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In 1997, the Ethiopian Government - assisted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - initiated a project in the Southern Rift Valley called the Southern Tsetse Eradication Project (STEP). Its long-term objectives are: (1) to create a tsetse-free zone in a 25 000 square kilometre area under agricultural development, and (2) to develop adequate national capacity for applying the concept of area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) with a sterile insect technique (SIT) component to other parts of the country affected by the tsetse and trypanosomosis (T and T) problem. This project will require consistent commitment and inputs by major stakeholders over a period of at least 15 years. The project was initiated with the collection and evaluation of entomological, veterinary, environmental and socio-economic baseline data which reconfirmed the presence of only one species, i.e. Glossina pallidipes Austen, in the main valley, and the positive socio-economic and agro-ecological impact anticipated. This situation generated international acceptance of the Southern Rift Valley as a high priority area for the control of T and T and for related sustainable agriculture and rural development. A colony of Glossina pallidipes Austen originating from the Southern Rift Valley was also initiated. In 2002, community-based tsetse suppression was initiated in localized areas using insecticides on cattle and on blue-black-blue fabric targets that attract tsetse flies. These localized tsetse suppression activities have been expanded to all operational grids of the 10 500 square kilometre STEP block-1 area. Limited entomological and veterinary monitoring in 15 sites suggests that the apparent density of G. pallidipes in these localized control sites may have been reduced by 92%, while the prevalence of trypanosomes in livestock in those areas decreased by 58%. An analysis using geographic information systems (GIS) has indicated that the community-based tsetse suppression does not cover all of the tsetse-infested areas in the STEP block-1 and it is therefore assumed that some cattle herds remain with high disease prevalence in areas that were not adequately covered by the community fly control measures. The operational programme will include the introduction of a set of implementation rules and regulations conducive to the special needs of an operational AW-IPM campaign, i.e. an efficient management structure and the provision of adequate financial flexibility. KEYWORDS Glossina pallidipes, Glossina fuscipes fuscipes, baseline data collection, sterile insect technique, tsetse-free zone, area-wide IPM [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]