Introduction to Foreign Policy of Ethiopia

In Ethiopian empire, different regimes have been using foreign policy and foreign relations as
the best means to modernize the country, maintain sovereignty and defending the national
integrity of the country. However, there is always change and continuous of Ethiopian foreign
policy under different regimes through the central purpose of Ethiopian's foreign policy has
remained the same. like to that of other countries, the making and execution of Ethiopian foreign
policy during military regimes was determined by both internal and external political
development and factors such historical legacy, the level of economic development, cold war ,
political dynamism in the horn Africa and the norms of the international system.

Both the pre- and post-1974 governments used economic and military aid from their respective
superpower patrons to augment their own meager material resources, thus enhancing the ability
of the regime to pursue not only certain foreign policy objectives but also specific domestic
policies. Analysis of Ethiopia's foreign policy, both past and contemporary, suggests that, rather
than serving as the pawns of one superpower or another, Ethiopia's leaders consistently placed
their perceptions of what was best for Ethiopia before all else.

In this topic we focus on foreign policy of Ethiopia during the military regime, Derg.

1, the foreign policy of Ethiopia during the military regime

The military regime that took control of state power in 1974 adopted a foreign policy largely
oriented to socialist ideology. Ethiopia foreign policy and foreign relations during the military
regimes was primarily rooted in Westphalia principle with its emphasis on the security, territorial
integrity and sovereignty of the Ethiopia state. The foreign policy of the country also remains on
the hand of Mengistu Haile Mariam who was the chairman of the military regime and chief of
armed force. At the beginning the military regime's foreign policy remain the same with the
foreign policy of Imperial regime which was western centric and highly securitized approach
especially with European countries and USA but later on the foreign policy of Ethiopia was
shifted from West(European countries and USA)to East (soviet union and wars away pacts) due
to the reduction USA support due to military regime poor human right records especially its
treatment of the former government officials .The primary objectives of the foreign policy were
survival of the regime and maintaining the territorial integrity of the country . The major
strategies to achieve the stated objectives heavily focused on building the military capability of
the country and the force has been employed as the best strategy to silence dissent at home and
deter the perceived external enemies of the country. The regime did not have the necessary
economic and military capacity to achieve its objective, the country was dependent on economic
and military aids on others. In this regard the country was heavily dependent on military aid on
soviet union which prevented it from securing any kind of military and technical assistance from
the us and other European countries.

The formation of Ethiopian foreign policy under the military regime was influenced by the
Marxist - Leninist ideology and Marxist concept of society and the alignment of forces even
though the essence of foreign policy is similar to that of his predecessors but unlike its
predecessor the military regime's foreign relations and policy solely depend on the Soviet union
since the military regime consider the USSR as the natural ally of Ethiopia. The foreign policy
of orientation of the regime was also outside in approach which was all about externalizing the
problem of the country especially like his predecessor he considered the neighboring states of
Ethiopia as historical enemy of the country and personal diplomacy was also what characterized
the foreign policy of the country doing military regimes. Like other countries the making and
execution of Ethiopian foreign policy during military regimes was determined by both internal
and external political development and factors such as historical legacy, the level of economic
development cold war, political dynamism in the horn Africa and the norms of the international

The Derg, the Soviet Union, and the Communist World

Apparently sensing that the Mengistu regime was in desperate trouble, internal and external
enemies took action to hasten its demise (see External and Internal Opponents. Most important,
civilian opposition groups began to wage urban guerrilla campaigns to demoralize and discredit
the Derg, and Somalia committed regular troops to assist ethnic Somali living in Ethiopia's
Ogaden region in their efforts to separate from Ethiopia. Simultaneously, the Somali government
expressed concern over the growing Soviet and Cuban presence in Ethiopia. Until then, Somalia
had been an ally of the Soviet Union. After the Somali National Army (SNA) invaded the
Ogaden region in July 1977, the Soviet Union withdrew its 1,000 advisers from Somalia. In
November Somalia announced that it had abrogated the 1974 Treaty of Friendship and
Cooperation with the Soviet Union and that it had suspended diplomatic relations with Cuba. At
that point, the Soviet Union adopted Ethiopia as its main ally in the Horn of Africa. In late
November, it launched a massive airlift and sealift of arms and other military equipment to
Ethiopia. Over the next several months, about 17,000 Cuban and 1,000 Soviet military personnel
arrived in the country and were deployed to the Ogaden front. This aid turned the tide in favor of
Ethiopia by early 1978.

As had the regime of Haile Selassie, the Derg accorded its international image and territorial
integrity the highest priority in its foreign policy. Opposition groups had forced the regime to
rely extensively on the Soviet Union to maintain itself in power and to preserve the country's
territorial integrity. From 1977 to 1990, Soviet military assistance to Ethiopia was estimated to
be as much as US$13 billion. However, by 1987 there was evidence that the Soviet Union had
decided to cut back military assistance to Ethiopia and to press for political solutions to that
country's several civil conflicts. By that time, there were fewer than 1,800 Soviet advisers in
Ethiopia and a total of about 2,000 advisers from Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, East
Germany, and Poland. Furthermore, all Cuban troops in the Ogaden had withdrawn, and the
Cuban military presence in Ethiopia had dropped to fewer than 2,000.
Although Ethiopia was dependent on the Soviet Union for military assistance and sided with it in
the international diplomatic arena, Addis Ababa on numerous occasions demonstrated its
independence in the area of domestic policy and international economic policy. For instance, the
Derg procrastinated in setting up a vanguard party despite Soviet pressure to do so. Once the
party was formed, it was dominated by former military personnel, again contrary to Soviet
wishes. In the economic sphere, Addis Ababa had close aid and trade relations with the West and
pursued a pragmatic investment policy.

Although Mengistu eschewed any talk of Ethiopian-style glasnost, Ethiopia could not escape the
global impact of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms. When Mengistu visited the Soviet
Union in 1988, Gorbachev told him that if Moscow's support were to continue, the Soviet Union
would have to see dramatic changes in Ethiopia's agricultural priorities, coupled with political
liberalization. The Soviet leader also refused to continue unqualified military and economic
support of the Mengistu regime. A combination of economic realities and Soviet pressure
encouraged the Mengistu regime in 1989 to retreat at least partially from its dogmatically statist
approach to economic development. By late 1990, the Soviet- Ethiopian alliance had ended. As a
result, Addis Ababa looked to several other nations, including Israel and China, for military
assistance. None of these nations, however, was capable of replacing the amount of military
equipment the Soviet Union had supplied to Ethiopia.

The Derg and the West

Although the Derg depended on the Soviet Union and its allies for military aid, it was just as
reliant on the West for economic development and relief aid. For example, the European
Community (EC) was Ethiopia's most significant source of economic aid. In the early 1980s,
Western sources accounted for more than 90 percent of Ethiopia's economic aid, most of which
came from the EC. Since then, communist countries had increased their proportion of total aid to
Ethiopia to about 20 percent. Other multilateral and bilateral donors also had provided increased
aid. For example, after refraining from giving aid to Addis Ababa between 1975 and 1981, the
World Bank (see Glossary) pledged more than US$250 million in project aid, the European
Development Fund promised about US$300 million, and the International Monetary Fund agreed
to a loan of almost US$100 million. The regime accepted the IMF loan even though it claimed to
disagree with IMF policies. Moreover, a joint venture law in 1983 and a foreign investment
policy initiated in 1988 had stimulated the gradual return of private investors, although the level
of such investments remained low.

Even though Ethiopia was dependent on Western economic aid, no Western donor was able to
influence day-to-day economic policy on a regular basis. For instance, the Swedish International
Development Authority, the United States Agency for International Development (AID), the
World Bank, and other donor agencies historically had favored the development of agricultural
cooperatives if they were organized on free-market principles. However, the Ethiopian regime
attempted to guide the development of cooperatives so that they might be transformed into
socialist collectives compatible with a centrally planned and directed economy. Like the imperial
government before it, the Derg attempted to play off a multiplicity of donors against one another
and thereby maximize certain benefits without surrendering its sovereignty.

The four main issue or agendas that determined the foreign policy of Ethiopia during the military
regimes:

1. Economic development and the nature of political development

2. Historical legacy and military capability

3. Leadership and image of the regime

4. Regional and global political system.

1. Economic development and nature of political development.

It is no doubt that Ethiopia is one the world poorest and economically backward countries during
military regime due to imbalanced economy and inadequate socio-economic environment,
though military regime nationalize the means of production and distribution and conduct
different reform programs such as associating the peasant(collectivization), resettlement and
state farming. The regime faced economic crisis due to both human made and natural factors
such as drought, civil war which in turn amounted to difficulties and economic failure.

The nature of the political system during military regime was also characterized by the absence
of unity and cohesiveness due to the advent of historical attempt to impose a single set of values
on a multi-ethnic, multi-confessional, polyglot population which in fact leads to political
instability. Despite the prevalence of initial promise of military regime to ensure popular
participation, equality of all people and respect of people’s fundamental rights but the reality on
the ground is different because of the nature of political system was dictatorial and believe in the
slogan of Ethiopia first and historical legacy of Haile Selassie’s political system.

Thus, it was these domestic political and political realities that determined the style, the approach
and objectives of Ethiopia’s foreign policy during military regime.

2. Historical Legacy and Military Capability

The historical worry has also dominated the perception and attitudes of all Ethiopian regimes;
suspicion of their neighbors’ rooted in the memory of past confrontations. The Christian ruling
classes of Ethiopia have long been convinced that 'Arabs' and 'Muslims' can never be reconciled
with their nations interests (national interest of Ethiopia). This historical tragedy made the
military regime to develop outward, rigid and reactive foreign policy which intended to against
the interest of neighboring Arab states.

The foreign policy strategies developed by military regime include expanding divisions between
Arab states, to pit Africans against Arabs, making arrangements with those in a position to
influence Arabs and to search for a powerful patron. The historical legacy and worry was clearly
expressed by emperor Tewodross II letter to Queen Victoria of England which state that
“Ethiopia is the only Christian state in the Horn of Africa and Red sea which surrounded by
Muslim states which are the enemy of Ethiopia since they intended to create one Muslim state in
the Horn of Africa”. So, it was this historical legacy which pushed the military regime to develop
anti-Arabian state foreign policy and strongly rely on USSR, India, Yugoslavia, Italy and other
western European state to forge against Arab states in Organization of Africa Union.

In a nutshell, it was this siege mentality approach that also forced the military regime to
militarize its foreign policy and diplomacy, and expands its military defense capabilities in the
face of ‘historical external enemies. Thus, maintaining territorial integrity and national
sovereignty equality of Ethiopia was the primary of objective of Ethiopian foreign policy since
the formation of modern Ethiopian empire and again during the reign of the military regime
which is fact realized based on the national or military capacity of the country. To this end, the
military regime allocates the 60%) sixty percent of the annual budget for the military sector in
addition to aid which received from the Soviet Union.

Ethiopia ranked first in terms of allocating a large amount of money from the annual budget for
armed force and again in terms quantity of armed force which resulted from the absence of
durable peace in Horn of Africa and Ethiopia. Despite this, the armed force of Ethiopia under
military regime was not well-trained and this resulted in the defeat of the armed forces by ethnic
based internal movements like Eritrean People Liberation Front, Tigray People Liberation Front,
Oromo Liberation Front and other insurgent movements. Therefore, historical legacies and
domestic military capability determine Ethiopian foreign policy and its response to these
domestic threats remains the main determinant of Ethiopia’s foreign policy under military
regime.

3. Leadership and Image the Regime

President's idiosyncrasies was the determinants of Ethiopian foreign policy and foreign relations
under military regime, under the military regime, all political power was concentrated under the
strong hand of Mengistu Haile Mariam who was the Secretary-General of the Worker Party of
Ethiopia and the President of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and Commander-in-
Chief of the Armed Force. He has controlled the all political activities of the regime and the
foreign policy of the country was approved by him and the outcome of Ethiopian foreign policy
was reflection of the President's idiosyncrasies, major decisions in foreign policy have taken
place without sufficient thought about its consequence and implication for Ethiopia. Therefore,
this monopoly of authority adversely affects the predictability and clarity of foreign policy and
makes its systematic formulation and execution difficult.
4. Regional and Global Political System

Ethiopia found at the epicenter of Horn of Africa. The political condition and political
atmosphere found in the Horn Africa affects and determine the foreign policy of Ethiopia since
the reign of emperor Tewodros II to even today due to the spillover effects of what happened
other Horn of Africa states. Ethiopian foreign policy always affected by the political situation
found in the Horn of Africa region.
Thus, it political environment and political culture in the Horn of Africa determined Ethiopian
foreign policy under military regime because during the then time officials of the regime and
president Mengistu himself believe that Ethiopia is surrounded by several unfriendly states,
who’s inhabitants share more differences than similarities, and whose relationships have largely
been characterized by mutual suspicion and violent hostility. This made the regime to understand
that, the major security threat of Ethiopia is an external threat since the foreign policy approach
and orientation of regime was an outside-in approach.
Beside this, Ethiopia is the independent state in the Horn of Africa and this resulted in the
conduct of boundary demarcation between Ethiopian and European powers (Britain, France, and
Italy) and it was this boundary demarcation which incorporated Ogaden and surrounding area as
part of Ethiopian empire especially during the reign of emperor Menelik II and again Eretria
which was Italy colony was also federated with Ethiopia in 1952 as a result of UN resolution of
390. These two provinces were the major security threats of Ethiopia during the military regime
and determine Ethiopian foreign policy and relations during the military regime and they were
the catalyst for relationship with neighboring states because of the independent Somalia and
Eritrea was not interested in the demarcated territory by colonial powers and that was what leads
to the 1977 Ethio-somali war and the raise Eritrean People Liberation Front and other
movements to against the regime. Generally, Ethiopia is the only non-Arab and officially non-
Muslim state in the Red Sea region, and because of its proximity to the Middle East, the oil-rich
Persian Gulf, and the militarily important Indian Ocean, it continues to attract the attention not
only of the two superpowers, but also Israel and various Arab governments, as well as Western
Europe. Thus, due to the geostrategic nature of the country and its epicenter to all Horn of
African states the Ethiopian foreign policy was affected by the political dynamism in the Horn of
Africa.
The reign of the military regime (1974-1991) was also era of cold war and bipolar system which
determined the foreign policy of nation states across the world. Thus, the same logic applies on
the foreign policy of Ethiopia under the military regime because the milestone of Ethiopian
foreign policy during the then time was making USSR and another socialist states the natural ally
of the country. The near total dependence on the leaders in Moscow and their Warsaw Pact allies
for military and logistical support during the war with Somalia and in the Eritrean conflict,
several other factors has facilitated the consolidation of this new special relationship. The Soviet
Union and its allies were thus exerted immense influence in both the domestic and foreign policy
of Ethiopia and this made Ethiopia play central role Ethiopia in the informal network of Africa's
Marxist regimes created during the late I970s and early1980s including Angola and
Mozambique.