Salient. Official Newspaper of Victoria University of Wellington Students Association. Vol 40 No. 23. September 12 1977
Soviets want cake and eat it too
Soviets want cake and eat it too
In December 1976 the Soviet Union, taking advantage of the cooling of relations between Ethiopia and the United States following the ouster of Haile Selassie, offered the junta $100 million in arms.
Earlier this year the Soviet Union launched a general diplomatic offensive in Africa. Former Soviet President Podgorny headed a 120-man mission which visited four countrios, including Somalia. His yard sweeper Fidel Castro visited seven African countries, including South Yemen, Somalia and Ethiopia. Immediately after his African trip, Castro flew to Moscow to report on its results to Brezhnev.
Castro gave his seal of approval, for what it is worth, to Mengistu's regime, calling it Africa's "first truly Marzist revolution". Cubans were sent to help out the junta. Some have claimed that there are now 3,000 of them in Ethiopia.