Lila Kelley

Towson University

POLITICAL BACKGROUND - Ethiopia experienced a rather long period of internal unrest from 1960-1974.  This revolution, which gained momentum during the student revolts of 1965, aimed at achieving land reform, eliminating corruption within government ranks, and lowering ever rising inflation.  This was the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, who was notoriously uninterested in domestic affairs and concentrated primarily on foreign relations.

In 1974, a secret and anonymous association called the "Derg" 1/. was created.  Its members were high-ranking military officials who plotted sweeping changes across the country, starting with the government.  The Derg was a primarily socialist organization that worked to undermine the legitimacy and authority of the Emperor.  And, after attaining substantial popular influence and support, it formally deposed and imprisoned Emperor Haile Selassie on September 12, 1974.  Growing increasingly affluent during the period of 1974-1977, the Derg consolidated its power by placing Mengistu Haile Mariam at the head of government, where he remained as military dictator for the next 13 years.

Mengistu began a campaign of controlling dissention through what became known as the "Red Terror" of 1977-78 2/..  Meanwhile, the Derg promoted and successfully acquired the alliance of several Marxist-Leninist organizations to further control and stimulate Ethiopian socialism, and to obtain support for various government activities.

By the late 1970's and early 1980's, Ethiopia had undergone monumental restructuring of its political arrangement, but it was still unable to stop on-going civil wars with Eritrea and Tigray, and insurgencies in Ogaden against Somalia's irredentism policy.  A major turning point came in 1977 when, while fighting the Ogaden War, a desperate Mengistu turned to the Soviet Union for aid, equipment, and advisors.

During the years leading up to the famine of 1984, Mengistu formed the Commission to Organize the Party of the Workers of Ethiopia, with himself as the chairman, to ensure continued communist support, specifically from the Soviet Union, by adapting and implementing its constitutional ideals verbatim.
 

NATURE, POLITICS, AND ECONOMIC CRISIS -- Ethiopia had never fully recovered from a devastating famine in the early 1970's, and by the mid-1980's it was clear that the drought, which affected nearly all of the African Sahel countries, would pose a major problem to the government.  By 1984, the famine in northern Ethiopia had reached significant proportions due to multifaceted factors.

First, the drought had caused almost complete crop failure and the government was clearly incapable of providing appropriate relief, which an estimated 5.8 million people depended on.  Second, Eritrean war rebels hindered the passage of relief supplies coming in through the north because, again, the government was unable of providing efficient security.  By late 1985, another year of drought was forecast, and by early 1986 the famine had spread to the southern highlands.

The government's lack of response during the famine led to international denunciation of the Ethiopian regime.  Not only were Mengistu's economic policies and political strategies completely ineffective, he was also criticized for violating human rights by keeping food from reaching the rebel areas.  A hopeless and increasingly controversial Mengistu needed to act quickly.  The government responded by instituting a rather forceful uprooting process that in two years resettled about 600,000 people from the affected north to the southern part of the country.

Also begun at the same time was another government program, called villagization, where peasants had to leave their homes and move into planned villages.  This was an attempt at more efficient famine relief as well as heightened security.  The program promised services that never came to fruition, such as access to clean water, good schools, and adequate hospitals.  Aggravating the situation was the fact that the program caused an unexpected decline in agricultural productivity, bringing the attention of several human rights organizations to Mengistu's government one more time.
 

FAMINE RELIEF CAMPS AND WORLD RESPONSE - Sadly, the millions of people being fed at the relief camps were not safe from further misfortunes.  In January 1985, a cholera epidemic swept through the center at Harbu 3/., killing 50 people a day.  Though the government would not officially acknowledge the presence of cholera within the country, aid workers were extremely fearful of the likelihood of subsequent spreading to other centers because of poor hygiene and lack of clean water.  There were no plans to immunize camp residents, even tough cholera is highly infectious and often fatal.  As a result, relief centers turned into breeding grounds for diseases, killing as many people as starvation.

Heading the relief campaign were several United Nations' agencies, including the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN Disaster and Relief Agency, as well as the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Catholic Relief Services, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.  In June1985, the Canadian External Relations Minister announced a donation of 500,000 Canadian dollars (about 365,000 U.S. dollars) to fund the improvement of the transportation system within Ethiopia, as an effort to ameliorate the serious distribution problems greatly obstructing famine relief efforts.  In fact, out of the1984-85 Canadian government fiscal budget, close to 60 million Canadian dollars went to Ethiopian famine relief.

As a result of the Ethiopian government's presumed human rights violations and of worldwide surveillance, relief camps were eventually improved, and consequently, so were the lives of those living there.  Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa  visited several of these camps during a three-day tour in August of 1985, and recorded the differences she noted since her last visit eight months prior: the people were "much better and smiling," and the situation seemed "more controlled."   In addition, Mother Teresa's Calcutta-based religious order ran six centers for famine victims in Ethiopia.
 

LIVE AID CONCERT -- On July 13, 1985, the most ambitious and most successful event in the history of rock music took place simultaneously at London's Wembley and Philadelphia's John F. Kennedy Stadiums.  The concert connected 1.5 billion television spectators in 160 countries via satellite, with the purpose of raising money for Ethiopian famine victims.  Live Aid's organizer, Irish-born pop singer Bob Geldof, reportedly expected to raise anywhere from 15 to 50 million dollars, an underestimation of the concert's real gains totaling around 60 million dollars.

The transatlantic "global jukebox" brought together "the best of the best" in the world of British and American pop rock music, such as Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Lionel Richie.  Other prominent figures were also present, namely the British Royal Family, movie star Jack Nicholson, and singer-actress Bette Midler.  But the most anticipated events were the reunion of the broken-up British group The Who, and a performance by Crosby, Stills and Nash.

Well beyond its entertainment value, the concert and everything attached to it had the famine relief as the ultimate goal.  A few months prior to July 13, several British musicians recorded "Do They Know It's Christmas?" while in the U.S. an all-star ensemble recorded "We Are the World".  Combined, these songs raised 30 million dollars.

The Ethiopian government thanked everyone involved for the concert, but clearly stated its discontent with the commendable worldwide efforts.  It reportedly said that, due to the lack of long-term internal development assistance, millions of Ethiopians would probably still perish.  Immediate response was the creation of the Live Aid Foundation, holding all of the proceeds from the concert as its operating budget.
 

AFTERMATH -- On September 10, 1987, after thirteen years of oppressive military rule, a new nation was born.  The People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia came under a civilian government ruled by a new constitution and a popularly elected National Assembly.  Despite all of these external changes however, things were still controlled by the same members of the now-extinct Derg 4/.  But the democratization of Ethiopia is believed to have been a piece of a larger political puzzle.  Soviet-Ethiopian relations began to deteriorate in the late 80's because of the new policies put forth by Mikhail Gorbachev's administration, but mainly as a result of the strong disapproval of Mengistu's perceived misuse of Soviet aid.

Internal insurgencies and economic upheaval continued to plague the country.  In order to finance the military, Mengistu took out foreign loans, consequently leading to further debt.  Defense expenditures at this time absorbed as much as 40 to 50 percent of an already-declining GDP, while manufacturing and agriculture plummeted.  Long withstanding insurgencies in the Ogaden, Eritrea, and Tigray showed no signs of letting up, while expansionary attacks into Gonder, Welo, and Shewa continued.

The famine of 1984-85 affected close to 8 million people and depleted the Ethiopian population by 1 million, so when the threat of another famine hit in 1987, the country was led into a tailspin.  The lingering effects of the famine, such as a malnourished population completely disillusioned with its leaders, coupled with internal mayhem and chaotic warfare, kept on undercutting development and encouraging the economy's overall stagnation.  With the coup of President Mengistu's 17-year repressive rule in 1991, the desire for an economically-sound democratic Ethiopia lives on.
 

1. Amharic word for "committee" or "council". Return to text.
2. Event where government security forces systematically hunted down and killed suspected members and supporters of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP), especially students. Return to text.
3. Harbu is located in the Wollo province, about 150 miles north of Addis Ababa.  This small center serviced 6,000 people. Return to text.
4. For example, the National Assembly elected Mengistu Haile Mariam to be the first president of the Republic. Return to text.