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Ethiopia East Germany
Of all the East European nations that provided military
assistance to Ethiopia, none played a more vital role than
East Germany. Its importance to Addis Ababa derived not so
much from its conventional military support, which at times
was crucial to Ethiopian security, as from its involvement
in Ethiopia's intelligence and security services.
East Germany's military relationship with the Mengistu
regime started in 1977, when Socialist Unity Party of
Germany leader Werner Lamberz visited Ethiopia three times
(February, June, and December) to coordinate and direct the
operations of the approximately 2,000 South Yemeni soldiers
who were fighting against Somali forces in the Ogaden. East
Germany also provided support to Soviet and Cuban pilots who
flew helicopters and fighter-bombers on combat missions
during the Ogaden War. Moreover, East Germany agreed to give
ideological training to hundreds of Ethiopian officers. Even
after the end of the Ogaden War, East Germany remained
militarily active in Ethiopia. During the 1978 Ethiopian
offensive against the EPLF, East German engineers, working
in conjunction with their Soviet counterparts, reportedly
built flanking roads, enabling Ethiopian tanks to come up
behind EPLF lines. In addition, East German military
advisers manned artillery and rocket units in Eritrea.
Interestingly, in 1978 East Germany also sponsored
unsuccessful peace talks between Ethiopia and the EPLF. When
these discussions failed, the East German government
abandoned diplomacy in favor of a military solution to the
problem of Eritrean and Tigrayan separatism.
In May 1979, East Germany and Ethiopia signed an agreement
formalizing military relations between the two countries.
Then, on November 15, 1979, East German head of state Erich
Honecker visited Ethiopia and signed a twenty-year Treaty of
Friendship and Cooperation. In addition to calling for
greater cooperation in politics, economics, trade, science,
culture, and technology, the 1979 treaty also laid the
groundwork for increased military assistance.
For most of the 1980s, East Germany, through its National
People's Army and its State Security Service, provided
Ethiopia with diverse forms of military and intelligence
assistance. Apart from military aid, such as automatic
rifles, ammunition, artillery, and heavy vehicles, East
Germany provided up to five months' training in military and
police tactics to members of the People's Protection
Brigades, which concentrated on routine police duties at the
local level (see
People's Protection Brigades, this ch.). In
1982 East German intelligence advisers participated in that
year's Red Star campaign against Eritrean separatists. East
German personnel often assumed control of Ethiopian army
communications sites as, for instance, they did in mid-1988
in Asmera. In addition, East German security advisers
reportedly acted as Mengistu's personal bodyguard.
Even after the Soviet Union altered its policy toward
Ethiopia in the late 1980s, East Germany remained Mengistu's
staunch ally. In mid-1989, for example, Honecker promised
Mengistu fifty to sixty T-54/55 tanks that had been
scheduled to be scrapped in a force reduction. However,
after Honecker's resignation and the emergence of a more
broadly based government in late 1989, East German officials
informed Addis Ababa that the military relationship between
the two countries had been terminated and that all future
arms deliveries had been canceled. In 1990 the 550 East
German advisers and technicians stationed in Ethiopia were
withdrawn. The end of the alliance between Ethiopia and East
Germany further isolated the Mengistu regime and reduced the
Ethiopian army's ability to achieve a military solution in
Eritrea and Tigray.
Data as of 1991
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