Zecharias Fassil December 16, 1992. Isaias Afwerki was elected president of Eritrea by the National Assembly on March 21, 1993. The referendum on Eritrean independence from Ethiopia was held on April 23-25, 1993, and 99.8 percent of Eritreans voted for independence.29 Until the emergence of South Sudan, Eritrea was the youngest African nation. In practice, the secession split one country into two (Ethiopia and Eritrea). Under international law, individuals who had the nationality of a predecessor state should have the right to the nationality of at least one of the successor states. However, as Manby rightly argues, this rule has not always been respected in African national laws. Indeed, manipulation of the transitional rules on citizenship applied at independence or on division of a state has often been at the heart of efforts to deny people nationality.30 The issue of Eritrea and Ethiopia was not an easy case when it came to the treatment of each other’s nationals. At times, some politically motivated treatments were too harsh, especially in the deportation/expulsion scenario that followed the war in 1998-2000 (see below). The converse is true when there is relative peace between these two nations as their peoples share common cultural, language and historical ties. At least at the de facto level, preferential treatment was given to Eritrean refugees as Eritreans were the first refugees to enjoy the benefits of the ‘out of the camp’ policy in Ethiopia. 5.2. The drafting of the 1995 Constitution As indicated above, a constitutional committee was assigned to draft the new Ethiopian constitution after the secession of Eritrea. After passing through deliberation at lower- and high-level meetings, the constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) was promulgated in 1995. This constitution, which is still in force with no amendment whatsoever, has articles on nationality. In an attempt to fully understand the underpinning intentions and justification of the letter and spirit of its provisions, the researcher has consulted the minutes of the constitutional drafting committee.31 While discussing the provisions, the drafters of the constitution duly stressed that the acquisition of nationality derives from birth to Ethiopia parents. Therefore, they kept the existing descent-based framework for citizenship law. There is no indication whatsoever that they considered introducing an element of ius soli. One of the important issues raised in their deliberations was the inclusion of dual nationality, especially for children born to Ethiopian nationals living abroad in a country that applies ius soli. As dual nationality was not included in the previous legal regimes, however, including it in the constitution was not seen as a viable option as the decent-based rule was already in place.32 Some of the drafters opined that naturalisation should be included in the constitution, and justified it as follows: “as Ethiopia is part of the international community, foreigners who come to Ethiopia, if they wish to get Ethiopian nationality a permissive rule needs to be included.” However, some considered that an indication that subsidiary legislation would govern naturalisation would suffice. Accordingly, the wording “particulars shall be determined by law” was thought to be enough.33 29 Ibid. Bronwen Manby, Citizenship in Law in Africa - A Comparative Study, Open Society Foundations, 3rd edition, 2016, pp 11-12. 31 Minutes of the Constitutional Committee, Compilation Volume 2. የኢትዮጵያ ህገመንግስት ጉባዔ፣ ቃለጉባኤ ጥራዝ 2 (000026) Page 10-14, Library of Ethiopian Justice and Legal System Research Institute ( JLSRI), 1994. 32 Ibid. 33 Ibid P. 13-14. 30 10 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/9- © 2020 Author(s)