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Ethiopia Addis Ababa and the Middle East
To undermine regional support for the Eritrean movements,
after 1987 the Ethiopian government tried to develop better
relations with several Arab countries. Between 1987 and
1989, high-level Ethiopian delegations visited Egypt, Syria,
Iraq, Libya, and Saudi Arabia. In the fall of 1988, Mengistu
paid a two-day visit to Syria to explain to President Hafiz
al Assad the various reforms the Ethiopian regime had
recently made, including the creation of autonomous regions,
designed to be responsive to the desires of groups like the
Eritreans. Prime Minister Fikre-Selassie Wogderes made a
visit to Cairo in November 1988 to seek improved relations
with Egypt and to express support for Egypt's offer to
negotiate a settlement of the Eritrean conflict. Despite
these moves, Ethiopia's relations with the Middle East
remained minimal.
By 1989 the lack of progress toward improved relations with
Arab countries and the desperate need for arms appeared to
have inspired Ethiopia to develop closer ties with Israel.
Subsequently, diplomatic relations between the two
countries, which had been broken off at the time of the
October 1973 War, were restored. Approximately 10,000 Beta
Israel (Ethiopian Jews; also called Falasha) had been
spirited out of Ethiopia to Israel in 1984 in a secret
airlift known as Operation Moses, and Israel remained
committed to securing the emigration of the remaining Beta
Israel. In return, Israel agreed to provide the Mengistu
regime with military assistance (see
Ethnic Groups,
Ethnicity, and Language, ch. 2).
Israel obtained the release of an additional large number
of Beta Israel in May 1991 in the midst of the collapse of
the Mengistu regime. Negotiations for another Beta Israel
exodus were already under way, and large numbers of them had
already been brought to Addis Ababa when the military
government came under intense pressure from EPRDF forces. At
the behest of both Israel and the United States, the
government agreed to release the Beta Israel against an
Israeli payment of US$35 million. On May 24-26, in what was
called Operation Solomon, some 15,000 Beta Israel were
airlifted from Ethiopia to Israel, leaving an estimated
5,000 behind, mostly around Gonder.
Data as of 1991
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