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Article: Mengistu's game. (Mengistu Haile Mariam of Ethiopia )
- Article from:
- The Nation
- Article date:
- October 1, 1990
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1990 The Nation Company L.P. 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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Mengistu's Game
As the United States rediscovers its strategic interest in the Red Sea, the Ethiopian government has renewed its diplomatic offensive in the West. Ethiopia's aim is to obtain weapons to stave off defeat in its civil wars; its tactics are to present itself as an ally of Israel surrounded by hostile Arabs and to offer a naval base on the Red Sea.
Ethiopia's strongman, Lieut. Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam, faces defeat at the hands of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, which has captured all of Eritrea, Ethiopia's coastal province, except the capital, Asmara. That city is home to 425,000 people, and Mengistu has threatened to turn it into ...