ETHIOPIA: Only the Shadow Rules

The Coptic Orthodox Church of Ethiopia, which still observes a peculiar 13-month calendar all its own, celebrates the feast of Christmas this week. The country could hardly have less to make merry about. Eleven months after the "creeping coup" that resulted in Emperor Haile Selassie's overthrow and imprisonment last September, Ethiopia remains one of the poorest and least literate nations on earth. The average annual income is a pitiful $80, and fewer than 3% of the 26 million Ethiopians can read or write. In the beginning, the 120-man Provisional Military Administrative Council that now rules the country gave promise of...

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