Ethiopia+Polotics

** Ethiopia Politics ** All of the following information came from: [|http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2859.htm#econ]
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> Ethiopia is a federal republic under the 1994 constitution. The executive branch includes a president, Council of State, and Council of Ministers. Executive power resides with the prime minister. There is a bicameral parliament; national legislative elections were held in 2010. The judicial branch comprises federal and regional courts. Following the 2010 elections, there were 152 women in the 547-seat parliament, two female judges on the 11-seat Supreme Court, three women ministers among the 21-member cabinet, and four women among 53 state ministers. > > Political parties include the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), Ethiopian Federal Democratic Unity Forum (Medrek), the Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) party, the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM), Ethiopian Democratic Party (EDP), Oromo Peoples’ Congress (OPC), All Ethiopia Unity Party (AEUP), and other small parties. Suffrage is universal at age 18. > > The EPRDF-led government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has promoted a policy of ethnic federalism, devolving significant powers to regional, ethnically-based authorities. Ethiopia has nine semi-autonomous administrative regions and two special city administrations (Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa), which have the power to raise their own revenues. The government redrew the regional boundaries in 1994 along ethnic lines, giving each major ethnic group its own regional administration. > > **Principal Government Officials** President--Girma Wolde-Giorgis Prime Minister--Meles Zenawi Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs--Hailemariam Desalegn Minister of National Defense--Siraj Fegisa Mayor of Addis Ababa--Kuma Demeska Ambassador to the U.S.--Girma BirruEthiopia maintains an [|**embassy**] in the U.S. at 3506 International Drive, NW, Washington, DC 20008 (tel. 202-364-1200). It also maintains a UN mission in New York and consulates in Los Angeles, Seattle (honorary), and Houston (honorary). > All of the following information came from:[] > Chapters 6 and 7 of the Constitiution were concerned with defining citizenship and spelling out the freedoms, rights, and duties of citizens. The language was egalitarian, and Ethiopians were declared to be equal before the law, regardless of nationality, sex, religion, occupation, and social or other status. They had the right to marry, to work, to rest, to receive free education, and to have access to health care and to a fair trial. Ethiopians were guaranteed freedom of conscience and religion. As was not the case in imperial Ethiopia, religion and the state were proclaimed to be separate institutions. Citizens were assured the freedoms of movement, speech, press, assembly, peaceful demonstration, and association. Regarding political participation, citizens had the right to vote and the right to be elected to political office. Their duties included national military service, protection of socialist state property, protection of the environment, and observance of the constitution and laws of the country.In spite of the attention the constitution paid to basic freedoms, until the last days of the regime international human rights organizations were virtually unanimous in condemning the Mengistu regime. Summary execution, political detention, torture, and forced migration represented only some of the violations cited by these groups.