The assessment of Ethiopian Federal Police illicit drug trafficking prevention measures

Abstract

The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is located in the Horn of Africa and bound on the northeast by Eritrea and Djibouti, on the east and southeast by Somalia, on the south-west by Kenya and on the west and north-west by Sudan. In a 2003 report, the Ethiopia Central Statistical Authority (2003:24) estimated the population of Ethiopia to be 71,066,000. The Ethiopian economy is mainly based on agriculture, which contributes 47% to GNP and more than 80% of exports and employs 85% of the population. Ethiopia nowadays governs under a federal system and due to the governance system there are nine regional states in the country, which are composed of specific ethnic groups. The regional states, which have a significant degree of autonomy, are Tigray, Afar, Amhara, Oromia, Somalia, Benshangul-Gumaz, Gambela, Harar and the Southern Nations, nationalities and peoples, which comprise about 41 ethnic groups. Hence, the structure of the police service in the country follows the characteristics of the federal system. Accordingly, the regional states have their own police service, which is responsible to the regional states and at the federal government level, the Federal Police Service (FPS) is responsible to federal government.