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Documents

June 1988

East German Ministry for State Security, 'On the Position of the Army in the Political System of Ethiopia

Excerpt of a Stasi report on the Ethiopian army. This portion of the report deals with the Army’s dissatisfaction with the quality of the Soviet Union’s armaments; the East German material ponders how much of this is part of anti-Soviet sentiment, and how much is due to their professional incapacity.

August 18, 1981

Telegram from Czechoslovak Embassy in Addis Ababa

Prague’s representation to Addis Ababa offers an insight into the Soviet Union’s economic assistance toward Ethiopia in the early 1980s, while voicing, at the same time, the Soviet economic delegation’s nuanced and candid impression of Mengistu’s abilities to control the course of the revolutionary transformations.

January 16, 1978

British Foreign Office, 'Soviet Role in the Horn of Africa'

Drawing upon British concerns with respect to their possible reaction to Moscow’s support for Ethiopia against Somalia’s aggression, the Foreign Office Planning Staff looks into the wider international implications of the conflict in the Horn.

September 2, 1977

Message from Yugolav Embassy Addis Ababa, 'The Soviet Ambassador on the Ethiopian-Soviet Relations'

A detailed view of Soviet reactions toward the Ethiopian-Somali conflict as of early September 1977, showing Moscow’s envoy to Addis Ababa’s conviction that Ethiopia would emerge victorious from the war. However, this document also gives a somewhat critical view on the part of Yugoslav’s diplomat regarding the Soviets’ unofficial and unsuccessful attempt to persuade Ethiopia to surrender part of Ogaden in order to appease the Somalis.

March 1977

Cuban Intelligence Report on Ethiopia, 'Síntesis analítica sobre la revolución etiopica. Proposiciones'

Intelligence report on the situation in Ethiopia.

November 25, 1980

Hungarian Embassy in Ethiopia, Telegram, 25 November 1980. Subject: DPRK-Ethiopian relations.

The status of diplomatic relations between Ethiopia and North Korea are discussed in this telegram. The then-recent Somali-Ethiopian conflict is brought up, and there is evident misgiving on Ethiopia's part regarding North Korean relations with Somalia.

September 6, 1977

Memorandum of Conversation, Soviet Ambassador to Ethiopia A.P. Ratanov with US Charge d'Affaires A. Tienkin, 3 September 1977

Memorandum of Conversation, Soviet Ambassador to Ethiopia A.P. Ratanov with U.S. Charge d'Affaires A. Tienkin regarding US feelings of improved US-Ethiopian and US-Somalian relations and US lack of interest in Soviet military aid to Ethiopia

November 29, 1977

Letter, Erich Honecker to the General Secretary of the People's Congress of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi

Honecker thanks Qaddafi for his contributions to the cause of the movement of progressive states in the Middle East and the defense against imperialism and Zionism. He expresses concern about the conflict in the Horn of Africa region and wants to arrange a meeting of GDR representative Werner Lamberz with Qaddafi in Tripoli. Further proposed topics for this meeting include talks with representatives of the Palestinian revolution and the continuing development of East German-Libyan relations. (There is a telegram from 1 December 1977 signed by Hermann Axen that refers to this meeting.)

February 10, 1978

Memorandum of Conversation between East German official Paul Markovski and CPSU CC International Department head Boris N. Ponomarev in Moscow

The two men discussed the current situation in Ethiopia and focused on the assistance the Soviet Union and Cuba was providing to the Ethiopians. They also talked about the role the United States was playing in the Horn of Africa

February 13, 1978

SED CC, Department of International Relations, 16 February 1978, Report on Conversation with [Vice-president] Carlos Rafael Rodriguez, Member of the Politburo of the CP Cuba, in Havana

Ambassador Langer discusses with Rodriguez the current situation in Ethiopia, focusing on the Eritrean liberation movement and the ongoing war with Somalia. They also discuss levels of assistance by various outside powers to the region

Pagination