Correspondents' Correspondence
Correspondents' Correspondence BRIEF TAKEOUTS OF MORE THAN PERSONAL INTEREST FROM LETTERS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS Troubled Ethiopia Addis Ababa—The execution early this...
...The Dergue, the 120-man ruling council that ultimately replaced Emperor Haile Selassie's feudal monarchy, is itself wracked by internal dissension that has so far reduced its number to 60, and faces challenges from armed Leftists, Rightists and secessionists, as well as hostile neighbors...
...Further isolation of Ethiopia is threatened by the excesses of the military regime, which have caused African diplomats from the Organization of African Unity and the United Nations to consider moving their operations out of Addis Ababa...
...Last month, the governor of the ince of Hararge—now in open rebellion...
...The majority of Ethiopians, who merely want to go about their daily business peacefully, meanwhile live in constant fear of violence...
...To save Jibuti, Ethiopia is cultivating close relations with the Soviet Union, in the hope that it will act to restrain Somalia...
...On the Right, the Dergue is being assailed by the Ethiopian Democratic Union (EDU...
...The area has, incidentally, turned into a windfall for the Soviets: Since France has made clear its plans to wash its hands of the region, they are now without superpower opposition on the strategic horn of Africa...
...Correspondents' Correspondence BRIEF TAKEOUTS OF MORE THAN PERSONAL INTEREST FROM LETTERS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS Troubled Ethiopia Addis Ababa—The execution early this month of Ethiopian head of state Brigadier General Teferi Banti, along with eight of his supporters, reflected in dramatic fashion the problems that have been plaguing this country since a Marxist military revolution began here exactly three years ago...
...The EPRP accuses the Moscow-oriented Fida-ists of slavishly supporting the "fascist" council to achieve positions of power...
...Comprised primarily of former officials in the Selassie regime, with offices in the Sudan and London, the EDU has recently been claiming victories in a series of armed clashes with government troops in western Ethiopia...
...The AESU leader, French-educated Haile Fida, also heads the civilian Politburo set up to advise the Dergue...
...Unless Colonel Mengistu can work miracles, it is likely to remain one of Africa's most unsettled countries for a long time to come.?Roger Mann...
...To display their strength, EPRP guerrillas shoot daily at members of the All Ethiopian Socialist Union (AESU...
...We usually aim for their knees," said the EPRP man...
...Established by students and urban intellectuals, it is now successfully rallying peasants in some areas to its cause...
...One of the worst incidents took place in January, when Ethiopian soldiers shot a Gabonese diplomat in the head after he drove his car?bearing UN license plates—too close to a public building.With skirmishes in the West, one war in the North and the possibility of another in the South, and with four major and many minor opposition groups operating throughout the country, Ethiopia is in deep trouble...
...We are trying to show that opportunists won't be tolerated...
...Even if it takes us 25 years to win the country," one supporter of the underground group told me, "we will succeed...
...On the extreme Left, the main opposition to the Dergue, and to Lieutenant Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam.who seems to have emerged victorious from the latest power struggle, is the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary party (EPRP...
Vol. 60 • February 1977 • No. 5
