Ethiopia is located in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Eritrea in the north, Sudan in the west, Kenya in the south, Somalia in the east and Djibouti in the northeast. Its size is 1100 000 km ², with a population of over 85 000 000 people. It is one of the oldest countries in the world and the second most popular in Africa - only the second in Nigeria. The population is diverse and has more than 70 different languages. The dominant ethnic group in Ethiopia is Oromo (40%), then Amhara (30%) and Tigray (6%).
Ethiopia is home to the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa and is famous for its rock churches, structures that tell the story of Ethiopia. The Ethiopian news is dominated by the achievements of its world-famous long distance athletes. Notable truckers in Ethiopia include Abeba Bekilou, Mamo Woldi, Haile Gebreshilassi, Kenenis Bekele, Derat Tula and Tirunesh Dibabu. It’s hard not to include such athletes when they talk about Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is the source of coffee beans and the largest producer of coffee in Africa. Coffee is number one in Ethiopia and the source of most foreign exchange. About 12 million Ethiopians depend on coffee and related industries. Coffee is an integral part of Ethiopian culture and Ethiopia.
The headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) is in Addis Ababa, which is often called the “diplomatic capital” of Africa, and the headquarters of the African Union (formerly the Organization of African Unity), of which Ethiopia was the main founder.
Ethiopia is also known as one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world. For most of the past few decades, the country depended on food aid to feed part of its population. In the past half century, the country has experienced some significant droughts and famine. However, recent trends are encouraging. For most of the last decade, the country's economy has grown by 5–12% per year.
The government of Ethiopia is a federal system of government. The current President is the ceremony of the head of state Girma Volde-Giorgis. The prime minister and head of government is Meles Zenawi, who belongs to a coalition of parties known as the EPRs. Under the current government, opposition parties, Ethiopian news organizations, and several elderly monitoring agencies have complained about the lack of sufficient press freedom. They argue that citizens have limited access to the media about Ethiopia, in addition to state networks, and complain that private newspapers are fighting for restrictive press laws.
Ethiopian news publications feature state newspapers such as Addis Zemen and the Ethiopian Herald, as well as private newspapers such as the Ethiopian Reporter, Addis Fortune, Daily Mirror, Addis Admas and the Ethiopian Capital. Ethiopian news organizations include the State Ethiopian News Agency and the Walta Information Center, owned by the EPRDF. Ethiopian Internet news organizations are many, but few and mostly foreign. Many of these sites complain that they are blocked and inaccessible from within Ethiopia. Bad Internet connection in Ethiopia can also be one of the reasons for the lack of well-developed Ethiopian news sources on the Internet.
