Ethiopia after Live Aid

The oldest independent country in Africa, Ethiopia has the second largest population of all the countries on the continent. Ravaged by famine and military coups, for many years refugees starved as military regimes fought for power. After years of unrest and civil strife, some peace was restored in 1995 with the establishment of a constitution and multi party elections.

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Time Line

• 1974 Around 200,000 people die in Northern Ethiopia as a result of famine. Emperor Haile Selassie is toppled by a communist military Junta (the Derg). SOS Children starts constructing a Children's Village in Makalle, the capital of Tigray in Northern Ethiopia which was where most of the children who had been left orphaned by the famine lived. As well as family based care for orphans, the Village has a small model farm to promote self-sufficiency and teach farming methods, a medical centre, a primary and secondary school and a large Family Strengthening Programme to keep local vulnerable families together.

• 1978 Thousands of government opponents die in a "Red Terror" campaign by the Derg; collectivisation of farming begins; Tigrayan People's Liberation Front launches war for regional autonomy.

• 1984 Four heavily populated Ethiopian provinces—Tigray, Gojjam, Hararghe, Tigray, and Wollo—experienced record low rainfalls in that year. The government of Ethiopia was struggling with regional uprising which was the focus of its attention. Nearly one half of the Ethiopian Gross National Product was being spent on defence. The resulting famine affected Eritrea and Ethiopia and caused at least hundreds of thousands of deaths, as well as leaving some millions of people destitute from loss of lifestock. The famine was widely televised and caused shock throughout the West. SOS Children launches an emergency relief program to help those around its well established Village, Makalle, in the middle of the famine area.

• 1994 New constitution divides Ethiopia into ethnically-based regions.

• 2000 A catastrophic drought results in SOS Children setting up an Emergency Relief Programme in Gode, with the setting up of a temporary medical centre, which later becomes a permanent facility. 

• 2004 Start of government resettlement programme to move more than two million people away from parched, over-worked highlands. Construction of the SOS Children’s Village in Gode is completed.

• 2007 An outbreak of the Ebola virus hits Ethiopia.

• 2008 Two successive seasons of poor rainfall leaves eastern Ethiopia in drought, affecting farmer’s livestock and businesses, and impacting on the availability and cost of food. SOS Children participates in two emergency relief projects in Gode town between 2008-2010, providing food, water and medical care to families living in refugee camps.