Neki aspekti političkih i ekonomskih odnosa Jugoslavije i Etiopije od 1975. do 1990.

Abstract

The Non-Aligned Movement formed the backbone of Yugoslavia’s foreign policy during the Cold War. As one of the founders of the Non-Aligned Movement, Yugoslavia sought to maintain, as much as possible, a balance within the Movement, which encompassed countries with differing political affiliations and systems, some of which had close relations with the opposing blocs led by the USA or USSR. After the Ethiopian revolution of 1974, which overthrew Emperor Haile Sellasie, the country was led by the Derg, a junta officially known as the Provisional Military Administrative Council, which was in 1977 taken over by a Marxist-ideological current led by Mengistu Haile Meriam, who openly showed sympathy for the Soviet bloc. The Ogaden War between Ethiopia and Somalia in 1977-1978 would prove to be a turning point in Ethiopia’s foreign policy, which moved toward closer political and economic cooperation with the USSR and Cuba. Closer ties to Cuba was a particular concern for Yugoslavia, due to Cuba’s desire to impose itself as the leader of the Non-Aligned Movement and thus turn the balance of political forces within the Movement to its advantage. In this paper we want to explore political and economic relations between Ethiopia and Yugoslavia, including economic relations between the Socialist Republic of Croatia and Ethiopia, from 1975, when a new revolutionary Ethiopian diplomatic delegation came to Yugoslavia to continue Ethiopian-Yugoslavian relations, and ending in 1990, with the disintegration of Yugoslavia and socialist systems in general, when the Yugoslav role in the Non-Aligned Movement slowly eroded. The paper will also present the joint Yugoslav-Ethiopian project Nekemte, which was implemented during the 1980s and aimed at showcasing methods to increase agricultural production in Ethiopia.