Ethiopia, located in eastern Africa, is the continent’s oldest independent country. Apart from a five-year occupation by Italy in 1936-1941, it has never been colonized. In 1974, a military junta, the Derg, deposed Emperor Haile Selassie (who had ruled since 1930) and established a socialist state. Torn by bloody coups, uprisings, wide-scale drought, and massive refugee problems, the regime was finally toppled in 1991 by a coalition of rebel forces, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). A constitution was adopted in 1994, and Ethiopia's first multiparty elections were held in 1995. A border war with Eritrea in the late 1990s ended with a peace treaty in December 2000, but border tensions between the two countries persist. Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world. The largely agricultural economy remains vulnerable to climatic shocks, particularly droughts, and to world commodity price fluctuations. The war with Eritrea from 1998 to 2000 also had a devastating economic impact. However, Ethiopia has made significant progress in improving its economic performance in recent years thanks to the implementation of sound economic policies and financial support from the international community.