(won From Moscow Jack Phillips ptOScow — When | interviewed the Ethiopian am- peor to the Soviet Union recently, he drew to my €ntion the fact that between 1957 and 1974 (the year of revolution), a number of severe famines occurred as ATesult of drought conditions. The 1973-74 drought and . ane and lack of concern by the despotic Selassie . me, resulted in the loss of 200,000 lives. It also helped " 'igeer the national democratic revolution of Feb- ary, 1974, te hat revolution was led by a ‘‘co-ordinating commit- € of the armed forces, the police and territorial army.”’ vi = follows is a summarized version of my interview Aa the ambassador, 47-year-old Nesibu Taye, a former ‘ly officer who served as military attache in Moscow Nor to becoming ambassador. * 2K * Q: What has the revolution accomplished for the People? A: Ethiopia is a land of peasants. We have long suf- at 2 ae ao from hunger, disease and illiteracy — problems the are common to underdeveloped countries. While me fevolution has not yet solved all the problems men- hed, it has solved the land problem in the interest of . Peasants, and it has dealt with illiteracy, which is creasing yearly. : od You refer to the 1974 revolution as a national demo- »¢ revolution. Did any countries help Ethiopia to con- Idate the revolution? assic We had good friends by our side. We had the ttie Stance of the Soviet Union and other socialist coun- one Particularly during the critical periods. This will forgotten by the Ethiopian people. § he Would you care to comment on the current drought “ation in your country? ae The Situation is not as presented by some western kilo smen. Ethiopia isa big country (1,223,600 square Meters) with a rugged, difficult terrain. Large areas in -* North have not been suitable for agriculture for a long tion peccause of the shortage of water. Since our revolu- rom as created a more favorable Situation, peasants ible this area can move to other parts with more favor- Ste Panaitions for agriculture. The northern, drought- €n areas are highly populated and we are moving ple from there to more suitable areas in the south. “SEE Q: Do you run into any opposition from the people of the drought area, in respect to moving to the south? A: In a backward country like ours, many people cling to their old way, traditions and customs, and we have to contend with a low level of consciousness. We cannot expect all the people to participate in this prog- ram. But the number of people asking to go south is increasing. Q: Can you give me an idea of the numbers involved, in terms of people? A: So far, we have moved 750,000 people, that is, half the number called for in the plan. Q: What help did you receive from the international community in moving such a large number of people? A: With a very undeveloped infrastructure (parti- cularly with respect to roads and transportation facili- ties), we had to call for help. The Soviet Union was the first to respond and, along with other socialist countries, has given us massive help, in providing planes, helicop- ters and trucks for moving people. That program has been extended to include the current year. After we publicized our problem, some food donations came from western countries, but most of them have refused to help in our resettlement program. Q: Why have they refused? A: They are opposed to our revolution and they want the suffering to continue. They want our people to re- main as beggars in the international community. Q: What is the attitude of the Reagan administration? A: It has tried to reverse the course of the revolution, using the issue of moving people to other areas as a pretext. They assumed that because of the drought the revolution could not succeed. But facts prove.this is not sO. Q: With eight million people living in the areas of Eritrea, Tigrai, Wello and northern Shoa affected by the drought, you are planning to move only one and a half million. What about the remainder? A: This is a drought-prone area. There will be more aid to reclaim the land, to improve irrigation and to make the remaining people more self-supporting. to overcome backwardness Q: Have you received any appreciable aid from western countries? A: Yes, and it is very much appreciated, but countries like Britain and France are moving out while the Soviet Union and the other socialist countries are increasing their help. Q: Has Canada given any substantial help? A: Yes, and we are grateful to the Canadian people. The aid we have received from your government and from public organizations is not small, but I cannot quan- tify it at this moment. I know we have received Canadian grain. Q: In what way can the Canadian government and voluntary organizations help at this time? : A: Our Relief and Rehabilitation Commission deals with this problem. Up to now, many international organ- izations have communicated with this body and the relationships which developed have been cordial. Q: Is the drought the main problem confronting Ethiopia? A: The problem of Ethiopia is not only the drought. The main problem has been to find a system, to establish the right system. Ethiopia has lived for a long time as an independent nation, but the people were not truly independent. We were subject -to exploitation and oppression for a long time. The revolution of 11 years ago is a new, qualitiative change. We are creating the right system for our country. Q: Your ultimate objective is socialism? A: Yes, that is stated in the program of the Worker’s Party of Ethiopia, founded in 1984. Q: Have you any message for the Canadian people? A: My people have a long-standing friendship with — the Canadian people. Your people have for a long time stood by our side and contributed their share. This was | particularly true when things were not normal in my country and in critical situations. I wish that our relation- ship will continue to grow with time. —s INTERNATIONAL FOCUS Tom Morris They’re wearing €r dresses! f Have you ever scanned the ‘Ont pages and thought you Were reading the comics? here was a day last week Rees after reading about op ean's inept and ridiculous Peech and the trouble it creat- . with South American : ates, the next item concerned Nother God’s gift to his coun- "y, Ferdinand Marcos. h arcos was ticked off. Here Pn: stuck in a million- Olar shack on a Hawaiian ach, and back home the people, he complained, were wearing his wife’s dresses. Now that’s the common rabble for you. No respect. - Can you just imagine the effrontery? Ferdinand and Im- elda probably watched on tele- vision with the rest of us as Filipinos streamed through his beloved palace. They stared at the lush salons, gently touched the drapery, gasped at the . closets of clothing, shoes and other items of the Marcos dynasty. Imagine, real people in their palace! The people in the palace. Can you picture just what this sort of liberalism could lead to? What if the 20 million jobless Americans filed through the White House and looked through Ron and Nan- cy’s stuff? What if some poor American woman wore her dresses? Just look at what the Rus- sians. did with the Czar’s palaces ... they turned them into public museums and real people wander through them every day. They even own. thems. It’s tough to be a deposed tyrant. A president beyond belief With his brains in neutral and his mouth in drive, Reagan once again sallied forth into the fray. In a nationally-televised speech devoted to the sins of the Sandinista’ government, the president really let loose. In addition to the usual bilge about Nicaragua being a Soviet-Cuban beachhead, a threat to all of Central America (including Mexico), of its driv- ing millions of Latin Ameri- cans over the U.S. border and flooding his beloved nation with drugs, Reagan added still more: He accused Managua of subverting the governments of Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Uruguay. and Dominican Republic. Perhaps that’s all he could memorize at the moment, for he omitted Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru and Colombia — or he would have covered every nation on the South American continent excluding the Guyanas and Surinam, which he probably thinks are beyond hope. So, once again, when the dust from Reagan’s barrage Setuede tne U5". olare Department. sent out its gar- bage detail to clean up. They set about “‘clarifying’’ to these governments what Reagan re- ally meant, responding to pro- tests from various capitals. Clarifying, in their language, simply means explaining that the president had no proof of his wild charges. But, gosh gee, Reagan gets confused, don’t you see? Be- sides, his personal intervention last week succeeded in getting PACIFIC TRIBUNE, APRIL 9, 1986 « 9 ‘the contra bill through a servile - Senate. What are a few inac- curacies anyway? Libyan leader Gaddafi was probably right when he told re- porters Reagan probably doesn’t even know where the Gulf of Sidra is. He surely hasn’t aclue about South American geography (or politics and economics), but he smiles a lot and listens to his generals and admirals who, sadly, do know where these countries are located. The farce finally ends Three years ago, when Ita- lian police arrested Sergei An- tonov and announced the ‘‘Bulgarian connection”’ in the plot to kill the Pope, the news made headlines. The ‘*Bulgarian connection,’ of course, was linked straight to the KGB. It made great news. Last weekend, the case in shambles, the ‘‘Trial of the Century’’ was calied off. The Italians released Antonov and he went home after years in prison. The news received six lines on page 19 of the Toronto Star.