Ethiopia - Revision history

Admin1: /* Camouflage Patterns of Ethiopian Law Enforcement Agencies */

2026-02-08T15:46:53Z

Camouflage Patterns of Ethiopian Law Enforcement Agencies

Admin1: /* Camouflage Patterns of Ethiopian Law Enforcement Agencies */

2026-02-07T20:34:10Z

Camouflage Patterns of Ethiopian Law Enforcement Agencies

Admin1: /* Camouflage Patterns of Ethiopian Law Enforcement Agencies */

2026-01-29T22:07:40Z

Camouflage Patterns of Ethiopian Law Enforcement Agencies

Admin1: /* Camouflage Patterns of Ethiopian Law Enforcement Agencies */

2026-01-29T22:01:23Z

Camouflage Patterns of Ethiopian Law Enforcement Agencies

Admin1: /* Camouflage Patterns of Ethiopian Law Enforcement Agencies */

2026-01-29T21:57:43Z

Camouflage Patterns of Ethiopian Law Enforcement Agencies

Admin1: /* Camouflage Patterns of the Ethiopian Armed Forces */

2025-11-28T23:56:09Z

Camouflage Patterns of the Ethiopian Armed Forces

Admin1: /* Camouflage Patterns of the Ethiopian Armed Forces */

2025-11-28T23:44:02Z

Camouflage Patterns of the Ethiopian Armed Forces

Admin1: /* Camouflage Patterns of the Ethiopian Armed Forces */

2025-11-28T23:36:37Z

Camouflage Patterns of the Ethiopian Armed Forces

Admin1: /* Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia */

2025-11-28T23:12:00Z

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Admin1: /* Camouflage Patterns of the Ethiopian Armed Forces */

2025-11-28T16:47:46Z

Camouflage Patterns of the Ethiopian Armed Forces

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 [[File:ethiopia-sidama.png|200px]]
-* At some point, prior to 2021, the Federal Prisons Police (part of the Federal Prisons Service) adopted a blue-dominant amoebia camouflage design, seen here. This would later be replaced with a pixelated camo pattern.
+* The Federal Prisons Police (part of the Federal Prisons Service) adopted a blue-dominant amoebia camouflage design, seen here, which was in service around 2015. This would later be replaced with a pixelated camo pattern.
 [[File:ethiopia-prisons1.png|200px]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:34, 7 February 2026
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	[[File:ethiopia-sidama.png\|200px]]		[[File:ethiopia-sidama.png\|200px]]
		+
		+	* At some point, prior to 2021, the Federal Prisons Police (part of the Federal Prisons Service) adopted a blue-dominant amoebia camouflage design, seen here. This would later be replaced with a pixelated camo pattern.
		+
		+	[[File:ethiopia-prisons1.png\|200px]]

	* The Ethiopian Federal Police adopted a new [[digital patterns\|pixelated camouflage design]] in 2020. The color palette of this pattern is similar to, but not precisely the same, as the old [[USA\|American Navy]] NWU-1 "blueberries" camouflage. Worn by conventional personnel as well as specialized units like riot police, this pattern seems to have been universally adopted by the Police, although regional police units are still wearing their own unique designs.		* The Ethiopian Federal Police adopted a new [[digital patterns\|pixelated camouflage design]] in 2020. The color palette of this pattern is similar to, but not precisely the same, as the old [[USA\|American Navy]] NWU-1 "blueberries" camouflage. Worn by conventional personnel as well as specialized units like riot police, this pattern seems to have been universally adopted by the Police, although regional police units are still wearing their own unique designs.

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 [[File:ethiopia-prisons.png|200px]]
-* A pixelated camouflage design was brought into service with the Addis Ababa Police field units in January 2024. This design retains the color palette of the previously issued "chocolate chip" camouflage pattern, which it will ultimately replace.
+* A pixelated camouflage design was brought into service with the Addis Ababa Police field units in January 2024, although the previous year a slightly different version was observed, perhaps only experimental. This design retains the color palette of the previously issued "chocolate chip" camouflage pattern, which it will ultimately replace.
 [[File:ethiopia-aap3.png|200px]]
 * Circa April 2025, the Amhara Regional Special Forces introduced a new, pixelated camouflage pattern based on the color palette of [[Multicam]]. This pattern was still being integrated into the Force as of October 2025.

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 [[File:ethiopia-parkrangers.jpg|200px]]
-* In 2019 it was announced that the Addis Ababa Police would adopt a unique variation of the six-color ''[[chocolate chip]]'' pattern as seen here. This design only remained in service for a couple of years, however, before being replaced by a similar design.
+* In 2015 it was announced that the Addis Ababa Police would adopt a unique variation of the six-color ''[[chocolate chip]]'' pattern as seen here. This design only remained in service for a couple of years, however, before being replaced by a similar design.
 [[File:ethiopia-aap.jpg|200px]]

@@ Line 103: / Line 103: @@
 [[File:ethiopia-sidama.png|200px]]
-* The Ethiopian Federal Police adopted a new [[digital patterns|pixelated camouflage design]] in 2021. The color palette of this pattern is similar to, but not precisely the same, as the old [[USA|American Navy]] NWU-1 "blueberries" camouflage. Worn by conventional personnel as well as specialized units like riot police, this pattern seems to have been universally adopted by the Police, although regional police units are still wearing their own unique designs.
+* The Ethiopian Federal Police adopted a new [[digital patterns|pixelated camouflage design]] in 2020. The color palette of this pattern is similar to, but not precisely the same, as the old [[USA|American Navy]] NWU-1 "blueberries" camouflage. Worn by conventional personnel as well as specialized units like riot police, this pattern seems to have been universally adopted by the Police, although regional police units are still wearing their own unique designs.
 [[File:ethiopia-policedigi.jpg|200px]]

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 [[File:ethiopia-derg.png|200px]]
-* In the modern era, many Ethiopian forces wear copies of the [[USA|US]] m81 [[woodland]] camouflage pattern, sourced from a variety of manufacturers and nations.
+* Since at least the very late 1990s, Ethiopian forces have worn a copy of the [[USA|US]] m81 [[woodland]] camouflage pattern, sourced from a variety of manufacturers and nations.
 [[File:eritrea2.jpg|200px]]
 [[File:uganda5.jpg|200px]]
 [[File:ethiopia6.jpg|200px]]
-* Copies of the [[USA|US]] six-color [[chocolate chip]] desert camouflage pattern are also in distrubution with Ethiopian forces.
+* In 1994, Ethiopian troops deploying to [[Rwanda]] as part of Operation Support Hope wore [[DPM]] pattern camouflage uniforms. To our knowledge, this is the only time DPM camouflage was worn by Ethiopia, and it is altogether likely the uniforms were sourced or provided by another country.
 [[File:ethiopia-dpm.png|200px]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:44, 28 November 2025
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	== Camouflage Patterns of the Ethiopian Armed Forces ==		== Camouflage Patterns of the Ethiopian Armed Forces ==
		+
		+	* Within the Imperial Armed Forces, most military personnel wore solid-color uniforms of dark khaki or olive green. The only units with a documented history of wearing camouflage are the 102nd Airborne Division ("Flying Tigers") and the Marine Commandos of the Ethiopian Navy. While photographs of the Marines only show them wearing a unique vertical stripe camouflage pattern of undetermined origins, some personnel of the Airborne Division also wore a three-color [[brushstroke]] design in precisely the same pattern as later worn in [[Iraq]] and even by some personnel in [[Somalia]]. The earliest documented use of either pattern is around 1958.
		+
		+	[[File:ethiopia-vertical.png\|200px]]
		+
		+	[[File:iraq17.jpg\|200px]]
		+	[[File:ethiopia-brush.png\|200px]]

	* Under the "Derg" regime, the standard camouflage pattern of Ethiopian forces was the [[South Korea\|South Korean]]-produced "waves" pattern originally worn by the ROK Special Forces. Although not universally issued, the pattern was commonly worn by Commando brigades and other ground forces.		* Under the "Derg" regime, the standard camouflage pattern of Ethiopian forces was the [[South Korea\|South Korean]]-produced "waves" pattern originally worn by the ROK Special Forces. Although not universally issued, the pattern was commonly worn by Commando brigades and other ground forces.

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:36, 28 November 2025
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	[[File:ethiopia1.jpg\|200px]]		[[File:ethiopia1.jpg\|200px]]
		+	[[File:ethiopia-derg.png\|200px]]

	* In the modern era, many Ethiopian forces wear copies of the [[USA\|US]] m81 [[woodland]] camouflage pattern, sourced from a variety of manufacturers and nations.		* In the modern era, many Ethiopian forces wear copies of the [[USA\|US]] m81 [[woodland]] camouflage pattern, sourced from a variety of manufacturers and nations.

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 An armed insurgent group centered in the Amhara region, known as Fano (ፋኖ), has participated in armed conflict with the National Defense Force since 2018, although it has also found itself at various times fighting the TPLF, the OLA, Eritrean Army, and even the Sudanese Armed Forces. Fano's primary purpose is to protect and defend the people of Amhara, although since April 2023 they have been in a state of full-scale war against the federal government of Ethiopia, which planned to dismantle the Amhara Regional Special Forces and assimilate its members into the ENDF. Although sharing a similar purpose, attempts to organize different district militias have failed and at present there are six major factions making up Fano: the Amhara People's Army, Wollo faction, Gojjam faction, North Gondar faction, South Gondar faction, and Shewa faction, each one having a separate military leader.
-The armed forces of modern Ethiopia are the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF), and consist of the Army and Air Force. The Ethiopian Navy existed from 1955 until 1991, but was dissolved after the independence of [[Eritrea]] as the country is now landlocked. In 2018, a slow process began to rebuild the Ethiopian Navy, in part to ensure protection for offshore Ethiopian commercial vessels. It is estimated there are as many as 182,000 active duty personnel in the ENDF.
+The Imperial Territorial Army (የግዛት ጦር) was formed by Emperor Haile Selassie in 1942 and served as a rural police and counter-guerilla force as the Ethiopian Army was being trained and formed with the assistance of [[United Kingdom|Britain]]. The Army had become fairly modernized by the 1950s, with light armor, field artillery, and even aircraft, thanks in part to significant contributions from the [[USA|United States]]. An Imperial Bodyguard of more than 3,000 personnel formed the nucleus of the ground forces, although an attempted coup d'etat in 1960 sparked the unit's disbandment and subsequent increase in the strength of the rest of the army to around 38,000 by 1968. Elite units of the Imperial Army included the 102nd Airborne Division of the Air Force (formed in 1958) as well as a Marine Commando unit attached to the Imperial Navy. These were the only units issued camouflage uniforms during the Selassie's reign. The 103rd Commando Division was formed in January 1987 during the Derg regime, and replaced the Airborne and Marine Commando units as the main Ethiopian elite force.
 Formed in 1995, the Ethiopian Federal Police are responsible for maintaining law and order, providing public security, and – in extreme situations – performing internal security functions in all twelve regional states in Ethiopia. Separate to the Federal Police are the Regional Special Forces (regional police), which were formed in 2007 to provide internal security and counterinsurgency duties within the individual regional states. In 2023, the federal government announced it would be disbanding the Regional Special Forces and integrating them either into the National Defense Force, or the Federal Police. This announcement was met with derision by some regions of the country, leading to widespread protests and even violence, such as that in the Amhara region.

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 == Camouflage Patterns of the Ethiopian Armed Forces ==
-* Under the "Derg" regime, the standard camouflage pattern of Ethiopian forces was the [[South Korea|South Korean]]-produced "waves" pattern worn by the ROK Special Forces. Although not universally issued, the pattern was commonly worn by Commando brigades and other ground forces.
+* Under the "Derg" regime, the standard camouflage pattern of Ethiopian forces was the [[South Korea|South Korean]]-produced "waves" pattern originally worn by the ROK Special Forces. Although not universally issued, the pattern was commonly worn by Commando brigades and other ground forces.
 [[File:ethiopia1.jpg|200px]]