The Transitional Period of Ethiopia, 1991-1995

This chapter analyses Ethiopia’s political transition from 1991 to 1995, a period marked by the collapse of the socialist Derg regime, the rise of ethnonational liberation fronts, and the institutionalisation of a multinational federal system. The study reconstructs key diplomatic and military events surrounding the fall of Addis Ababa, including the U.S.-brokered London talks, the coordinated advance of the TPLF/EPRDF and EPLF, and the marginalisation of competing actors such as the OLF. It further examines the Transitional Charter and the Council of Representatives as foundational mechanisms for redesigning state power, codifying national self-determination, and restructuring executive authority. The analysis highlights the strategic calculus of external actors, especially the United States, whose involvement shaped both regime exit and post-conflict governance trajectories. The chapter demonstrates that the transitional period did not constitute a liberal democratic opening; rather, it functioned as a controlled political reset in which the victorious EPRDF consolidated dominance while institutionalising ethnofederal arrangements that defined the subsequent federal order. The findings contribute to broader debates on post-conflict state formation, negotiated transitions, and federalism in divided societies.