Ethiopia

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

This country is officially known today as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. For most of its history, the region has been ruled by a monarchy. The earliest kingdom, the D'mt, reigned from 700 to 400 BC and was succeeded by the Askumite Empire, which gained prominence in the 1st century CE and declined around the 9th century. Both Ethiopia and its neighbor Eritrea were ruled by the Zagwe dynasty from 1137 to 1270, and after this the Solomnic dynasty, which is the traditional ruling house of Ethiopia. Europeans first made contract with Ethiopia in the 15th century, but the nation retained its independence through the colonial period and resisting the Ottomans in the mid-16th century. Christianity was introduced to the nation in the 4th century, and eventually it was brought under the dominion of the Coptic Church of Alexandria.

Following a period of isolationism from 1755 to 1855, Ethiopia endured a series of local rebellions, as well as incursions from the Ottoman Empire, Egypt and a military expedition from Great Britain. The borders of the present nation were established under the reign of Emperor Menelik II in the late 19th century. In a treaty signed with Italy, a region of modern day Eritrea was ceded in exchange for political support and arms. The early 20th century was marked by the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie I, who undertook the modernization of Ethiopia from 1916. The nation was briefly occupied by Italy from 1936 to 1941, but was liberated with the assistance of British forces during the East African Campaign, although the Italians continued to fight a guerilla campaign until 1943.

In 1952 Haile Selassie orchestrated a federation with Eritrea which he dissolved in 1962, and which instigated the long-lasting Eritrean War of Independence that did not end until 1992. Haile Selassie's reign came to an end in 1974, when a Soviet-backed Marxist-Leninist military junta, the "Derg" - led by Mengistu Haile Mariam - deposed him, and established a one-party communist state called People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. During the Ogaden War (1977-78) with neighboring Somalia the nation lost the Ogaden region in the north, regained only after receiving military aid from Eastern Europe, North Korea, and Cuba. The Ethiopian Red Terror, a period of violence, deportations, widespread hunger and genocide from 1977 to 1978, was followed in the 1980s by a series of famines that affected as many as eight million Ethiopians. In response, an opposition movement, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), waged a guerilla war which ultimately collapsed the military junta and set up a transitional government in 1991. Eritreans voted for and achieved independence in 1993, and the first free and democratic election took place in May 1995.

In May 1998, Ethiopia and Eritrea went to war over a border dispute that continued until 2000. Ethiopia still occupies the territory gained during that conflict, despite a UN determination that the land actually belongs to Eritrea.

A series of civil conflicts that began in 2018 has kept the defense forces in a constant state of warfare against insurgents from a number of regions, most prominently in Benishangul-Gumuz (from 2019), Oromia (from 2019), Tigray (2020-22), and - most recently - in the Amhara region (from 2023). Additionally, the Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen (el-Shabaab) movement launched a brief invasion across the border with Somalia in July & August 2022.

From 3 November 2020 until 3 November 2022, a civil war, known as the Tigray War, was fought in the Tigray region, pitting the Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) and Eritrean Defense Forces (EDF) against a militant insurgent group calling itself the Tigray Defense Forces (supporting the Tigray People's Liberation Front/TPLF). The conflict also involved members of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), fighting on the side of the Tigray forces from late 2021. Although a peace agreement was brokered in November 2022, a portion of the region's Western Zone remains disputed.

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, Goddam 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.

Ethiopian Camouflage Patterns

• Under the "Derg" regime, the standard camouflage pattern of Ethiopian forces was the 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.

• In the modern era, many Ethiopian forces wear copies of the US m81 woodland camouflage pattern, sourced from a variety of manufacturers and nations.

• Copies of the US six-color chocolate chip desert camouflage pattern are also in distrubution with Ethiopian forces.

• Witnessed primarily on Ethiopian troops deployed on peacekeeping missions, a variation of DPM pattern has also seen some distribution.

• Special units of the Federal Police are known to wear a variation of the woodland camouflage design with a blue colorway as seen here. This design has been in use since at least 2015, but probably has much earlier origins. This design was presumably replaced in 2021 by the blue digital camouflage pattern.

• Since at least 2016, Ethiopian Wildlife Rangers working to protect natural resources in the country's national parks have worn a variation of tricolor desert camouflage, with a prominent grey instead of khaki feature.

• The Oromia Region Special Police wear a desert-type pattern consisting of large russet blotches on a sand-colored background. Two versions of the pattern have been observed, one with large black "chips" sparsely scattered throughout and another that lacks them. What makes this pattern interesting is the concentric colored circles (in the colors of the Oromia State flag) embedded into the pattern.

• Adopted in 2019, a six-color chocolate chip pattern variation is worn by the Addis Ababa Regional Police.

• A brown-dominant pixelated design was been adopted by the Ethiopian Army (including the Republican Guard) early in 2020. The pattern incorporates black, dark olive and brown shapes on a khaki background.

• Ethiopian Police units operating in the Tigray region wear a woodland-type pattern in desert colors, incorporating brown and yellow-tan colors on a pale, sand-colored background.

• In May 2021, it was announced that the fledgling Ethiopian Navy would adopt a new camouflage uniform (along with a distinctive shoulder logo and rank insignia). The camouflage design appears to be a close copy of the "Airman's Battle Uniform" (ABU) design adopted by the US Air Force in 2007 (and retired in 2021).

• The Ethiopian Federal Police adopted a new pixelated camouflage design in 2021. The color palette of this pattern is similar to, but not precisely the same, as the old 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.