Word: mengistu
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...latest effort to mediate the conflict was sparked by what appears to be the imminent collapse of Lieut. Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam's regime. Mengistu, whose 14-year reign of terror rivals that of Saddam Hussein, has been written off before, only to survive. But since late April, when Tigrean- led Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front guerrillas pushed as far south as Ambo, putting almost all of northern Ethiopia in rebel hands, the consensus has been that Mengistu is a goner. "It brought home that the 30- year seesaw of rebel victories and then government victories had irretrievably dipped...
Washington-sponsored talks between the rebels and the regime are scheduled to take place in London next week. Mengistu, however, is a sticky problem. Those around him, sensing a dark future for the government, are keenly interested in negotiations. The President is showing signs of stress -- he needs to take pills to sleep -- but he still seems to think he can hold out. Says a U.S. government specialist on Ethiopia: "He's the type to hang on to the bitter...
Washington still hopes to persuade Mengistu to step aside by turning his own logic against him. The President has claimed that he alone represents unity for Ethiopia against the secessionist demands of the Eritreans. But if there is no political settlement, the Americans will argue, the Eritreans are poised to win their independence by force. What's more, the U.S. will maintain, Ethiopia can remain intact even with Mengistu gone because the Eritreans, to everyone's amazement, say they will defer their dream of a separate state...
...qualms about dealing with other pariahs. He has helped South African arms companies circumvent a global embargo by putting MADE IN CHILE labels on some of their weapons as part of co-production deals. His most recent customer for cluster bombs has been the repressive regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam in Ethiopia. In September 1989 Cardoen received his government's permission to sell Ethiopia up to 1,658 of the devices, at $7,000 apiece; the bombs have reportedly been used against civilians in separatist Eritrea...
...Ethiopian deal was arranged, Cardoen says, through "third parties," whom he does not name but who have been identified by one of his employees as Israelis. Rumors have been circulating for months in Washington and the Middle East that Israel provided cluster bombs and other military aid to Mengistu in exchange for exit visas for Ethiopian Jews. Jerusalem, however, vehemently denies any involvement in Cardoen's Ethiopian deal...