Addis Ababa (or Ādīs Ābeba)

Capital of Ethiopia; population (1999 est) 2,424,000. The city is at an altitude of 2,500 m/8,200 ft. Industries include light engineering, food processing, brewing, livestock processing, chemicals, cement, textiles, footwear, clothing, and handicrafts. Addis Ababa was founded in 1887 by Menelik II, chief of Shoa, who ascended the throne of Ethiopia in 1889. The city is the headquarters of the African Union (AU) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

Features The city has many modern buildings, including an opera house completed in 1955. It also contains Ethiopia's first university, Addis Ababa University (formerly Haile Selassie I University), founded in 1961 from the University College of Addis Ababa (which was established in 1950). The city is the main centre of government and commerce and was the official residence of the emperor Haile Selassie (reigned 1930-74). Menelik II's former residence, Menelik Palace, is now occupied by the government. The city is connected by rail to the port of Djibouti 780 km/485 mi away.

Modern history Addis Ababa was the capital of Italian East Africa 1936-41. It was the scene of one of the worst massacres in modern history when for three days during February 1937, on the orders of General Rodolfo Graziani, the whole city was given over to mass murder and rape by the Italians. At least 30,000 are said to have been killed, many of them herded into houses which were set on fire. The massacre followed an attempt on the life of Graziani.

The charter establishing the OAU was signed in Addis Ababa in 1963. Civilian opposition to the Marxist military government resulted in urban civil war in the city in 1977. In 1991 the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) entered the capital and established the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE). The TGE endorsed the secession of Eritrea in 1993 and the realignment of provincial boundaries.