Word: ethiopia
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...their guns. This time they battled not government forces but thousands of civilians who had taken to the streets to protest the sudden ascendancy of Meles' maverick band. It was a curious reaction, considering that Meles' troops had deposed Mengistu Haile Mariam, the onetime lieutenant colonel who had ruled Ethiopia for 14 bloody years. The demonstrations and crackdowns left at least 10 dead and an additional 400 wounded...
...fair, it could have been worse, as it has been elsewhere. The recent fall of governments in Liberia and Somalia invited spasms of bloodletting that make the tumult in Ethiopia look like a tiff between friends. Still, the unrest in Addis Ababa laid bare the factional divisions that continue to plague Ethiopia, a country that has 70 ethnic groups and at least as many different languages. Holding together the country, or what remains of it, will be as daunting a task for the new regime as it was for the fallen...
...sophisticated of the Ethiopians and therefore the country's rightful masters. The Tigreans speak a different language and stem from a region hundreds of miles north of the capital. They have been rivals of the Amharas for two millenniums, going back to a time when the capital of ancient Ethiopia was Aksum, in the heart of Tigre country. When the Democratic Front arrived in Addis Ababa, hundreds of people flooded into the streets simply to stare in wonder at these strange Tigreans, these "bandits" and "barbarians" Mengistu had warned about for years...
...Eritrean leaders, however, have no interest in Ethiopia's governance but simply want to break away from the country. Established as an Italian colony in 1890, Eritrea expected nationhood after World War II but was instead federated with Ethiopia in 1952 at the recommendation of the United Nations. In 1962 the Eritrean parliament voted for full unification amid reports of bribery and intimidation of its members by the government of Emperor Haile Selassie...
...said they were willing to postpone their independence vote, perhaps for several years. But once victory was secured, they wasted no time asserting their secessionist agenda. In a press conference last week, Issaias Afewerki, leader of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, stated baldly, "Eritrea is not part of Ethiopia." He added that his group would administer the province until a vote on Eritrea's status is held, a plebiscite the front is convinced will endorse secession...