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Ethiopia
Index
This study replaces Ethiopia: A Country Study, which
was
completed in 1980--six years after a group of military
officers overthrew Emperor Haile Selassie I and eventually
established a Marxist-Leninist dictatorship. By 1990 this
regime, led by Mengistu Haile Mariam, was on the verge of
collapse, largely because of its inability to defeat two
insurgencies in the northern part of the country.
This edition of Ethiopia: A Country Study examines the
revolutionary government's record until a few months before
its demise. Subsequent events are discussed in the
Introduction. Like its predecessor, this study investigates
the historical, social, economic, political, and national
security forces that helped determine the nature of
Ethiopian society. Sources of information used in the
study's preparation included scholarly books, journals, and
monographs; official reports of governments and
international organizations; numerous periodicals; the
authors' previous research and observations; and interviews
with individuals who have special competence in Ethiopian
and African affairs. Chapter bibliographies appear at the
end of the book; brief comments on sources recommended for
further reading appear at the end of each chapter.
The available materials on Ethiopia frequently presented
problems because of the different transliterations of placenames and personal names used by scholars and other writers.
No standardized and universally accepted system has been
developed for the transliteration of Amharic (the most
widely used language in the country), and even the Ethiopian
government's official publications vary in their English
spellings of proper names. Insofar as possible, the authors
have attempted to reduce the confusion with regard to placenames by adhering to the system adopted by the United States
Board on Geographic Names (BGN), except that diacritical
markings are eliminated in this study. With regard to
personal names, the authors have attempted to use the most
common English spellings. The authors also have followed the
Amharic tradition of referring only to the first element of
a name when using it in a second reference. Thus, Mengistu
Haile Mariam becomes Mengistu after the first use.
The reader should exercise caution with regard to dates
cited in relation to Ethiopia. Dates used in this book
generally are according to the standard, Gregorian (Western)
calendar. But life in Ethiopia is actually governed by the
Ethiopian calendar, which consists of twelve months of
thirty days each and one month of five days (six in leap
years) running from September 11 to September 10 according
to the Gregorian calendar. The sequence of years in the
Ethiopian calendar also differs from the Gregorian calendar,
running seven years behind the Gregorian calendar at the
beginning of an Ethiopian year and eight years behind at its
end.
The reader will note the frequent use in this book of
double years, such as 1989/90 or 1990/91, especially in
Chapters 2 and 3. These dates do not mean that a two-year
period is covered. Rather, they reflect the conversion of
Ethiopian calendar years to the Gregorian system. When
1990/91 is used, for example, the date refers to September
11, 1990, to September 10, 1991, or the equivalent of the
Ethiopian calendar year of 1983. Some economic data are
based on the Ethiopian fiscal year, which runs from July 8
to the following July 7 in the Gregorian calendar, but eight
years behind the Gregorian year. Hence, Ethiopian fiscal
year 1990/91 (also seen as EFY 1990/91) corresponds to July
11, 1990, to July 10, 1991, or the equivalent of Ethiopian
fiscal year 1983. Concerning economic data in general, it
must be noted that there has been a dearth of new statistics
since 1988, reflecting the state of affairs within the
Ethiopian government since then.
All measurements in this study are presented in the metric
system. A conversion table is provided to assist those
readers who may not be familiar with metric equivalents (see
table
1, Appendix). The book also includes a Glossary to
explain terms with which the reader may not be familiar.
Finally, readers will note that the body of the text
reflects information available as of July 1991. Certain
other portions of the text, however, have been updated: the
Introduction discusses significant events that have occurred
since the information cutoff date; the Country Profile
includes updated statistics when such information is
available; and the Bibliography lists recently published
sources thought to be particularly helpful to the reader.
Data as of 1991
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