Report on Citizenship Law: Ethiopia Ethiopian acquires another nationality he or she automatically loses his or her Ethiopian nationality and that a person naturalising must renounce their existing nationality. Dual nationality was debated and justification by legal experts was sought by the constitutional drafting committee.50 It appears that the lack of justification to support dual nationality is the possible reason for the drafters not including it.51 However, despite being unconfirmed there are alleged cases of people having two passports with some of them alleged to even be government office holders. There is currently a debate on the pros and cons of allowing dual citizenship in Ethiopia.52 The withdrawal of citizenship from birth is only allowed in Ethiopian law in the case that a person acquires another citizenship. This leaves open the question of whether this means that the rule is also applicable if Ethiopian nationality is acquired through naturalisation, marriage or adoption. However, as the constitution does not make a distinction between nationality from birth and acquired nationality, it is strongly argued that this would apply to both. However, to not leave matters open for contention it would be important to make a clear statement. 6.3.1. Foreign nationals of Ethiopian origin Ethiopia has not followed the trend in African and global citizenship laws towards greater tolerance of dual nationality. It remains the case, as noted above, that a person naturalising as Ethiopian must renounce a former nationality, while an Ethiopian who acquires another nationality automatically loses Ethiopian nationality. In place of permitting the possibility of dual nationality for the large Ethiopian diaspora, a law was adopted creating an intermediate status for people of Ethiopian origin. In this regard, Ghana and Ethiopia have taken the lead in devising such a mechanism for members of their diasporas. This goes hand in hand either in addition to or instead of creating a right to dual nationality.53 Proclamation No. 270/2002 is entitled a Proclamation to Provide Foreign Nationals of Ethiopian Origin with Certain Rights to Be Exercised in Their Country of Origin. This proclamation applies to foreign nationals of Ethiopian Origin other than persons who forfeited Ethiopian nationality and acquired Eritrean nationality who had been Ethiopian nationals before acquiring a foreign nationality, or at least one of whose parents or grandparents or great grandparents was an Ethiopian national (Article 2(1)) (emphasis added). From the wording of the law one can see how the Ethiopian-Eritrean relationship is an important factor in Ethiopian citizenship law. This reaffirms the justification mentioned about the issuance of the 2003 nationality law. In a subsequent regulation issued implementing the 2003 nationality law,54 a foreign national of Ethiopian origin is defined as “a foreign national other than a person who forfeited 50 Supra note 24. Ibid. 52 Ethiopian Press Agency, How Can Ethiopia Accommodate Dual Citizenship in Upcoming Elections? https://www.press.et/english/?p=2963#, last accessed 16 March 2020. 53 Bronwen Manby, Citizenship Law in Africa: A Comparative study, OSI, 2016 p 101- Rights of the African Diaspora. 54 Council of Ministers Regulation to provide for the definition of power, duty and organisation structure of the Immigration, Nationality and Vital Events Agency 449/2019. 51 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/9 - © 2020 Author(s) 19