Word: ethiopia
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Emperor had earlier been forced to oust his old Cabinet and name a progressive-minded diplomat, Endalkachew Makonnen, 46, as Prime Minister. The military's success in getting what it wanted apparently served as a goad to other dissatisfied Ethiopians. In early March a general strike paralyzed Ethiopia's cities for four days and cut the country off from the outside world. The international airports in Addis Ababa and Asmara were shut down and the Red Sea ports were closed. Food and fuel shortages spread as truck drivers stopped working. So determined were the striking workers...
...upheaval in Ethiopia, which began with a strike by teachers and taxi drivers and culminated in a military mutiny, continued unchecked last week. Beleaguered Emperor Haile Selassie, 81, offered the protesters concession after concession, only to see them ask for even more reforms. By promising changes for his semifeudal country, Haile Selassie probably saved the monarchy as an institution, at the price of yielding much of his fabled, once absolute power...
...give government employees the right to organize, did most workers return to their jobs. Teachers, however, remained out, demanding higher salaries. Toward week's end their protests were joined by several hundred black-robed priests of the Coptic Christian Church, who demonstrated outside Parliament. Claiming to speak for Ethiopia's 200,000 priests, they threatened to strike unless they received a boost in their current $1.50 monthly minimum allowance. Also angry were the capital's estimated 50,000 prostitutes. In leaflets, addressed to the police and signed "the guardians of your happiness and well-being," they warned...
What was surprising was not that the mutiny took place, but that it was so long in coming. Well-trained by American, British and Israeli experts, the 42,000-man army is a modern outfit with-at least for Ethiopia-modern views. Its educated officers have long been unhappy about the appalling gap between rich and poor and the inefficiencies and inequities of a feudal agricultural system. Last year drought, landlord indifference and government mismanagement combined to produce a famine that left at least 50,000 dead...
Venerated by his people and respected by other African leaders, Haile Selassie is still head of state and a symbol of authority. But for the moment, at least, power in Ethiopia rests with the military. After Endalkachew took office, some army officers called for trials of many of the ousted Cabinet Ministers on the ground that they had "enriched themselves at the people's expense, maintained fat foreign bank accounts and took land illegally from the peasants." Thousands of students paraded noisily proclaiming support of the army and demanding freedom of the press and formation of political parties...