Military - note Ethiopia, in 6 editions.

each of the nine states has a regional and/or a "special" paramilitary security forces that report to regional civilian authorities; local militias operate across the country in loose and varying coordination with these regional security and police forces, the Ethiopian Federal Police (EFP), and the Ethiopian military; the EFP reports to the Ministry of Peace, which was created in October of 2018
since November 2020, the Government of Ethiopia has been engaged in a protracted military conflict with the Tigrayan Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the former governing party of the Tigray Region; the government deemed a TPLF attack on Ethiopia military forces as a domestic terrorism incident and launched a military/law enforcement military offensive in response; the TPLF asserted that its actions were self-defense in the face of planned Ethiopian Government action to remove it from the provincial government; the Ethiopian Government sent large elements of the ENDF into Tigray to remove the TPLF and invited militia and paramilitary forces from the states of Afar and Amara, as well as the military forces of Eritrea, to assist; the fighting continued through 2021 with included heavy civilian and military casualties and with widespread human rights abuses reported reported; in March 2022, the Ethiopian Government declared a truce to facilitate the flow of humanitarian aid into the Tigray region; the TPLF reciprocated with a truce of its own; however, fighting between the TPLF and the Ethiopian Government resumed in August 2022; the two sides agreed to another cease-fire in November 2022
the military forces of the Tigray regional government are known as the Tigray Defense Force (TDF); the TDF is comprised of state paramilitary forces, local militia, and troops that defected from the ENDF; it reportedly had was reported to have up to 250,000 fighters at the start of the conflict; conflict
in August 2021, 2022, the TPLF struck an alliance with ENDF was also engaged in counterinsurgency operations against anti-government militants in several other states; the largest was in Oromya (Oromia) against the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA)
(OLA; aka Shene), an insurgent group that claimed to be fighting for greater autonomy for the Oromo, Ethiopia's largest ethnic group; the OLA was a member of a coalition of eight anti-government factions known as the United Front of Ethiopia and Confederalist Forces (UFEFCF); formed in 2021, the Ethiopian military consisted UFEFCF included the TPLF, as well as rebel groups of approximately 22 Army divisions (approximately 14 light infantry, 6 mechanized, variable sizes from several regions of the country; the OLA has also clashed with ethnic militias (aka Fano) from the neighboring state of Amara
in July 2022, militants from the Somalia-based terrorist group al-Shabaab launched an incursion into Ethiopia's Somali (Sumale) region, attacking villages and 1 commando/special operations), while security forces; the Air Force had 2 fighter/ground attack Ethiopian Government claimed that regional security forces killed hundreds of Shabaab fighters and 2 mixed attack/transport helicopter squadrons subsequently deployed additional ENDF troops into Somalia’s Gedo region to prevent further such incursions (2022)

the ENDF has traditionally been one of sub-Saharan Africa’s largest, most experienced, and best equipped militaries, but it suffered heavy casualties and equipment losses during the 2020-2022 Tigray conflict; the Ground Forces are estimated to have more than 20 infantry divisions, including several that are mechanized, along with at least one division of commandos/special forces; the Air Force has combat squadrons of multipurpose fighter aircraft, attack helicopters, and armed unmanned aerial vehicles; ENDF operations are often supported by sizeable regional state paramilitary units
the ENDF is focused on both external threats emanating from its neighbors and internal threats from multiple internal armed groups; since 1998, the ENDF has engaged in several conventional and counterinsurgency operations, including border wars with Eritrea (1998-2000) and Somalia (2006-2008) and internal conflicts with the Tigray regional state (2020-2022), several insurgent groups and ethnic militias (including the ethnonationalist ethno-nationalist Amhara Fano), and the al-Shabaab terrorist group (see Appendix T);
as of 2024, the ENDF is currently was conducting counterinsurgency operations against anti-government militants in several states, including in Oromya (Oromia) against the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), an insurgent group that claims to be fighting for greater autonomy for the Oromo, Ethiopia's largest ethnic group; in 2022, militants from the Somalia-based al-Shabaab terrorist group launched an incursion into Ethiopia's Somali (Sumale) regional state, attacking villages and security forces; the Ethiopian Government claimed that regional security forces killed hundreds of al-Shabaab fighters and subsequently deployed additional ENDF troops into Somalia’s Gedo region to prevent further incursions (2023) (2024)

the ENDF has been one of sub-Saharan Africa’s largest, most experienced, and best equipped militaries, but it suffered heavy casualties and equipment losses during the 2020-2022 Tigray conflict; the ENDF Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) is focused on both external threats emanating from its neighbors and internal threats from multiple internal armed groups; since 1998, the ENDF has engaged in several conventional and counterinsurgency operations, including border wars with Eritrea (1998-2000) and Somalia (2006-2008) and internal conflicts with the Tigray regional state (2020-2022), several multiple insurgent groups and ethnic militias (including the ethno-nationalist Amhara Fano), militias, and the al-Shabaab terrorist group
group; as of 2024, 2025, the ENDF was actively conducting counterinsurgency operations against anti-government militants in several states, including in Oromya (Oromia) against the Amhara militia Fano and the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), an insurgent group that claims to be fighting for greater autonomy for the Oromo, Ethiopia's largest ethnic group; in 2022, militants from the Somalia-based al-Shabaab terrorist group launched an incursion into Ethiopia's Somali (Sumale) regional state, attacking villages and security forces; the Ethiopian Government claimed that regional security forces killed hundreds of as well as al-Shabaab fighters and subsequently deployed additional ENDF troops into Somalia’s Gedo region to prevent further incursions (2024) in Somalia (2025)