NationStates Jolt Archive

Colonel Ras Matambo looked down at his watch. Already nine PM... he had just put the final touches to his constitutional draft, one that would make his country into a real communist democracy. But there was so much still to do... as he searched for his notepad, his gaze alighted upon the carbon copy of the cease-fire document he had paraphed a few hours ago; a ceasefire with the Tigrean National Front and Erytrea...it would cost him some political flak, but there were no other viable options; the Ethiopian Popular Defence Forces needed badly to be reorganized. The offensive against the TNF should have waited...so soon after the revolution, it should have been obvious to us-doubly so to me, as a military officer-that our forces would not have the capacity to crush the rebels, even if we didn't have a disputed border to guard... The mistake had cost dear: despite early successes, the EPDF had only retaken negligible amounts of land from the rebels, while nearly ten thousand soldiers had died in eight weeks of heavy fighting in Tigre-and hundreds more as Erytrea took the opportunity to seize disputed borderlands. Colonel Matambo was certain Ethiopia would avenge herself one day, but that day was still distant.

And until then, much work to do....he started writing up and signing orders for the distribution of food, water, and emergency medical supplies, the beginning of a vaccination campaign, urgent measures to supply remote areas...and that's just the tip of the iceberg....so much we need, and so few ressource...He made up his mind. He drafted a note for his provisional minister of foreign affairs instructing him to seek aid from developped Seocnd World countries.

New Lusaka City, the United African Republic of Lusaka

President Derek Igomo showed no small degree of satisfaction at word of relative Ethiopian stability, and had Secretary Miyanda express as much in a communiqué to Addis Ababa. The message also spoke of the Republic's desire for increased trade with Ethiopia, though in light of Lusaka's own wildly unstable economy and the nation's on going intervention against Gabon's invaders significant economic aid was impossible.

The President himself added that the Republic was always willing to help, if not always ready. Perhaps the most influential of modern African socialists, it was no secret that Igomo would be keen to support the new system in Ethiopia against its enemies whatever form, human or other, they may take.

A symbol of a resurgent People's Revolutionnary Democratic Republic, the Hall of the Revolution had been entirely rebuilt since the bomb attack of eleven years ago. It was a busy place also, and Sigrid Andtern was wishing for a pause as the meeting broke up. But it was not to be; Fouad and Aïsha had told her they wanted to see her about something after the meeting, so she lingered. the two Praesidents came to see her, and Fouad started their exposé:
"We've been in contact with Ethiopian diplomats. A communist regime has recently emerged there, but their faced with huge difficulties: a landgrab by neighbouring Erytrea, and considerable part of the country seceded without the army-disorganized by the revolutionnary fighting-being able to stop it, the economy is in shambles, chronic famine in many parts of the country, and epidemics of diverse virii-including HIV-spreading unchecked. they didn't say anything about Sudan, but i cant imagine an ultra-conservative islamic regime being happy at having communists on the doorstep. They have requested and indeed need aid to develop and defend themselves."
Aïsha then stepped in:"as you know, we have a certain ammount of economic slack, and are as yet unsure of being able to export all of our surpluses within the IFTA this year. By the Articles of Revolution, we may begin shipments of purely economic aid on your word, pending confirmation by the SRC, and thereafter also military aid if w einclude it in the plan." She opened her folder, and extracted a document. "Here is a provisionnal list i prepared."
Sigrid sighed. She glanced over the paper-it was a sensible proposition for military and economic aid, as she knew it would be. Aïsha had been efficient as ever. "All right, go ahead. But i'll leave it to you two to push it tomorrow at the Council."

Colonel Matambo was moderately pleased. A developped nation had pledged generous aid, and already his admnistration was sorting out the issue of delvieries, and just as important, he now held in his hand the Lusakan president's message, expressing the support of an African power.
He ordered the drafting of a return message, thanking Igomo for the support, stating that Ethiopia would be more than willing to increase trade, and wishing victory for the Lusakan soldiers in Gabon.

Adam Governor leafed through the papers on his desk for a moment before sighing in despair and setting them down, looking at the pile waiting for him with not much happiness. "Too much bloody stuff comes into the Ministry of Haraki Foreign Affairs," he grumbled. "Requests for aid, champagne for a birthday, people asking us to go to war ... It gets really annoying. Mostly it's people asking about our leave of absence, though. That got us some new inquiries."

He looked at the top paper on his desk. Declaration of War on ...

He threw it aside. Some tiny country asking for help in a war against some other tiny country. Governor couldn't care. He picked up his phone. "Debbie, are there any new requests come in? Anything worth reading?" he asked his secretary.

"Um ... Something from Popular Ethiopia, sir ..."

"Who're they?" Governor replied grumpily.

"A small country that has just gained their own political system, freedom, independance or something. I think a someone finally gained complete control of the countr,y so they need aid to make it stabile."

"Hmm ..." Governor thought for a moment. "Have a draft of the document on my desk tomorrow morning."



Adam Governor looked over the document. Aid ... Food, water, medical supplies, human aid if needed. Looked good. Anything more the country could request. Even said so in the document. "Good job, Debbie ..." he muttered, before signing it and placing it in the 'OUT' box on his desk, and looking back to the mountain of paperwork awaiting him.


http://www.0three0.net/anime/kaji/gfx/main-face.gif
Adam Governor
Haraki Minister of Foreign Affairs
Medal of Honour Winner, Haraki Revolution

Colonel Matambo made sure Haraki was thanked for their offer that perhaps could save thousands of lives. He didn't write it himself-much as he liked to do as much a spossible on his own, he simply didn't have time. As he had expected, the constitutional convention had approved his draft, and now he had to prepare a speech for his invstiture as Chairman of the Commonwealth, as well as naming an interim Prime Minister and campaigning for his party in the first elections for the People's Assembly, and to top it off he was still, as the man in charge of the country's provisional administration, responsible for managing the efforts to reliev suffering in the most deprived and isolated areas and get the economy working again.

The colonel shook his head, discouraged. There was no other solution. He'd have to ask the Constitutional Convention to suspend the elections. It was hard enough trying to organize elections in a countyr where two-thirds of the voters couldn't read and write and around half were so busy just surviving they coulnd't care less who ran it as long as the food aid kept arriving, but when the infrastructur of civil admnistration was in such a state that the only organization capable of running the elections was the army....It didn't matter if the army was really going to lign up opposants and shoot them: if the voters think the army will-and they would think that, however many assurances to the countrary were handed out-then the results will be the same. Plus the army was so overstretched, distributing emergency relief aid, watching the borders, and playing police, he wasn't sure if it really could organize the ballot anyway. He could always ask the UN to do it, but even if they accepted, he wasn't sure he'd trust an organization dominated by the capitalist First World-and the exploitative international business interests that dominated it.
On second thought, he'd just ask someone else ot go to the Constitutional Convention in his behalf to ask for the suspension. He yawned, and started reading the reports on his desk...the army was making headway in reducing drug traffic through Ethiopia to Djibouti from neighbouring countries, good...food relief was being distributed and despite difficulties was reaching most of the famine-stricken areas, but unfortunately not everyone who needed it was getting it, or enough of it... exports were falling, production was falling, gold mining operations were in limbo, and Colonel Matambo lost his battle against sleep ....

The small village of Dahanakil controlled a source of water vital for several other neighbouring villages to the East. Because the ceasefire between Addis Abbeba and the Tigrean National Front rebels provided for troops to remain in place, and because Dahanakil was behind government lines and not the villages dependant on its well, the local TNF commander had no other choice but to let the Ethiopian troops distribute water to villages under Nationalist control. It chaffed, because it eroded support for the rebels and gave the lie to their propaganda; and the Ethiopian People's Defence Forces recognized the threat of renewed hostilities, and so six companies-600 men-had dug in a few hundred meters away from Dahanakil, protecting the Eastern approach to the village.

But the rebel commander had been determined to retake the well, and one day, shortly after dawn, mortar rounds and rifle-fire began falling on the government troops. By noon the last of the outlying picket squads had been withdrawn behind the barricades, and towards midafternoon the last outpost was driven in, a shower of earth rising from the charges the troops had left to destroy their machine gun, so that it wouldn't fall into separatist hands, tossing the bodies of some of the attackers like straw dummies. Finally, late in the afternoon, four rusted old T-55s clattered down the dust track that served as a road, followed by trucks ladden with two companies of infantry. The T-55s were osbolete and really fit for little besides the scrapheap, but they had enough firepower to devastate light infantry and the TNF forces hadn't brought any weapons that could stop them. After thirty-five minutes, with the newly reinforced infantry charging behind the armoured spearhead, the nationalists had vacated the battlefield. The government casualties nulmbered 39 dead, 171 injured and 13 missing in action, and nobody counted the bodies of the fallen separatists; the troops detailed to clear the area of corpses just tossed them into hastily-dug ditches and covered them up with dirt.

Aid was being poured into Popular Ethiopia. What stocks of surplus food the People's Revolutionnary Democratic Republic possesed-artificial synthetic nutrients, which looked bad and tasted far worse, but had the benefit of being nutritionaly sound for people desperate enough to eat them-, machinery of various descriptions, new strains of crops more adapted to the country, medicines, and economic advisors were landing in large numbers at Addis Abbaba's airport. Plans were set afoot: vaccinating the Ethiopian livestock, improving the crops, setting up a modern irrigation system and drainage ditches, mechanization of the farming industry, developping medical care. And of coursem the Ethiopian armed forces got their goodies...

Ras Matambo was, once again, facing a dilemna. Although Cirdani aid was pouring into the country, permitting the development of the economy, the TNF was beginning ceasefire violations, and the Western press was shutting up about it. He had seen the mechanisms at work here before: if he responded, Addis Abbeba would be branded as the cease-fire violator, and capitalist imperialist pig-dogs would invade Ethiopia with conveniently blue-painted helmets. But if he didn't respond, the rebels would nibble away at the EPDF forces on the border. He settled for a compromise: local counter-attacks to regain any land lost, and reinforcements to contain the TNF in their zone. With a bit of luck they'd wear themselves out attacking entrenched positions.