USA: ETHIOPIANS STAGE DEMONSTRATIONS CONDEMNING LIEUTENANT-COLONEL MENGISTU HAILE MARIAM'S GOVERNMENT AND CALLING FOR AN END TO FOREIGN INTERVENTION IN "THE HORN OF AFRICA"

Record ID: 504513

  • Title: USA: ETHIOPIANS STAGE DEMONSTRATIONS CONDEMNING LIEUTENANT-COLONEL MENGISTU HAILE MARIAM'S GOVERNMENT AND CALLING FOR AN END TO FOREIGN INTERVENTION IN "THE HORN OF AFRICA"
  • Date: 10th January 1978
  • Summary: SV: Demonstrators wearing masks and carrying banners, chanting as they parade outside the Ethiopian United Nations mission in New York. SV: Demonstrator carrying placard reading "US-USSR OUT OF ETHIOPIA" parading with other demonstrators. TV PAN OVER: Demonstrators. LV ZOOM INTO: Large banner "Two Super Powers-Hands Off Ethiopia". (TWO SHOTS) SV: Bus with police on board standing by. SV PAN FROM: Sign 'United Nations Plaza' TO demonstrators outside the United Nations. SV PAN FROM: Large placard condemning US-Soviet presence in Ethiopia TO chanting and parading demonstrators. Initials JS/2100 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 25th January 1978 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK CITY, USA
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA89U7TY3PRUZA2N341VJN5NAIO
  • Story Text: Several hundred Ethiopian students and teachers demonstrated outside the United Nations and the United Nations Ethiopian Mission in New York on Monday (9 January). They were condemning the Ethiopian Government of Lieutenant-Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam and protesting against big power intervention in North Eastern Africa known as "The Horn of Africa".

    SYNOPSIS: The demonstrators outside the United Nations Ethiopian Mission belonged to a group calling itself Representatives of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP). They claim to have an ideology closely akin to Marxism-Leninism and are against the Government of Lieutenant-Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam for being too Soviet orientated. They are also opposed to any foreign intervention in the struggle taking place in the "Horn of Africa", and believe that the Ethiopian people should be able to determine their own destiny. The group supports the aims of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front and other guerrillas who have been fighting for independence since 1961.

    Soviet military aid to Ethiopia has been stepped up recently with the increased fighting on several fronts. The United States which used to be Ethiopia's main source of military aid, has been replaced by the Soviet Union. 500 Cuban military advisers are thought to be in the country.

    The group continued its protests outside the United Nations building. Since Ethiopia dropped United States support in favour of the Soviet Union, neighbouring Somalia -- which supports guerrillas in Eastern Ethiopia -- has broken traditional links with the Soviets and looked towards the United States for its military aid. Though this support has not materialised, the involvement of foreign powers is what the EPRP are trying to stop.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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