Ethiopian armed forces

	Ethiopian National Defense Forces ; የኢፌዲሪ መከላከያ ሠራዊት
guide
Commander in Chief :	Prime Minister ; Abiy Ahmed Ali
Defense Minister:	Lemma Megersa
Military Commander:	Gene. Adem Mohammed
Headquarters:	Addis Ababa
Military strength
Active soldiers:	135,000-162,000
Conscription:	Yes
Eligibility for military service:
household
Military budget:	$ 242,000,000
Share of gross domestic product :	3.0%
history
Founding:	1975 as armed forces of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Highest manpower:	350,000 (1999)

Ethiopian soldiers in the 1951 Korean War

The Ethiopian Armed Forces ( English Ethiopian National Defense Forces , ENDF for short ) are the military of Ethiopia .

They were founded in their current form after the dissolution of the Imperial Army of Ethiopia in 1975 as the armed forces of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and renamed the Ethiopian National Defense Forces after the victory of the Revolutionary Democratic Front of the Ethiopian Peoples in 1991 . They were 162,500 strong in 2005, making them one of the largest armies in Africa . According to US figures, there will be around 180,000 soldiers in 2012.

The Ethiopian Armed Forces consist of the armed forces and the air force. Since the independence of Eritrea (1993), the country no longer has a navy.

history

The Abyssinian Imperial Army was the oldest surviving army in the world. The troops of the empire managed to successfully defend their territory until the Abyssinian War of 1935/36. Then the armed forces were defeated by fascist Italy and Ethiopia briefly became part of Italian East Africa . From 1940 to 1941, together with troops from the British Empire , escaped units liberated the empire and took part in the rebuilding of the monarchy under Haile Selassie . The inflation in the wake of the 1973 drought and the oil crisis triggered mass demonstrations by students and waves of strikes in Ethiopia, and led to the fall of Selassie. In 1975 the monarchy was abolished and the former empire a socialist people's republic. This led to the Ethiopian Civil War . With the support of the Eastern Bloc, the Provisional Military Administrative Council Derg soon had the nominally largest army in sub-Saharan Africa - around 300,000 men. In the Ogaden War from 1977 to 1978, Ethiopia was able to assert itself. However, the fighting strength of the army, which consisted largely of force-recruited peasants, was comparatively low. The Ethiopian government under Mengistu Haile Mariam was finally overthrown by a coalition of three different rebel groups - the Revolutionary Democratic Front of the Ethiopian Peoples - and their own functionaries. In May 1991 the Revolutionary Democratic Front successfully captured the capital Addis Ababa .

The armed forces of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia were replaced by the Ethiopian National Defense Forces . After a referendum on April 25, 1993, the independent Republic of Eritrea was proclaimed in agreement with the new Ethiopian government . Relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea deteriorated in the years that followed. During the border war against Eritrea from 1998 to 2000, the Ethiopian armed forces mobilized up to 350,000 soldiers. A large number of soldiers were demobilized after the war. The armed forces are still in the process of transforming from a former guerrilla army to a professional army . The Ethiopian armed forces receive support from various states, in particular from the USA . Ethiopia has sent two peace contingents, one to Burundi and another to Liberia . In 2009 soldiers were also sent to the Sudanese crisis region of Darfur . Since June 2011, the armed forces have provided the main contingent for the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) peacekeeping mission between Sudan and South Sudan . In December 2011, the Ethiopian soldiers also supported the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and were at war against the Union of Islamic Courts in Somalia . Since January 2014, Ethiopia has (again) participated in AMISOM with 4,400 soldiers.

On June 22, 2019, Chief of Staff Se'are Mekonnen was killed by putschists in Amhara province . He was replaced by Adem Mohammed .

equipment

army

The army currently has 135,000 active soldiers. Ethiopia expanded its arms stocks, especially in the border war against Eritrea (1998-2000).

The equipment included in December 2019

> 461 main battle tanks (> 246 T-54 / T-55 / T-62 ; 200 T-72 from Ukrainian production)
450 armored , reconnaissance, armored personnel carriers of the types BRDM , BMP , BTR-60 /152
> 524 artillery guns (u. A. 122-m-projectile launcher BM-21 and 122-mm howitzer D-30 (2A18) )

air force

Roundel of the Ethiopian Air Force

The Air Force comprised 3,000 active soldiers in December 2019. She has u. a. over:

11 fighter-bombers (8 Sukhoi Su-27 ; 3 Su-27UB)
15 interceptors ( MiG-21 MF / UM squadron , operational doubtful)
11 reconnaissance and transport aircraft (3 Antonov An-12 ; 1 Antonov An-26 ; 1 Antonov An-32 ; 2 C-130 B; 1 DHC-6 ; 2 L-100-30; 1 Yak-40 )
16 training aircraft (12 L-39 ; 4 Aermacchi SF-260 )
18 attack helicopters (15 Mil Mi-24 ; 3 Mi-35 )
12 transport helicopters ( Mil Mi-8 / Mi-17)
7 multi-purpose helicopters (1 AW139 ; 6 SA316 )

marine

Ethiopia no longer has a navy since the founding of Eritrea. However, the intention is to rebuild a navy to be stationed in Djibouti , while the command of the naval forces is to be based in Bahir Dar , the capital of the Ethiopian province of Amhara.