Word: eritrea
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Third World dictatorships had their First or Second World patrons to help maintain borders and thwart secession. Only as long as the Kremlin armed Ethiopia was Mengistu Haile Mariam able to cling to Eritrea and his own position in Addis Ababa...
...power elite last week. Many of the others oppose his plan for Eritrean independence, preferring to keep the coastal province firmly within Ethiopia. Issaias had a message for them. "Forget history," he told the conference in Addis Ababa. "Men make history, and we have made an independent Eritrea...
...officially colonized the province, Eritreans have considered themselves more advanced than Ethiopians. Eritrean rebels began fighting for independence in 1961 and since then have done an impressive job of providing health care, education and other services to rural areas under their control. Ethiopia's dilemma, however, is acute: without Eritrea, the nation of 53 million has no access...
Many non-Eritreans oppose the province's independence for economic as well as nationalistic reasons. Without Eritrea, with its long Red Sea coast, Ethiopia would be landlocked. International food aid, essential in combating famine when the rains fail, enters the country primarily through the Eritrean ports of Massawa and Assab. The Eritreans have pledged that they will permit goods to flow freely through their territory, but many Ethiopians wonder whether they can trust such promises from a group that has fought Addis Ababa for three decades...
...Democratic Front's position on Eritrea is much like Washington's: it endorses the right of the Eritreans to their referendum but wants a unified Ethiopia and so hopes that the vote, if held, goes against secession. As the day of reckoning approaches, tensions between the two groups may erupt. Already, there are strains between Meles and Issaias, who have been friends for 16 years. Issaias is upset that Meles succumbed to U.S. pressure to promise elections within a year. Meles is angry that Issaias reneged on his original pledge to participate in the transitional government to be established...