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Article: The men who follow Mengistu. (deposed leader Mengistu Haile Mariam fled Ethiopia)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- June 1, 1991
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1991 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE strong man left, his army crumbled, the rebels seized the capital. The new masters of Africa's oldest empire faced little resistance, but they were hardly welcomed either. Their appeals for calm were ignored by the people of Addis Ababa; in London American-sponsored negotiations produced only a vague plan for settling Ethiopia's overlapping civil wars. In Liberia and Somalia the death or departure of autocrats has been followed by continued mayhem. Ethiopia's people, 8m of whom already face famine, may now face something else. Ethiopia may be dismembered.
Mengistu Haile Mariam, Ethiopia's dictator since 1977, fled on May 21st. His successors called for a ...