We thought that the proletariat would eventually run the world. But it is the Americans who have assumed that position... The American people have ch… - Mengistu Haile Mariam

Ethiopia did not have the same problem [of corruption]. African leaders looked at us with envy.

When we planned our country's economic development, we had the strategic objective of our Revolution in mind. It was not planned for economic development [to be] solely an end in itself. There are some who have forgotten that the sole basis of our revolutionary struggle was the ideology and politics which we follow...

All I can say is that living for 17 years without rest from fighting, dealing with problem after problem, war after war, and crisis after crisis, every day and every hour was very difficult.