Page 113 - Volume 2_CHANGES_merged_with links

Ethiopia

Uncomfortable Truths

6.5% growth in GDP and a 3.6% rise in per capita income. Instead, per capita income declined
0.8% over this period. Famine scholar Alex de Waal observed that while the famine that struck

the country in the mid-1980s is usually ascribed to drought, closer investigation shows that
widespread drought occurred only some months after the famine was already under way.
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The geopolitical situations turned unfavourable for the communist government in the late
1980s, with the Soviet Union retreating from the expansion of Communism under Mikhail

Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika. Socialist bloc countries drastically reduced their aid to
Ethiopia, struggling to keep their own economies going. This resulted in even more economic

hardship, and the military gave way in the face of determined onslaughts by guerrilla forces in
the north.
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Towards the end of January 1991, a coalition of rebel forces, the Ethiopian People's
Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) captured Gondar (the ancient capital city), Bahir Dar

and Dessie. Meanwhile, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front had gained control of all of
Eritrea except for Asmara and Assab in the south. “

"Derg: 131
Wikipedia
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Ethiopia & the TPLF

Tigray

" The Tigray Region is the northernmost region of Ethiopia. Tigray is the homeland of the
Tigrayan, Irob and Kunama peoples. Tigray is also known as Region 1 according to the federal

constitution. Its capital and largest city is Mekelle. Tigray is the 5th largest by area, the 5th
most populous, and the 5th most densely populated of the 10 Regional States.
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Tigray is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, the Amhara Region to the south
and the Afar Region to the east and southeast.

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Following the conclusion of the Ethiopian Civil War in 1991, although the area which became

the Tigray Region was thought by the rest of Ethiopia to be the beneficiaries of substantial
funding from an Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) government

dominated by fellow Tigrayans, in reality the beneficiaries are mostly the members of the
Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). “
"Tigray Region" 131
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