Ethiopia’s ups and downs

A 20-year history | Marvin Olasky

Two decades ago Ethiopia was still suffering under a Marxist military dictatorship, funded by the Soviet Union. Dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam had expelled Americans, welcomed Soviet and Cuban troops, banned many church activities, instituted military conscription and curfews, and created People's Committees to report on any who murmured against the government. He and his associates probably executed half a million people during Ethiopia's Red Terror in the mid-1970s.

Live by Soviet aid, die by its removal. When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, a rebel coalition rolled into Addis, with Mengistu fleeing to asylum in Zimbabwe. Meles Zenawi, a Communist who publicly changed his views when his patrons were no more, became the "transitional" head of state after the dictator was overthrown in 1991. He is still in charge.