We have only been out of the bush for a few months, he says, so we are bound to make some mistakes. The only country in Africa that was never colonized. Their original seat was the Tigrayan highland town of Axum, where they were closely linked to the spiritual power of the Orthodox Church. The centre of power slowly shifted southward to Addis Ababa where the Amharic people of Shoa province dominated government and economy. Colonel Mengistu seized power in a military coup in 1974, promising socialism and equality but delivering war and economic stagnation.
Most people are either smallholders or nomadic pastoralists.
The rate of inflation is low for Africa and the public sector remains important. Any industry is concentrated in pockets around Addis Ababa and a few other centres. The emphasis on the commercial production of cash crops, particularly coffee, has hurt domestic food production. When the coalition forces of the Ethiopian People s Revolutionary Democratic Front entered Addis Ababa in May of 1991 it marked the end of a bitter war of resistance against Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam s military government. The new transitional government under Meles Zenawi has promised elections and a radical decentralization of power from Addis to the different ethnic regions.