CITIZENSHIP AND STATELESSNESS IN THE HORN OF AFRICA \Y 2. Ihe history of nationality law in the Horn of Africa History and demography of the territories considered in this report The territories considered in this report vary greatly in their history, size and demographic make-up. These differences have important impacts on nationality law and administration today. Ethiopia is one of only two contemporary African states (the other being Liberia) not to be colonised by European powers. A series of kingdoms were established over the centuries in the northern highlands of today’s Ethiopia, which by the late 19'" century had been consolidated and expanded under the Emperor Menelik Il. Ethiopia retained its internal sovereignty for almost the entire era of colonial rule. The external borders of today’s state were, however, established by the conquest of neighbouring territories by the Italians, French and British. Italy had attempted to annex the whole of the Ethiopian territory, but the Italian army was famously defeated by Ethiopian forces at the Battle of Adwa in 1896. A second Italian invasion in 1936, was, however, successful; the territory was occupied by Italian forces and the emperor deposed. In 1941, during the Second World War, the Italians were defeated by British forces advancing from Sudan, and the Emperor Haile Selassie was returned to the throne. Ethiopia was among the 51 states that formally adopted the United Nations Charter in 1945. The emperor was overthrown in 1974 by a military government known as the Derg; the Derg regime was in turn overthrown in 1994, and the current constitution entered into force in 1995. Ethiopia has more than 80 ethnic groups, of which ten are estimated to number more than one million (in descending order of size: Oromo, Amhara, Somali, Tigrie, Sidama, Guragie, Welaita, Hadiya, Afar & Gamo), by far the most numerous being the Oromo and the Amhara, estimated in 2007 at more than 25 million and almost 20 million each.* (See further the heading below: Ethiopia’s federal constitution.) The ancient kingdom of Aksum was centred in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea, and the territory that is now Eritrea fell at different times more or less under the control of what became the Ethiopian empire. However, while Ethiopia remained independent, except for the brief period of Italian and British occupation, Eritrea was colonized by Italy from the late nineteenth century. The port of Massawa on the Red Sea coast came under Italian control in 1885, and by 1890 Italy had acquired the remainder of the Eritrean territory by treaty with the Ethiopian empire. The territory of today’s Somalia was historically the site of several sultanates centred on the port towns, including Mogadishu. Italy gained military control of the larger east and southern part of the territory, 2 Summary and Statistical Report of the 2007 Population and Housing Census Results, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Population Census Commission, Addis Ababa, December 2008, available at https://www.ethiopianreview.com/pdf/001/Cen2007 UNHCR — December 2021 firstdraft(1).pdf.