fighting over. It has been landlocked throughout
much of its history, and until it annexed Eritrea
after World War II, it had been without a coast-
line -- the traditional link with the outside
world -- for some 300 years. During the carving
up of Africa in the latter half of the 19th
century the Western Powers, weighing this lack
of strategic value and the remote possibility
* US Government publications and maps generally
include Ethiopia as a part of "Black Africa."
Actually, with the exceptions noted above, Ethiopians
are either Hamites or Semites; both groups would
bitterly resent being classified "Black Africans."
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of profit against the forbidding terrain and
formidable warriors, generally decided to ignore
the area. The Italians, having seized Eritrea, made
some early -- and clumsy -- attempts to take over
the nation, but prior to their successful invasion
in 1935, a series of native Ethiopian dynasties had
ruled much of the Northwestern Plateau for some
2,000 years.
6. In the late 19th century, Emperor Menelik II
expanded his empire to its present size, less
Eritrea, and in defending it, wrote a footnote to
history. At Adowa, in 1896, he attacked -- and
slaughtered -- an advancing Italian force. This
was the only battle of this era in which native
Africans defeated a large European military force.
With the federation of Eritrea in 1952, Ethiopia
acquired over 500 miles of coastline and a new
strategic significance. She became a maritime
power and the only Christian country with a frontage
on the Red Sea. In the port of Aseb she acquired
a base from which it would be relatively easy to
monitor -- or to block -- shipping passing through
Bab el Mandeb, the narrow strait between the Red
Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
7. Ethiopians believe their Emperor is
descended from Solomon and Sheba. The more
sophisticated of them consider this concept a
legend, but to the Orthodox clergy and the Orthodox
peasant, it is an article of faith and it is the law
of the land.* Lineage aside, however, nearly all of
Ethiopia's current influence in African and world
affairs has been due to the remarkable mind and
great energy of Haile Selassie I, who has made a
tremendous effort to modernize his country. At
the same time he has retained an institution
* Article 2, Chapter I of the Constitution
proclaimed by His Imperial Majesty on 4 November
1955 states: "The Imperial dignity shall remain
perpetually attached to the line of Haile Selassie I,
descendent of King Sahle Selassie, whose line
descends without interruption from the dynasty of
Menelik I, son of the Queen of Ethiopia, the Queen
of Sheba, and King Solomon of Jerusalem."
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generally considered inimical to modernization
-- an absolute monarch. Despite these efforts
he has never been able to control all of the
isolated segments of his realm all of the time.
Haile Selassie's control of people on the
perimeter has been especially tenuous, and
many Eritreans, who were made part of the Empire
without being consulted less than 2 decades ago,
prefer independence. Significant numbers of the
Somalis, the Afars, the Gallas, and others of the
non-Christian, non-Amhara/Tigrai majority are
restive. Although a residual loyalty to Haile
Selassie -- the man and the Emperor -- is a
stabilizing factor in the country today, this
loyalty is evidently eroding. The Emperor is now
78 years old, and it is questionable that his heir
apparent -- or any other potential successor -- can
maintain the coalition of essentially incompatible
peoples making up the Empire.
8. This brief is intended to examine the
basic elements of Ethiopia's physical and cultural
environment, how they have affected her past, and
the possibilities they provide and limitations
they impose upon her future.
The Physical Scene
Landforms and Drainage
TWaps 500291 and 500301)
9. A general appreciation of the Ethiopian
landscape can be achieved by viewing it as being
comprised of two great, slightly tilted plateaus
of unequal size, separated by the deep, funnel-
shaped Rift Valley. Most of the surface of the
larger, Northwestern Plateau, is between 6,000
and 9,000 feet above sea level. Generally highest
close to its eastern margins, it slopes gradually
to the west where it merges with the low hills and
rolling plains of the Sudan. The pattern of the
smaller Southeastern Plateau is similar but
reversed, with the highest elevations appearing in
the northwest and the lowest in the south and
southeast. The floor of the Rift Valley is from
2,000 to 5,000 feet lower than the surfaces of the
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adjacent plateaus. It slopes upward from sea level
in the northeast to about 6,000 feet in the Lake
Zeway area and drops to about 2,000 feet near the
Kenya border.
ETHIOPIA
PHYSIOGRAPHIC
REGIONS
500291 3-71
10. The Northwestern Plateau rises abruptly
from the Plains of Danakil and the Rift Valley to
form a tremendous barrier of rugged hills and
cliffs extending from northern Eritrea to the Kenya
border. Between latitudes 10? and 15? N this
"eastern escarpment" is one of the most spectacular
terrain features in Africa. Resembling an almost
vertical wall, it reaches elevations that are in
many places as much as 5,000 feet above the adjacent
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plains. The escarpment is a true frontier. In
addition to forming a great terrain barrier, it is
the divide between a lush grassland and a barren
desert, a cool land and a hot land, settled farmer
and wandering herdsman, Semite and Hamite, Christian,
and Moslem.
11. Most of the plateau surface is flat or
gently rolling, covered with cropland and pasture,
and dotted with small clusters of thatched-roofed,
mud-and-wattle houses. Each cluster consists of
three or four buildings, and each is marked by a
stand of a dozen or more eucalyptus, the fast-
growing Australian import that provides both fuel
and building material in the fuel-short grasslands.
Although rural, the population density is high,
and it is possible to travel for a hundred miles
without losing sight of people or a house, a herd,
or some other evidence of a human presence.
Figure 1. Gorge cut by tributary of Blue Nile
near Debre Libanos. Plateau in distance is only
a few miles away from point where photo was taken,
but most local residents have never been there.
12. The generally level surface of the
plateau is cut by many canyons (see Figure 1) and
surmounted by a number of hilly and mountainous
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areas; the highest peak, Rasdajan, is more than
15,000 feet high. Lake Tana, generally considered
the source of the Blue Nile (Abbai), lies in a
depression; its surface, at 6,000 feet, is some
2,500 feet below the level of the surrounding
terrain.
13. In the west the plateau surface descends
in a series of terraces in some places and in
others merges almost imperceptibly with the
rolling hills and plains of the Sudan. Although
not as abrupt as the eastern escarpment, the hills
and terraces of the west also form a frontier,
which in the north separates the highland,
Christian farmers from the Moslem, desert-dwelling
camel herders and in the south the Shankella
farmers from the seminomadic pagans.
14. The Northwestern Plateau is deeply
dissected, that is, it has been carved by its many
streams into a number of smaller, individual
plateaus, or mesas, which the Ethiopians call
ambas (see Figure 2). Separated from each other
by deep, steep-walled canyons, some of these ambas
are relatively small, but many are great tablelands,
hundreds of square miles in extent. The canyons
are structurally similar to the Grand Canyon of
the Colorado and some are similar in size. The
middle reaches of the Blue Nile, the Takaze, and
some of their tributaries flow as much as a mile
below the surface of the adjacent plateaus. These
canyons tend to isolate segments of the Ethiopian
population from each other, and while constituting
what a military man might consider to be excellent
defensive terrain, they handicap the development
of concepts of national unity. The Baro, further
south, is not as spectacular as the Blue Nile or
the Takaze, but it has the distinction of being,
during the May-September, high-water period, the
only navigable stream in the country.* Stream
* Until 1964, the Sudan Railways operated some
shallow-draft cargo boats along the lower reaches
of the Baro between the town of Gambela and the
Sudan, but the service was subsequently discontinued
because of insufficient traffic.
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Figure 2. Ambas (mesas) in northern Shawa Province
on Northwestern Plateau. Some ambas have played
significant roles in Ethiopian history. They have
been used, for example, as life long places of exile
for those suspected of having aspirations for the
throne. Approaches are precipitous, thus limiting
access and contributing to amba defense by relatively
small groups.
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flow in the entire area is highly seasonal, the
upper reaches of many streams drying up during the
dry season. At the Sudan border the discharge of
the Blue Nile itself varies from between 3,000 and
6,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) during the dry
season to more than 25,000 cfs at the end of the
summer rains.
15. Only two permanent drainage systems in
the Northwestern Plateau are not connected with
the Nile. The Omo, which drains a large part of
Gamo-Gofa, Kefa, and southern Shawa Provinces,
empties into Lake Rudolph. The Awash rises a short
distance southwest of Addis Ababa and flows east-
ward to the Rift Valley and the Danakil Plains.
North of the Takaze intermittent streams flow
towards the west where they disappear in the sandy
plains of the Sudan.
16. The escarpments of the Southeastern
Plateau form the eastern wall of the Rift Valley
and, curving to the east, they mark the southern
border of the Plains of Danakil. In the lakes
area they resemble the parallel escarpments of the
Northwestern Plateau, in some places rising steeply
to elevations several thousands of feet above the
valley floor. Where they face the Danakil, the
difference in elevation is generally not as great
but in many places it is equally abrupt.
17. Except for the Mendebo Mountain complex,
most of the rugged terrain on the Southeastern
Plateau is associated with the escarpment in a
band rarely more than a few tens of miles wide.
There are a few deep stream valleys, but none
approach the spectacular proportions of those that
produced the singular amba topography of the
Northwestern Plateau.
18. The eastern and southern slopes of these
highlands are relatively gentle, merging almost
imperceptibly with the rolling plains of central
Bale and Harar Provinces. Patterns of living at
the higher elevations resemble those of the
corresponding areas of the Northwestern Plateau.
In the lower, drier lands to the southeast, however,
seminomadic Galla cattlemen graze their herds in
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much of Bale and Sidamo Provinces, and Somali
nomads, with their camels, goats, and sheep,
dominate the sparsely populated lands of the
Ogaden and Haud areas of eastern Harar.
19. All permanent streams on the Southeastern
Plateau flow towards the Indian Ocean, which most
of them do not reach. The largest, the Ganale-
Dorya, boosted by two perennial tributaries, the
Uebi Gestro and the Dawa, is the only stream in
the Southeastern Plateau that carries enough water
to reach the sea throughout the year. The longest
river in the Southeastern Plateau, the Wabi Shabale
is an impressive stream in its upper and midreaches
during the late summer rainy season, but in all
seasons it shrinks as it flows through the dry
lands of the plateau. As the Wabi Shabale crosses
the border it is still a perennial stream, but
from February to April, it peters out in a line of
swamps. During the rest of the year, it flows into
the Uebi Giuba (Somalia reach of the Ganale-Dorya)
and the Indian Ocean. East of the Wabi Shabale
there are no permanent streams, the generally dry
wadis carrying water for only a few hours, or
possibly a few days, after one of the infrequent rains.
20. the Ethiopian
portion of the Great Rift Valley resembles a
funnel, with the lakes region, lying between
parallel escarpments, forming the tube; the
Danakil Plains, the cone; and the coast of the
Red Sea, the rim. The tube of this funnel, varies
from less than 20 to about 50 miles in width. In
sharp contrast to the mountains on either side
the valley floor is generally flat. Its elevation
varies from less than 3,000 feet at either end to
about 6,000 feet just north of Lake Zeway. The
surface of Lake Zeway, highest of the Rift Valley
lakes, is about 5,300 feet above sea level.
21. The term "Danakil", as used by Ethiopians,
refers to the cone-shaped area bounded by the
escarpments of the Northwestern and Southeastern
Plateaus and the coast of the Red Sea. Most of
its surface is flat or gently rolling, descending
gradually north and east from elevations of some
5,000 feet at the bases of the escarpments to sea
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level. There are some striking anomalies, however.
The Danakil Depression, more than 100 miles long
and nearly 40 miles wide, at its lowest point is
almost 400 feet below sea level; and between the
Danakil Depression and the Red Sea, the rugged,
volcanic, Danakil Alps reach elevations of 4,000
to 6,000 feet. The barren surface of the Danakil
is composed of a variety of silts, sands, gravels,
and bare rock. There are many hot springs and
fumaroles in both the Alps and the Depression, as
well as a number of volcanoes. Afrera had a
notable eruption in 1907, and Ertale,at the western
rim of the Depression, was active in the 1920s.
22. The sandy shores of the Red Sea are
backed by a narrow line of dunes and a generally
flat coastal plain that is 5 to 15 miles wide. A
discontinuous coral reef parallels the coast, and
many barren, waterless, offshore islands, especially
in the vicinities of Massawa and Aseb, lie within
Ethiopian territorial waters.
23. Both the Rift Valley and the Danakil are
regions of interior drainage but the relatively
abundant summer rainfall in the high country
provides enough fresh water to keep the higher
lakes in the Rift from becoming salty. The Awash,
the only major river in the region, rises west of
Addis Ababa, pours through a breach in the Eastern
Escarpment, and then meanders some 300 miles to
Lake Abe, last of a chain of salt lakes on the
border of The French Territory of The Afars and
Issas. Although partially controlled by dams and
canals upstream, the seasonal flow of the Awash
through the Danakil Plains varies tremendously.
In the spring it may be a few feet deep and less
than 50 feet wide, while at the end of the summer
rains, channel depths may be measured in some
tens of feet. Overflowing its banks, the river
may be as much as 5 miles in width at this time.
With the exception of the Awash and its major
tributary, the Meli, there are no permanent streams
in the Danakil Plain. There are no fresh water
lakes, and all the brackish lakes and swamps
increase in area during the summer and early fall,
and decrease -- many drying up completely -- during
the winter and spring.
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24.. The people in the Rift Valley are settled
agriculturalists, much like those of the North-
western Plateau. Chiefly they are Amharas, Gallas
and, in the south, Sidamos. In the Danakil, how-
ever, what might be called the "human landscape" is
almost as inhospitable as its physical counterpart.
The Danakil people, who call themselves Afars, are
nomads. They eke out a bare subsistence from their
barren land, and they so distrust and dislike
strangers that their territory has never been fully
explored.
Climate and Vegetation
(Maps 500292 and 500293)
25. The tropical location and great range of
elevations (from 380 feet below sea level to more
than 15,000 feet above) combine to divide Ethiopia
into three separate zones, which may be roughly
delimited as follows: (a) the Quolla (hot) occurs
at elevations that are below 5,000-6,000 feet;
(b) the Woina Dega (temperate) occupies elevations
ranging from 5,000-8,500 feet; and (c) the Dega
(cool) is situated at elevations greater than 8,000-
8,500 feet. A highly generalized approximation of
the three zones is shown on Map 500292. It should
be appreciated that in the transition zones, what
may be Quolla for one is Woina Dega for another.
Quolla (below 5,000-6,000 feet)
26. The Quolla11a zone includes all of the
country's lowlands an1nearly all of its perimeter
as follows: the Red Sea coast of Eritrea; the
Plains of Danakil; the areas of Harar, Bale,
and Sidamo Provinces; and the lowlands bordering
the Sudan. The only border areas too cool to be
classified as Quolla lie in the northernmost part
of Eritrea and in Kefa Province in the southwest.
27. The entire zone is hot, but some parts
of it are hotter than others. The range of
elevations alone accounts for a difference of 15
to 18? F. This, and a rainfall pattern that varies
from less than 5 inches on the coast of the Red Sea
to nearly 50 inches per year along the Sudan
border, permits considerable variation in the
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vegetation, fauna, and living habits of the various
peoples that inhabit the zone.
ETHIOPIA
CLIMATIC ZONES
I I
Culla (hot) below 5,000 feet
VVoina Dega (temperate)
5,000 to 8,000 feet
Dega (cool) over 8,000 feet
500292 3-71
28. The Red Sea coast, the nearby Danakil,
and the lower Awash Valley are always hot, nearly
always rainless, frequently humid, and according
to climatologists, experience summers that are
among the most miserable on earth. Along the
coast the temperature on a typical summer day
reaches over 100 degrees F., falling off to the
mid-80's at night. At Massawa, the mean daily
minimum temperature in July is 88 degrees F. In
winter, highs are generally in the high 80's;
lows in the low 70's. From May through September
a hot, damp sea breeze in the afternoons actually
increases the heat stress by raising the wet bulb
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temperatures to over 90? F.* This phenomenon
interferes with the normal cooling of the body by
evaporation of perspiration and thus imposes a
continuing danger of heat stroke.
29. In the Quolla zone of Harar and Bale
Provinces, temperatures are somewhat less extreme,
with daily highs running in the mid-90's and lows
in the low 70's or even the 60's throughout the
year.
30. Rainfall patterns are variable. Massawa
receives more than half of its annual total of 7
inches during December and January; Hadel Gubo, in
the middle of the Danakil, with a similar annual
total, receives its heaviest rains in August; and
in the Ogaden there appears to be what climatologists
call a "double rainfall maximum" with the rainy
periods, occurring usually in April and October,
being separated by long dry periods in which there
are merely traces of precipitation or no rain at
all. As in all dry areas, the term "rainy season"
must be used with caution, as it is essentially
statistical; it may or may not occur, and if it
does, the season's entire rain may fall during a
2-hour period in an otherwise rainless month.
31. Much of the Red Sea coast (see Figure 3)
and the lower-lying lands of the Danakil and
eastern Ogaden (see Figure 4) are nearly barren of
natural vegetation, with only scattered tufts of
bunch grass and spiny shrubs interrupting the
monotonous conglomeration of sands, clays, gravels,
and bare rock that make up the surface. In the
generally dry streambeds and at the higher elevations,
approaching the zone of transition between the Quolla
and the Woina Dega, there are acacias, an increasing
variety of thorn bushes, and bunches of grass more
closely spaced thaR in the lowlands. Euphorbias,
including the striking candelabra plant and the
"false banana" (Musa Ensete), begin to appear at
* The lowest temperature which can be attained by
evaporation of water into the air.
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Figure 3. Beach north of Aseb on Red Sea.
Vegetation is typical of coastal plain.
Figure 4. Flat plain, spiny shrubs, and bare
ground typical of the Orlla zone in the eastern
Ogaden. Near village o Uardere.
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elevations of about 4,000 feet. When it rains the
vegetation turns green, blossoms, and grows
vigorously, but in most of the eastern Quolla, and
especially in the Danakil, rain is a rarity, and
such vegetation as is present is dormant for most
of the year.
32. The swampy areas of the Danakil expand
tremendously during the summer when rains in the
highlands cause the Awash and lesser streams to
overflow their banks. Here a swamp grass, known
locally as bosoka develops new shoots at the
beginning of the rainy season and grows rapidly,
always keeping its top above the water level.
33. Towards the west, the Quolla loses its
desert and steppe characteristics; rainfall
increases, and the zone gradually assumes the rainy
summer -- dry winter pattern that prevails over
most of the country. Along the Sudanese border
the annual rainfall varies from 20 inches to about
50 inches, with about 80 percent of the total
falling during the months April through September.
During the "winter" dry season, maximum temperatures
are generally in the high 90's; in the summer, when
the abundant cloud cover negates the effects of the
overhead sun, they are in the high 80's. Lows are
in the high 60's throughout the year. Much of this
area is grassland or open forest, dominated by a
variety of acacias and including the trees that
exude the resins used in the production of the
ancient scents, frankincense,and myrrh. Nearly
pure stands of lowland bamboo, 20 to 25 feet high,
cover many hundreds of square miles of the land
between 2,500 and 4,000 feet elevation in north-
western Walaga and western Gojam. In the wetter
areas of southern Walaga and Ilubabor stands of
true forest begin to appear near the midelevations
of the zone with the trees increasing in size with
increasing elevation. Of the variety of trees
growing in these areas, those most frequently
mentioned by Ethiopian writers are the zigba
(podocarpus pine) and tehd (a juniper). A great
variety of shrubs and EiTEes grow on the forest
floors and on the higher grasslands, and there are
stands of wild coffee at the higher altitudes.
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Woina-Dega (5,000-8,000 feet)
34. Despite a north-south extent of some
800 miles, the Woina Dega climate is remarkably
uniform -- always cool and generally pleasant,
except during the rainy season, when it varies
between cool and damp and cool and very wet. The
weather pattern at Addis Ababa is typical, although
that city is somewhat cooler as a result of its
situation (at an elevation of about 8,000 feet)
near the upper limits of the zone. In January the
mean daily high temperature is 76? F. and the low
is 43? F. The average rainfall for the month is
about 0.5 inch, and a typical January day is much
like an exceptionally bright October day in
Washington, D.C. In both July and August, however,
Addis Ababa receives over 11 inches of rain, and
the skies are always cloudy (between 80 and 90
percent of the time) or "partly cloudy". The
daily temperature ranges between 69? and 50?, with
a mean -- as in January -- of 59?. The low range
(19?) is due to the clouds which block out the
sunshine during the day and prevent radiation
cooling at night.
35. Much of the western Woina Dega is warmer
and wetter than Addis Ababa with some areas receiving
as much as 80 inches of rainfall per year. As a
rule, rainfall increases with increasing elevation
up to about 7,000 feet, above which it begins to
decline.
36. The Woina Dega lying to the east of the
Rift Valley also experiences rainy summers and dry
winters, but the total rainfall at corresponding
altitudes is somewhat less and the intensity and
duration of the rainy season decreases towards the
east. However, for the entire Woina Dega, the
Ethiopian travel brochures that advertise "Thirteen
Months of Sunshine," must be used with caution.
37. The original vegetation of the rolling
plateau surfaces in the Woina De_p included both
forests and prairies, but at present, after
centuries of human occupance, most of the forest
has disappeared, and vast expanses of grass and
cropland are interrupted only by the small stands
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of eucalyptus planted around nearly every village.
Acacia forests, generally open but sometimes having
considerable undergrowth, cover much of the drier
areas and are especially common in the zone of
transition between the Quolla and Woina Dega (see
Figures 5 and 6). There are large stands of bamboo
in many parts of the Woina Dega, and Arabica coffee
grows wild as well as on plantations. Of the some
millions of acres of forest lands that remain,
especially in Kefa, Ilubabor, and Walaga, most are
located on land that is too steep for cultivation
or so remote from transportation routes that only
small parts have been exploited commercially.
Scientists have identified more than one hundred
species of timber trees, some of which grow to
tremendous size. In this zone the zi bah and
tedh may reach heights of nearly 200 feet and the
kararo, a broadleaf evergreen, may be 150 feet tall
with a trunk diameter of more than 12 feet.
ETHIOPIA
VEGETATION
[
I I
Steppe and desert
Tropical bush and thorn
Savanna.
I-7 Upland grassland
Deciduous woodland
Tropical highland forest
500293 3-71
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Figures 5 and 6. Types of acacia forest in the
Rift Valley. Located within a few miles of each
other, at elevations between 5,500 and 6,000 feet,
both are representative of the vegetation in the
Quolla-Woina Dega transition zone. Undergrowth is
principally grass and thornbush. Photos were taken
at the end of the rainy season when the grass would
normally be about 2 feet tall. These areas have
been overgrazed by cattle and goats.
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Figures 7 and 8. Environmental contrasts. Figure 7
(top) shows three small households in the grasslands
of the Dega. At an elevation of 9,000 feet, each
household is marked by clusters of eucalyptus. Pyramidal
object in right center is a frame for a new roof under
construction. Figure 8 (bottom) is less than a mile
away. At an elevation of 6,500 feet, however, it shows
an abundance of Woina Dega vegetation, including the
musa ensete (false banana) on the left. A portion of
the plateau escarpment can be seen at the upper left.
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Dega (over 8,000 feet)
38. Africa specialists generally believe
that all areas of Ethiopia that are higher and cooler
than the capital should be placed in the Dep zone.
There are a number of large, discontinuous Dega areas,
the largest of which covers the eastern part of the
Northwestern Plateau in a broad, irregular band
extending from the Asmara area southward to the
latitude of Addis Ababa. Another such area occupies
much of the Southeastern Plateau immediately south-
east of the Rift Valley lakes.
39. Temperatures are lower and there is
somewhat less rainfall than in the adjacent areas
of Woina Dega, but the seasonal patterns are the
same. Maximum temperatures range from the mid-60's
to the mid-70's and minimums from the mid-30's to
the mid-40's. There is a possibility of frost at
the higher elevations at any time during the year.
Snow has been observed on many peaks over 10,000
feet, but it usually disappears quickly.
40. The vegetation in the lower elevations
of the Dega is similar to that of the Woina Dega
but it changes rapidly as the altitude 'increases
(see Figures 7 and 8). The proportion of natural
grassland becomes greater, and although there are
still some notable forest areas, trees are more
widely spaced, in many places giving the terrain
a parklike appearance. The zigba and tedh grow
at elevations of up to 11,000 feet, but they do
not grow as tall as they do at the lower altitudes.
Woira a species of wild olive, is found throughout
the zone up to about 11,000 feet. The dominant
tree in these forests is the Kosso a broadleaf
evergreen, that reaches heights of about 70 feet.
In much of the area, especially in the north, many
of these timber trees have been logged off and
only remnants of the earlier forests remain. In
the wetter areas, especially in the southwest a
highland species of bamboo reaches heights of SO
feet and grows in great clumps from the lower
margins of the zone to altitudes of over 11,000
feet. Between 11,000 and 12,000 feet these species
disappear or, when they persist to higher altitudes,
appear in some dwarfed or stunted form. At higher
altitudes the vegetation is similar to that found
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in the cooler parts of the temperate zone; it
includes mountain grasses, veronica, and a
variety of heaths.
The People
(Maps 500294 and 500295)
41. No one really knows how many people
live in Ethiopia. The United Nations figure
for July 1969 was 24,298,000 but there has
never been a national census, and the mathe-
matical techniques used to extrapolate from a
census taken in some of the central provinces
are suspect, even by the mathematicians.
Mesfin Wolde Mariam, one of Ethiopia's leading
scholars, estimates the population to be much
greater -- somewhat over 30 million. There
is some feeling that the estimates may have
been inflated or deflated as a result of
provincial or national pride and opposing
points of view. Some are also of the opinion
that the figures may have been expanded in
order to realize the possibilities of
increased weight in world councils, increased
foreign aid (based on population), and a
natural pride in sheer size. Others think
that lower figures may have been recorded
to make the embarrassingly low ratio of
doctors (one doctor per 60,000 People) an,1
social services appear more favorable. The
possibility of some juggling of figures by
local officials, tax collectors, and other
community or institutional leaders adds to
the uncertainty.
42. Nearly all Ethiopians are Semitic,
Hamitic, Negroid, or some combination thereof.
Some authorities prefer the term Cushite to
Hamite, but since Cush was the son of Ham
(who was the son of Noah), the difference is
academic. Despite the seeming simplicity of
this threefold grouping, there are so many
subgroups speaking such a variety of
languages that some scholars refer to
Ethiopia as an "ethnic museum." There are
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literally hundreds of tribes -- many
extremely small -- and some 70 languages and
over 200 dialects are spoken. Each tribe
has its own customs, manners, and way of
life, most of which are similar to those
of its neighbors, but with a few that are
peculiar to itself.
ETHIOPIA
POPULATION
AND
ETHNIC GROUPS
Persons per square mile
0 40 130 and over
GALLA Ethnic group name
Gobs
mem LA
500294 3-71
43. The great majority of Ethiopians
live in the densely populated farming-grazing
lands of the Woina Deja. In the drier, hotter
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lands of the eastern Quolla, the population is
sparse and largely nomadic. Population density
in the warm, moist Quolla in the west generally
falls somewhere between the extremes of the
other zones.
44. There are few cities: Addis Ababa has a
population of more than 600,000 and Asmara about
200,000; Diredawa, third largest, has fewer than
60,000 people, however, and most other administrative
and commercial centers have considerably less.
Massawa, the major port, has a population of less
than 30,000.
45. Amharic, the official language, is
probably understood by less than 50 percent of the
population. It is the language of instruction at
the primary levels in the new (post-World War II)
public school system; English is the language of
the secondary schools and the university. The
literacy rate in all languages is estimated to be
between 5 and 10 percent. Practically no one in
the rural areas is literate and most of the
languages have no written form.
46. The major ethnic groups, accounting for
about 90 percent of the total population are: the
Gallas (see Figure 9); the Sidamos; the Somalis
(see Figure 10); the Amharas (see Figure 11) and
Tigrais; the Shankellas; and the Danakil (Afars).
47. The Amharas and Tigrais occupy what may
be considered Ethiopia's heartland -- the northern
half of the Northwestern Plateau. Within this
highland region the Tigrais are most numerous in
the north -- especially in Tegre Province -- and
the Amharas in the south and west. Together they
make up an estimated 32 percent of the country's
population. Physically, they are indistinguishable,
both being of medium height and medium build, with
skin colors varying from olive to nearly black.
Their hair is black, generally curly, and sometimes
kinky. Most have long, high bridged noses, thin
lips, and small ears. Ethnically and linguistically
they are classified as Semites. They look down on
their Hamitic and Negroid countrymen, whom they
consider inferior, and they would not wish to be
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Figure 9. Galla boy.
Figure 10. Somali girl.
Figure 11. Amhara plowman and friends. In the
lower Dega of northwest Shawa Province. Although
the terrain is well suited to modern farming
techniques, the old ways prevail.
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mistaken for members of what they call the "red"
(white) race. The Amharas speak Amharic, the
official language of the country; the Tigrais speak
Tigrinya as a basic language but many also speak
Amharic. Both Amharas and Tigrais belong to the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and both are intensely
proud of their ancient civilization, which predates
Christianity by many centuries. Both share the
attitude that manual labor, especially if it is
not related to farming or stock raising, is to be
reserved for the inferior races. They dislike each
other. The Amharas consider the Tigrais a backward
mountain people, and the Tigrais feel that the
Amharas have lost much of their racial purity as a
result of intermarriage with the Gallas. Together
they form the slightly uneasy alliance that rules
the country.
48. The Gallas, who make up about 40 percent of
the population, are the most numerous and most wide-
spread of the Ethiopian peoples. Speaking a number
of dialects of their basic language, Gallinya, they
are found in considerable numbers in all the provinces
except Tegre and Eritrea. Of medium height, somewhat
heavier and darker than the Amharas and Tigrais, they
apparently moved into Ethiopia some time in the 16th
century. They are Hamites, and about 10 percent of
them are Christian, 40 percent Moslem, and 50 percent
animist. Most of the Christians live in Shawa and
Walaga Provinces, and so many of these have inter-
married with the Amharas that they are indistinguish-
able from them. Many have achieved high places in
the government, and the late Empress Menen was of
Galla descent. Although originally nomadic
pastoralists, the Galla, except for those of Arusi
and Sidamo Provinces, have adopted a settled,
agricultural way of life. Neither Galla Moslems
nor Galla Animists are quite contented, however.
Although they appear to have some regard for the
Emperor, intervening echelons of often corrupt
government officials have made insurgency endemic
in many of the Galla areas. In 1935 the Gallas in
Wallo Province supported the Italian invasion, and
since World War II there have been uprisings by
Gallas in Wallo, Gojam, and Arusi. Some Amharas
refer, probably hopefully, to the settled Gallas
along the eastern escarpment as forming a "buffer"
between themselves and the desert tribes of the
Danakil.
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49. The Sidamo peoples of Kefa and Gamo-Gofa
Provinces of southwestern Ethiopia represent about
9 percent of the country's population. They are
Hamites, like the neighboring Gallas, but they are
shorter and darker and are described by anthropol-
ogist Carleton Coon as the darkest of the non-Negro
peoples of Ethiopia. They are divided into seven
major groups, each speaking a dialect of the basic
Sidamo language. They are known to have been a
settled agricultural people with a highly developed
social structure as early as the 14th century.
They have been subjected to many pressures from
other societies, including both Amharas and Gallas,
throughout their history. As the situation
required, they changed from their pagan beliefs to
Islam, then to Christianity, and when the occasion
permitted, back to paganism. Not much is written
about their present attitudes, and they do not
appear to play an important part in modern
Ethiopian society.
50. An estimated one million Somalis live in
Ethiopia, nearly all in southern and eastern Harar
and southern Bale. They are a tall, thin people
with chocolate brown skin and faces that are so
narrow, according to anthropologists, that they
"approximate a world extreme." Racially and
linguistically they are Hamites, nearly all
speaking the unwritten Somali language and being
racially identical with the inhabitants of adjacent
Somalia. Most are Moslem, although some still
cling to animist beliefs.
51. Although less numerous than the Sidamos,
and probably no more numerous than the Shankellas,
the Somalis cause more trouble for Addis Ababa
than do the other two groups together. They are
nomads, and for centuries they have moved with the
seasons, ignoring artificial, foreigner-imposed
international boundaries, seeking pasture for their
camels, sheep, and goats. In unusually dry years
they move uphill -- into the greener lands of the
sedentary Gallas -- and inevitably, this has
caused a number of fights. When the Somalis lost
in such a venture, they were driven back to their
dry lands where they then fought with each other
over drying waterholes until the arrival of the
rains. If they won, however, they would loot,
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pillage, and feed their herds on the Gallas' crops,
returning to their homelands as soon as the first
word of rain there was received. In recent years
attempts by Ethiopian authorities to collect the
gibir -- a head tax on the livestock of the nomad
Somalis -- resulted in armed clashes, and the
efforts were abandoned. The government considers
this suspension temporary, but the Somalis interpret
it to be a permanent revocation of the tax. It is
almost inevitable that any future attempt to collect
such a tax will result in more fighting. Although
the great majority of Somalis adhere to the tradi-
tional ways, some have become farmers and others
have become urbanized to the extent that they work
as merchants, craftsmen, or laborers in the towns.
A few thousand live in the city of Harar and a
similar number in Diredawa. They display a marked
and highly vocal hostility toward strangers.
52. Shankella is a general term applied to
all the Negroid peoples who live in the lowlands
along the Sudanese border. Their numbers are
uncertain, with estimates varying between 500,000
and 1,000,000. They belong to a number of tribes,
and they speak a number of mutually unintelligible
languages. The languages have one thing in common,
however: all are Nilotic and thus related to the
languages of the Sudan rather than to those of the
rest of Ethiopia. Most Shankella are settled
farmers, although there are a number of seminomadic
groups in the south. Nearly all are animist, although
there are some Moslems and a few Christians. It is
doubtful if many of them know they are also Ethiopians.
53. The Danakil occupy the low lands north of
the Ahmar Mountains between the Eastern Escarpment
and the Red Sea, an area generally called "The
Danakil." They refer to themselves and to their
language as "Afar." _Racially they are identical
with Somali_Lj_y_122_s_e_12211adic R.1:u_ensity_or
ignoring_ pQlitical b-ciiaTclarity?share. Estimates
of the number of Danikli vary from Tess than 100,000
to more than 300,000. Since they inhabit the
hottest, driest, most desolate area in the country,
the lesser estimate is considered to be the more
accurate. Nearly all Danakil are Moslem. Like
the Somalis, they have a loose organization of
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extended families, tribes, and clans, but details
concerning the structure of their society are not
well known. Their dislike of outlanders and their
reputation for fierceness are such that even the
Ethiopian tax collectors are reluctant to enter
the area of the Danakil.
ETHIOPIA
RELIGIONS
1
I I
Christian
Moslem
Pagan and Moslem
500295 3-71
54. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the
official church of the Empire. An ancient faith,
believed by its adherents to be the only true
Christian church, its clergy is notable for massive
conservatism and the lack of modern education. The
church owns a significant proportion of the country's
real estate, and it receives financial support from
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the government. The Ethiopian peasant con-
siders the church and the state to be one and
the same. It is not universal, however, and
its members number only about one-third of the
population (Amharas, Tigrais, and some Gallas).
Somewhat more than one-third, possibly more
than 40 percent, are members of various Moslem
sects, and a great majority of the remainder
are animists. About 5 percent are vaguely
classified as "other". Distribution of the
various faiths is shown on Map 500295. Although
there are important exceptions, Christians
generally predominate in the densely populated,
settled agricultural highlands; Islam is nearly
coextensive with the sparsely populated arid
regions, where pastoral nomadism is the way of
life; and the animists, some of them settled
farmers, some seminomads, predominate in the
mixed savanna-forest complex of the southwest.
Economy
(Map 500296)
55. Ethiopia's economy is primitive and
a vast majority of its people live at or near
the subsistence level. Economists, using
admittedly fragmentary data, estimate annual
gross national product per capita to be less
than $70.00, one of the lowest in the world.
Agricultural production in the past decade is
reported to have increased absolutely by 43
percent over a 1957-59 base, but preliminary
figures indicate that the concurrent growth
of population has reduced this increase on a
per capita basis, to about 7 percent.
Agriculture
56. More than 90 percent of the people
derive their livelihood from the land.
Although most Ethiopians live close to a
subsistence level, their standard of living
provides more than a "bare" subsistence.
Operating almost completely outside the cash
economy, for example, the Ethiopian peasant
is nonetheless generally well fed and famines
are rare. While the general use of ox-drawn
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plows (see Figure 11), hoes, and digging sticks
makes "deep plowing" difficult, and thus does
not lead to high yields, it does assure moderate
yields on the same patch of ground for many
successive seasons. The farmer is aware of a
need for some crop rotation -- and practices
it -- but he does not use fertilizers. Dung
is generally available, but it is used as a
fuel or a building material.
ETHIOPIA
AGRICULTURE AND INDUSTRY
C=3 Principal grain area (teff, wheat, oats, barley, sorghum, maize)
F71 Oilseed crops 6 Vegetable oil mill
EP] Coffee k Cotton
Sugar cane Chat
Nomadic grazing
V7 The Haud: northern Somali
wet-season grazing
? Center of light industry
(--\ Textile mill
`-/ (C cotton; W wool; N nylon)
500296 3-71
57. The principal food crop is teff, a
highly nutritious grain native to Ethiopia.
Other grain crops (see Figure 12) include
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barley, wheat, oats, sorghum, and maize, which
may be rotated with a variety of pulses,
chiefly peas, chickpeas, and lentils. Most
of the food crops are grown in the temperate
lands of the Woina Dega, although significant
cultivation of teff, wheat, oats, and other
cool weather crops extends far into the Dega,
and maize and sorghums are cultivated in the
Quolla. In southwestern Shawa Province the
Gurages, an ethnic group classified by various
authorities as Amhara, Tigre, or Sidamo, have
an economy centered on a single tree, the Musa
Ensete, or false banana. Its bananalike fruit
is worthless, but the trunk, leafstalks, and
roots produce an edible starch, the Gurages'
principal staple, and its fiber is used for
making bags and cordage. At the lower
elevations in the Ogaden, and in the Danakil,
the food supply is somewhat less reliable.
The nomads and seminomads subsist chiefly on
milk and cheese, grains, and fruits. Date
palms and orange and lemon trees are grown at
the various oases. In a number of areas,
especially in the southwestern Danakil and in
the Rift Valley, the people have traditionally
fed their herds on the grasses and, as the
summer floods subsided, planted a variety of
cereals and pulses along the edge of the
receding water. As in most such areas the
vegetation responds quickly to the first rains;
the land turns green almost overnight, and the
herdsment drive their animals to the new grass.
In bad years, when the rains are late or
inadequate, they drive their flocks and herds
uphill into the lands of the sedentary farmers,
an action that frequently produces some strife.
58. Coffee, the big cash crop, accounts
for about 60 percent of Ethiopia's foreign
exchange earnings. Only a small amount is
grown on plantations, the major proportion
being picked from wild coffee trees in Kefa,
Sidamo, and Walaga Provinces and in the region
of the Ahmar Mountains in Harar. Much coffee
is left unharvested because adequate trans-
portation is not available to move it
economically to market. Management is
generally haphazard, and quality control is
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a vague and distant concept. Some progress has
been made in recent years, however: roads are
being built, and Ethiopia has become a member of
the International Coffee Organization. For the
coffee season ending 30 September 1970, Ethiopia
was authorized to export 2.7 percent (about
82,000 tons) of the global quota.
59. Chat (catha edulis) (see Figure 13),
a mild, habit forming narcotic, grows wild in
much of the Woina Dega and is raised commercially
in the area between the settlements of Diredawa
and Harar. It is chewed by a large proportion
of the local population, especially the Moslems.
(Unlike alcohol, it is not forbidden by the
Koran.) It combats the sensation of hunger;
produces a mild exhilaration; and enables the
chewer to work long hours with little sensation
of fatigue. When workers help each other with
the crops, chat is provided by the field's
owner, and it is served at social gatherings.
A true addict is said to require several chews
in the morning before he will work, greet
friends, or even speak to his wife. Unlike
tobacco, the leaf is chewed fresh and a large
percentage of the export crop, sold chiefly
in southern Arabia, is carried by air.
60. The export of oilseeds, legumes,
and occasionally, some cereals, contribute
to the foreign exchange position of Ethiopia.
Wheat is grown successfully at elevations
from 6,000 to about 10,000 feet, but as
production is not great enough to satisfy
the local needs, it remains the major grain
import. The government has tried to encourage
wheat cultivation, since it produces more food
value per acre than does teff, but the farmers'
prefer the taste of teff and are reluctant to
change.
61. Livestock, in addition to being a major
source of food, provides much of Ethiopia's
transport and draft power, and it is valued as
a symbol of wealth and social status. Statistics
on cattle are unreliable, since the Gallas, the
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Figure 12. Grain field in the Rift Valley at end
of rainy season (October). Thornbush fence protects
crops from grazing animals. Compare protected strip
of natural grass in foreground with that appearing
in Figures 5 and 6.
Figure 13.
Citified Amhara
guide holding
sheaf of Chat at
market in Alemaya.
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Figure 14. Mixed herd. Cattle, goats, horses,
and burros are grazed together.
Figure 15. Commercial farming in the Rift Valley.
This sisal field extends more than 4 miles along
the main road near Lake Awusa.
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principal herdsmen, consider it both bad manners
and bad luck to count them, but certain patterns
are evident. Of an estimated 25,000,000 head of
cattle, mostly of the humpbacked zebu breed, some
25 percent are oxen, used chiefly by the sedentary
farmers of the highlands as draft animals. The
remainder, a majority of which are grazed on the
Southeastern Plateau, provide a surplus of beef
and hides for export. An increasing number of
dairy cattle are being raised to supply the larger
cities. Sheep and goats, totaling about 23,000,000,
are raised for both meat and skins throughout the
country. The proportion of goats tends to be
higher in the more arid lowlands. Approximately
1 million camels provide meat, milk, and transport
for the nomads in the dry lands of the east and
south. Individual herds are generally small,
numbering no more than a few dozen animals, and
they are frequently grazed with various combinations
of cattle, goats, and sheep (see Figure 14). The
Ethiopians eat most of the meat they produce, but
hides and skins rank second only to coffee as a
source of foreign exchange.
62. A number of agricultural projects in
various parts of the country have been sponsored or
assisted by foreigners. Their object has been the
production of cotton, sisal (see Figure 15), cane
sugar, oilseeds, and other marketable crops; even
when successful, however, they have affected only
small areas and small groups of people, the impact
on the population as a whole being negligible.
Industry and Trade
63. Ethiopian industry is of minuscule
proportions and, with few exceptions, seems likely
to remain so. Nearly 90 percent of the country's
manufacturing installations are in or near the
cities of Addis Ababa and Asmara, and except for
those producing building materials, nearly all of
them are based on agriculture. Cottage industry
predominates. Such progress as is being made is
nearly all in the field of consumer goods,
especially food, textiles, and clothing. Most
impressive have been the advances in the textile
industry, which in each successive year has been
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supplying a larger percentage of the country's
total requirements.
64. Frequently a very few units dominate an
entire industry. One large sugar enterprise in
the Awash Valley accounts for 70 percent of the
employment in the food industry and nearly one-
half the value of all food processed. A single
new factory near Lake Tana is expected to double
the country's production of edible oils. Given
more efficient management and some modest expansion,
a Russian-built refinery at Aseb appears to be
capable of supplying most of Ethiopia's petroleum
requirements during the early 1970s.
65. Minor amounts of gold, platinum, and
manganese are produced, and the search for
commercially exploitable mineral deposits has been
pressed in recent months, but earlier explorative
efforts have not been impressive. Evidence on
hand suggests that mineral deposits will not make
a significant contribution to the Ethiopian economy
in the foreseeable future.
Figure 16. Eucalyptus grove. An import from
Australia, the eucalyptus may grow as much as 10
feet per year. It is planted widely in Ethiopia
where it is used for fuel and as a building material.
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66. The modern sector of Ethiopia's economy
is fuel and power deficient, and the fuel supply
for the traditional sector is decreasing. There
are no known coal deposits and the supply of wood
is diminishing. The peasants use wood (see Figure
16), charcoal, or animal dung for their domestic
needs and cottage industries. Holders of oil
exploration concessions, after drilling an
impressive number of dry holes, are becoming
increasingly pessimistic about finding oil in
commercially exploitable quantities. The refinery
at Aseb is readily accessible to tankers bearing
Middle East crude, but it is not served by either
a railroad or a pipeline, and its output must be
carried inland by tank trucks. Ethiopia has a
great hydroelectric power potential, and consider-
able progress is being made to develop those
streams and water bodies that have a significant
potential. Water is abundant at high elevations,
and power lines represent a form of transportation
little affected by the rugged terrain.
67. Ethiopia has long had a deficit in her
foreign trade, a situation that has been further
aggravated by the closing of the Suez Canal. The
shipment of coffee, hides, and other exports that
were formerly transported to Europe and the United
States via the Canal became less profitable when
they were marketed via less economical routes.
The trade deficit is expected to continue to grow
because growth in exports in not expected to match
import growth. The Empire's foreign exchange
position appears to be sound, however, for
non-trade receipts entering the balance of
payments (travel, government services, transfer
payments, net capital inflow) are expected to
prevent any serious decline of foreign exchange
reserves in the first half of the current decade.
68. It is notable that a major proportion of
Ethiopia's industrial enterprises have been funded
and are now being managed by foreigners. The same
situation prevails in domestic and foreign trade,
activities which Ethiopians view with disdain.
While in other African countries such outside
influence might suggest exploitation of the natives
by foreign oppressors, this is not the case in
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Ethiopia. Here the lordly Amhara typically looks
upon foreign development from a perspective that
permits him to say: "These are my lands. I permit
these lowly Europeans to exploit them, for such
work is beneath me. I do, however, skim a little
bit off the top." The cavalier attitude of even
the most economically depressed Amhara was
illustrated a few years ago when an Israeli group,
in part to provide local employment, established
a meat packing plant in Gondar. The city fathers,
annoyed by the odor, ordered the plant to move out
of the city. When it was reestablished about 10
miles away, the local people refused to work in
what they considered a demeaning occupation, and
the management was required to import labor from
Eritrea.
69. Geographic isolation of the country, lack
of significant exploitable mineral wealth, dependence
on what is essentially a single cash-crop economy,
an abysmally low literacy rate, and a medieval
system of land tenure combine to provide little
basis for hope that the economic status of the
individual Ethiopian will change appreciably over
the next several decades.
Transportation
Tqap 500297)
70. The transportation systems demonstrate
the incongruities typical of Ethiopia. The
government-owned Ethiopian Airlines operates
scheduled flights to Athens, Rome, and Frankfurt
as well as to 40 airports within the country; land
transport within Ethiopia, however, is uncertain
at best. This was clearly evidenced at the time
of the elections of June-July 1969. At that time
less than one-third of the country's 890 voting
centers were accessible by motor vehicle. Since
the elections were held during the rainy season,
some of these polling places were a 10-day trip
by foot or mule from the nearest administrative
center reachable by road.
71. An estimated three-fourths of Ethiopia's
produce is moved by pack animals, mostly donkeys
(see Figure 17). Mules and horses are also
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used -- principally in the high country -- and
camels are the chief carriers in the Danakil and
in the drier lands of the southeast.
ETHIOPIA
ACCESSIBILITY TO ROADS
I I
kalUZZ2r9oar"
? All-weather road
? Other road
500297 3-71
72. Nearly all of Ethiopia's foreign trade
passes through three seaports: Massawa and Aseb
on the Red Sea, and Djibouti (FTAI) on the Gulf
of Aden. Two narrow-gauge railroads, one running
190 miles from Massawa via Asmara to Agordat, the
other 486 miles from Djibouti via Diredawa to
Addis Ababa, carry the bulk of Ethiopia's export-
import trade and are important in the moving of
heavy equipment from the coast to the highlands.
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The ruggedness of the terrain crossed by both lines
makes them susceptible to washouts and landslides,
but their maintenance records are reasonably good.
Both are currently operating at a loss, however,
and some economists are advising that they be
abandoned in favor of a major effort to develop
road transport. Ethiopian civilian and military
authorities are greatly concerned about the security
of these lines; both are relatively easy targets
for saboteurs, and the much busier southern
line -- joint Franco-Ethiopian ownership and solemn
treaties notwithstanding -- runs for 60 miles
through foreign territory to a foreign port. They
take some comfort in the fact that, although it has
no railroad, the port of Aseb serves much the same
hinterland and is becoming increasingly competitive
with Djibouti.
73. The road network focuses on the two
largest cities, Addis Ababa and Asmara. For some
years the Ethiopian Government has been conducting
an ambitious program to expand this network, but
the formidable terrain and the heavy seasonal rains
combine to make construction and maintenance very
difficult. Maintenance of existing roads is
considered to be fair, however, and in this respect
Ethiopia is unlike many developing countries, where
funds for construction may be easy to come by but
funds for maintenance are not. Construction of
feeder roads has lagged, although some real progress
has been made in hard-surfacing the main routes.
The driving time for trucks on the 450-mile Addis
Ababa-Asmara run was reduced from 5 to 3 days
between the early 1950's and the late 1960's.
Other routes that have been markedly improved
include Addis Ababa-Aseb (4 days to 2), and Addis
Ababa-Jima (2 days to 1). One of the most
spectacular achievements of this period was the
completion of the Blue Nile bridge (see Figure 18)
and a skillfully engineered road (see Figure 19)
that reduced travel time from Addis Ababa to Dabra-
Mark'os from 7 days to 1.
74. Road transport, although expanding
rapidly, rests upon a very small base. Estimated
vehicle registration for 1970 includes about 40,000
cars and 10,000 trucks and buses. These figures
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Figure 17. Donkeys loaded with firewood at Diredawa.
Houses in background are of typical mud-and-waddle
construction.
Figure 18. Bridge over the Blue Nile between Addis
Ababa and Dabra-Mark'os. The river is deep, swift,
and non-navigable. At this point its surface is
some 4,000 feet below the surface of the plateau.
With the construction of this bridge, the driving
time from Addis Ababa to Dabra-Mark'os was reduced
from 7 days to 1.
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are nearly double those recorded for 1965 and,
Ethiopian statistics being what they are, may be
inflated. Thus, in a land three times the size of
California there are fewer than one-third the
number of motor vehicles now registered in Fairfax
County, Virginia.
Figure 19. Steel nets protect road from landslides.
In the gorge of the Blue Nile.
Boundaries and Conflict
(Maps 500298 and 500299)
75. Although the boundaries have moved back
and forth with the fortunes of war, the heart of
Ethiopia has remained for centuries in the high
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country of the Northwestern Plateau. Map 500298
shows the expansion of Ethiopia's frontiers during
the late 19th century and as they are today. The
major change since the turn of the century was the
addition of Eritrea to the Empire in 1952. This
action, which made Ethiopia a maritime nation for
the first time since the 16th century, was taken
under the terms of a Federal Act and Constitution
approved by the United Nations and only reluctantly
accepted by the Eritreans.
ETHIOPIA
HISTORICAL EXPANSION
I I
Central Abyssinian kingdom prior
to Emperor Menelik II
ED Menelik's expansion 1887-1891
Present-day Empire of Ethiopia
(Eritrea added in 1952)
500298 3-71
76. At the present time, Ethiopia has common
borders with Somalia, French Territory of the Afars
and Issas (formerly French Somaliland), Sudan, and
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Kenya. Most of these borders pass through barren
lands of little intrinsic value, but all are
potential trouble areas.
SUDAN
ETHIOPIA
BOUNDARIES AND
ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS
ERITREA
()Asmara
MaWER
Gondar?
HAM
Mra-
Blue
WALAGA
Nalearnet
?GorE
ILUBABOR
SUDAN
KEFA
roaricas
Jima"
Orno
Luke
Tana
TEGRE
emak'ale
SEINA
Addis Ababa*
Arha Minch
GARAMUO
KENYA
500299 3-71
Avvasa
0
tisma
ARUSI
slaw
WALL()
eGoha
International boundary
Governorate-General boundary
e Governorate-General capital
Extent of Somali-inhabited area
Boundary representation is
not necessarily authoritative
FRENCH TERRITORY
OF THE AFARS AND ISSAS
Nrar?
BALE
KENYA
SOMALIA
HARAR
06/
e\>/
0./
?
?
S',5 6 ei
viSiona/
o."
SOMALIA
77. Somalia: The borders between Ethiopia
and Somalia were established around the turn of
the century by treaties subscribed to by the
British, Italians, and Ethiopians, with little
regard to the wishes of the Somali peoples, who
considered the land theirs and who had moved their
flocks and herds across its dry, barren plains for
centuries. The Somali Democratic Republic does
not recognize these boundaries, and its leaders
speak of a "Greater Somalia" concept, the
implementation of which would entail the Somalis
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taking over all of the Haud and Ogaden areas -- many
thousands of square miles of Ethiopian territory.
At this time they do not have the strength to do so,
but for many years their observance of the boundaries
has varied directly with the effectiveness of the
Ethiopian military forces on hand. The Somali Army,
Soviet equipped and Soviet trained, is a matter of
concern to the Ethiopian Government. However, its
long range effect on relationships between the two
states will probably be considerably less than that
of the ancient, nomadic culture of the Somali
herdsmen who have been applying their own version
of a "Greater Somalia " concept for centuries.
78. French Territory of The Afars and Issas:
Relations with the French are good, but with the
natives they are mixed. The Afars, who are most
numerous in the north, are related to the Ethiopian
Afars across the border, but the Issas identify
with the Somalis and support the idea of a "Greater
Somalia." While both dislike the Ethiopian
Government, this common dislike doesn't appear to
lessen their dislike for each other.
79. Sudan: The Sudan border generally
parallels (but is not identical with) the ethnic
boundary between the highland Caucasians and the
lowland Negroes. There is little trade or other
contact between them -- even smuggling has been
inconsequential. There may be trouble ahead,
however. In the north, Eritrean rebels have begun
running guns across the border while the Sudanese
Government obligingly looked the other way, and
many Eritrean refugees have fled to the Sudan to
escape the Imperial forces "peace keeping"
operations. Both Ethiopian and Sudanese farmers
have been moving into the fertile lands along the
Takaze River and they can't agree on just where
the border is supposed to be. There have already
been raids and counter-raids, and these will
probably continue.
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80. Kenya: Official relations across the
Kenya border appear to be cordial. There are
occasional clashes between border crossers and the
police on both sides of the boundary, but at this
time such events are viewed as police actions
against outlaws rather than as international
incidents. Such differences as may develop between
Addis Ababa and Nairobi could well be offset by
their common opposition to the "Greater Somalia"
concept.
81. Eritrea: The Governorate-General of
Eritrea includes 10 percent of the Empire's
territory, 7 percent of its population, and 100
percent of its seacoast. Eritrea has been part of
the Empire at various times in the historical past,
but from the 16th century until World War II, it
was occupied successively by Turks, Egyptians, and
Italians. After being an Italian colony for half
a century and occupied by the British from 1941 to
1952, it was federated with Ethiopia by the United
Nations in 1952 and, under considerable Ethiopian
pressure, it became an integral part of the Empire
in 1962. Due in a large measure to the long
Italian presence, Eritrea's population and economy
are somewhat more advanced than those in other
parts of the Empire. The people, not quite as
diverse but equally incompatible, fall into two
major groups: sedentary Tigres and their Semite
relatives in the high country, and a variety of
mixed Hamite-Semite, mostly Moslem, nomads in the
lowlands.
82. By assimilating Eritrea, Ethiopia
acquired some 540 miles of Red Sea coastline and
a port (Aseb) close to the Bab el Mandeb -- the
narrow entrance to the Red Sea. Also acquired
with this assimilation was a strategic significance
that has become increasingly apparent with the
continuation of the Arab-Israeli confrontation to
the north. Normal shipping passes through the
12-mile-wide strait between Perim Island and the
African coast. These waters are subject to the
rules of innocent passage, but they are also
subject to a certain amount of international
gamesmanship. When the People's Republic of
Southern Yemen achieved independence in November
1967, there were rumors that its first acts would
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be (with Soviet help) the fortification of Perim
island and the blockade of all Israel-bound
shipping. More recently, Communist press sources
have stated that Israel was establishing a military
base on an Ethiopian Island near Bab el Mandeb.
Neither claim has been substantiated. The possibil-
ity of a blockade continues to disturb the Israelis,
however. With the exception of Ethiopia, they have
no trade with the Red Sea powers and blockade of
Bab el Mandeb could isolate their port of Eilat
almost as effectively as did the Egyptian's closure
of the Strait of Tiran in 1967. Israel's unilateral
action solved the problem of the Strait of Tiran,
120 miles south of Eilat, but it would be faced with
a more difficult situation at Bab el Mandeb, more
than 1,200 miles south of Israeli held territory.
83. Ethiopia has a special relationship with
Israel, which she maintains despite the objections
of Ethiopian Moslems and the Arab members of the
Organization of African Unity, which has its
headquarters in Addis Ababa. Israel operates a
medical aid program and a military training program
in Ethiopia, and it imports a considerable amount
of Ethiopian meat. (There is a kosher meat
processing plant in Asmara.) If faced with a
threatened closure of the strait, the two countries
could be expected to coordinate their activities.
The coastal lowland of Eritrea is Moslem country,
however, and any loosening of the controls exerted
by the Christian Amhara might require a reevaluation
of the possibilities of a blockade.
84. The Eritrean Liberation Front, a
predominantly Moslem separatist organization with
a small, and apparently decreasing Christian
membership, is becoming increasingly active,
attacking road and rail traffic, sabotaging water
and power installations, and kidnapping travelers.
Their treatment of kidnapped foreigners (including
some Americans) has been correct and proper, and
the kidnappers have been released without harm
after having been lectured on the rightness of the
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rebel cause.* ELF actions against natives and
counteractions by the Ethiopian military have been
characterized by considerable brutality. The
rugged terrain is favorable for guerrilla operations
and there is evidence that some Ethiopian Army
units, arriving at a sabotage site too late to
catch the guerrillas, have vented their frustrations
on the local population. Many villages have been
burned, their inhabitants killed, and thousands
have fled to the Sudan. In December 1970, martial
law was established in most of Eritrea, and
additional army units were moved in to combat the
ELF.
85. If Eritrea should succeed in freeing
itself from Ethiopian rule, it is doubtful if it
could last for many years as an independant political
unit. There is little sense of national unity. Its
boundaries were established by the colonial powers
without regard to the ethnic, linguistic, cultural,
or religious characteristics of the inhabitants, and
each group could be expected to take such steps as
it considered to be in its own best interests. It
appears inevitable that these interests would clash.
It would seem equally inevitable that those foreign
governments considering their own interests to be
affected by the trend of events in Ethiopia would
make some effort, overt or covert, to influence and
control that trend. If the strength of the Ethiopian
Government were such that it could not hold Eritrea
and its coastline, its strategic value could
conceivably revert to the insignificance that has
protected it throughout so much of its history.
86. The chief United States' interest is
Kagnew Station, the military communications
facility at Asmara. A major contributor to the
* An American soldier from Kagnew Station, the
United States military communications facility at
Asmara, was killed in an ambush in January 1971, but
American officials believe that this was the act
of a small group and did not indicate a change in
ELF policy.
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local economy and Asmara's second largest employer,
it has not been the target of any ELF activity as of
April 1971. It is apparent that this is the
result of an ELF policy rather than a lack of
capability, since the installation is highly
vulnerable to sabotage. It is not known how long
this policy will be continued. Kagnew's functions
can be carried out elsewhere with some loss of
capability, but US officials feel that the facility
will be needed at least through 1974-1975. It is
not yet clear whether the United States will have
a continuing need for the facility beyond 1978
when the present agreement expires.
- 51 -
SECRET
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/05: CIA-RDP08C01297R000100050002-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/05: CIA-RDP08C01297R000100050002-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/05: CIA-RDP08C01297R000100050002-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/05: CIA-RDP08C01297R000100050002-6
THE LAND OF ETHIOPIA
Port Sudan
k.Sawikin
\
SAUDI
ARABIA
--
Khartoum
? Kessall
? ? --
\
lsole
Dahlac
sawa
All weather road
? ? ? Dry-weather road
ymIly Road distances
between points
in miles
-i Railroad
"I- International airport
150 Miles
0 75 150 Kilometers
pn'a'
YEMEN
(*an'a')
a
After*
NlAseb
YEMEN
(Aden)
tik
Aden
Ar Rupyrii
jib out
Addis
6 Nak'amet A
ir
V ,-
Jima.
Garnbeltl Gore
Jima
Jijigl
Hargeisa
SOMALIA
Berbera
Ili
Dagahabur
\
N /
1 1
l .Uardere /
I 1/44/
\
\ 0%7
Debt Wen
I
UGANDA
/
(I
?
?
? .
AMarsabit
Kitale
Baidoa
KEN(YA ,.11/ajir
Mogadiscio
\ or I \ I \
Boundary representation is
not necessarily authoritative
500301 3-71
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/05: CIA-RDP08C01297R000100050002-6