Word: mengistu
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...have a cultural difference, as well as alevel of economy that's quite different:capitalist, democratic society versus a societyand a culture that's just come out of a horriblecivil war," she said. Many Ethiopian families weredisplaced in the civil strife that drove outdictator Mengistu Haile Mariam...
...found him to be charming, his wife is one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen in the world, she was like King Solomon's daughter, and eloquent and personable." --Jimmy Carter, commenting on Ethopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam...
...began this trip in Ethiopia. I have been to Addis Ababa many times, but am always surprised at the lush greenness and precision farming around the capital city. After overthrowing the communist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam, acting President Meles Zenawi is attempting to implement a free-market system, protecting human rights, forming an independent judiciary and sharing political power in this poorest of all nations. With some degree of luck and moderate assistance, Ethiopia can become the most dramatic example of progress in recent history...
Other crises press on the government, giving rise to the phrase most commonly heard around the capital city of Addis Ababa: "We're still working on that." One troubling issue is the detention of nearly half of Mengistu's 400,000-strong army in two dozen camps around Ethiopia and over the border in the Sudan. Meles is worried that if the troops are released en masse, they will return home to find no food and no jobs. With half the population unemployed or underemployed, freedom for the soldiers is not likely to come soon. "You'd have people trained...
There are also thousands of civilian detainees, former sympathizers of Mengistu, who are being held without trial in Addis Ababa. The conditions are better than tolerable, and there have been no charges of torture. But few are being released. "We can't deal with them without a new judicial system," Meles explains. He believes that the establishment of courts must take a backseat to political and economic agendas, and offers no apology for the delay...