Report on Citizenship Law: Ethiopia Ethiopian woman who had lost her Ethiopian nationality by virtue of marriage with a foreigner, following the dissolution of the marriage either by divorce, separation or death, was entitled to apply for readmission provided she returned to reside in Ethiopia. An important piece of legislation on nationality law during the time of the Emperor worth taking note of is Imperial order No. 6 of 1952, an order to provide for the Federal Incorporation and Inclusion of the Territory of Eritrea within Our Empire. Following the defeat of Italy in the Second World War, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution providing that Eritrea (formerly an Italian colony) would be constituted as an autonomous unit federated with Ethiopia under the sovereignty of the Ethiopian Crown.22 Section 9 of the Imperial Order adopted two years later reads: All Inhabitants of the territory of Eritrea except persons in possession of foreign nationality are hereby declared to be subjects of our empire and Ethiopian nationals. All inhabitants born in the territory of Eritrea and having at least one indigenous parent or grandparent are also declared to be subjects of our empire; however, if such a person is in possession of foreign nationality, he is hereby permitted to renounce within six months of the date thereof the nationality granted above and retain such foreign nationality, but if he does not so renounce he shall thereupon lose such foreign nationality. Further on in this work we shall be looking at how the unhealthy relationship between Ethiopia and Eritrea has complicated, and legal and political actions on nationality have negatively affected, the nationality rights of persons who by accident of birth happened to be in these countries. The above-mentioned decree is a perfect example showing that nationality was conferred by force on an Italian with Eritrean origin if the person wished to live in the province of Eritrea. Such a person could not maintain his/her Italian nationality. It is interesting to note that from the time of the Emperor up to 2000 the case of Eritrea was an important key concern in Ethiopian nationality law. Eritreans and Eritrea were a constant variable in Ethiopia’s nationality law equation. In a nutshell, as law mirrors the social and political development of any society, given the fact that modernisation efforts were being made by the Emperor and as there was no prior experience of nationality law in the country, Africa’s first nationality can be praised for its succinct description of modes of acquiring, losing and regaining nationality. Without discounting these strengths, the law can be criticised for cutting through issues like gender equality. However, at the time it was promulgated, the positive contribution of the law outweighed its limitations. 22 UN General Assembly, Resolution 390 A (V) of 2 December 1950, available at https://undocs.org/en/A/RES/390(V). RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/9 - © 2020 Author(s) 7