Chapter 1569 Rhapsody on the Roof of Africa (Third update, please subscribe)
Late at night, the Ethiopian sky is filled with stars.
The capital, Addis Ababa, is quiet under the starry sky. Indeed, as the capital of the country, except for the street lights on a few avenues that are on as an image project, the street lights in most neighborhoods are not on.
In the courtyard of the SEA Business Representative Office, there was light, it was fire!
It is the fire that burns documents.
The staff of the representative office are burning confidential documents based on the secret cable sent from Chang'an. At the same time, the staff and family members of the representative office are also preparing to evacuate from here.
Everything seems to be ominous.
Outside the representative office, the Ethiopian military police looked nervously at the black smoke in the yard. Although they did not know what happened, they could predict that something big was about to happen.
Not only ordinary military police think so, but Ethiopian President Mengistu, who came to power through a military coup a few years ago, also thinks so. He even loses sleep.
"What are they going to do?"
Mengistu, who was in the presidential palace, said to himself.
After learning about the black smoke coming out of the sea representative office, Mengistu fell into some kind of panic.
After all, everyone knew what the flames there meant, that they were destroying confidential documents.
Why destroy those confidential documents?
Obviously it's not because the office of the representative office cannot be accommodated, but because - something big is going to happen.
Such a big event is likely to be related to the war!
Although this bedroom looks magnificent and no different from an ordinary bedroom, it is actually a "bunker". In order to prepare for possible air raids, like many others, he also built a bunker.
After all, no one wants to be beheaded by a Tomahawk.
Especially after the unpleasant conflict with SEA, two days ago, the British ambassador to Ethiopia submitted a protest against its support for Kenyan rebels and allowing it to use Ethiopian territory to set up training camps to train rebels.
Originally, Mengistu didn't pay attention to this protest at all, but now he had to pay attention to this incident.
Because it is not only the UK that has submitted protests, but also the sea,
If it were just Britain, Mengistu would not live in a bunker at all. After all, Britain is a declining empire.
No one took the British threat to heart. He has faced numerous protests from the UK over the past few years.
But this time is different from the past, because besides Britain, there are other people.
But Sea is different. They never disdain threats because they prefer action.
Because of this, Mengistu lived in the bunker directly. He would not walk out of the bunker before he understood the other party's thoughts.
"Will they attack us?"
Mengistu did not have the confidence in his heart. When he was so worried, he was also thinking about another problem.
"Really, those Russians always bring trouble of one kind or another to Ethiopia."
The reason Mengistu thinks this way is because he is becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the Russians. Although in the past few years, with the full help of Russia, the face of Ethiopia has undergone earth-shaking changes. With the efforts of tens of thousands of Soviet consultants and technical workers, and the work of hundreds of thousands of Soviet agricultural machinery, Millions of hectares of desolate land were transformed into fertile farms.
Reservoirs, canals, and modern farms appear on the ancient land of Ethiopia.
Such achievements once attracted the attention of the whole world, and even Mengistu proudly declared that Ethiopia has now become the most developed country in Africa.
Of course, this development refers to agriculture.
But on the other hand, Mengistu's dissatisfaction with the Soviets was also building.
In the past few years, the Soviet Union provided Ethiopia with more than 3 billion rubles in loans, all of which were used to develop agriculture.
Land reclamation requires a large number of tractors, and farm planting requires Soviet seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides. Of course, Soviet agricultural machinery is also needed.
In order to develop agriculture, Ethiopia had to take loans from the Soviet Union. To import needed agricultural materials.
On one side is the increasing output of the farm, but what about the other side? It is the ever-increasing foreign debt.
In order to repay their foreign debt, they had to export the vast majority of their grain output to the Soviet Union.
During this process, although Ethiopia has undergone earth-shaking changes, for ordinary Ethiopians, their lives have not improved much.
After all, modern farms do not require many agricultural workers. And, for the vast majority of Ethiopian farmers who are uneducated, they are expected to become agricultural workers.
On one side is Ethiopia’s growing agriculture, but what about the other? But they are poor people whose lives have not changed much.
Under this circumstance, Western intelligence agencies, including the CIA, began to spread various rumors in Ethiopia.
They claim that all Ethiopia's development dividends have been plundered by the Russians, who are plundering Ethiopia's wealth.
Such rhetoric is almost equivalent to the accusations made by the Russians in other African countries.
Not only many ordinary Ethiopians will agree with this statement, but even Ethiopian officials also agree very much. Among these people was even President Mengistu.
"Yes, if the Russians had not wanted to support the Kenyans, there would not have been such trouble at all. We have done so much for them, and they are not even willing to increase the proportion of foreign exchange payments in grain trade."
When he said this, Mame Newman was full of complaints. He was Mengistu's younger brother and the chief of staff of the army. They launched the military coup together, and it was he who contacted him and collaborated with the Russians. On the front line, with the help of the Russians, he carried out the military coup. In order to avoid being "targeted beheading", he also lived in a bunker and became a bunker boy with his brother.
Of course, it was Mamet who caused Emperor Haile Selassie to die of "disease". After the military coup was successful, Emperor Haile Selassie had been under house arrest in the palace. Half a year later, in order to completely eliminate the hidden dangers, , the emperor died, succumbing to illness, and the whereabouts of his remains were subsequently unknown.
In the next six months, many people, including the crown prince, died in various accidents. In short, one principle was followed - the whole family was neat and tidy, except for Princess Lenase Lacy who was visiting her grandmother in Switzerland. , this descendant of "King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba" who had been passed down for nearly three thousand years, completely disappeared from this world.
As the initiator of all this, Mengistu has never regretted it, because this is the price Ethiopia must pay to enter modern society.
Now listening to his brother's complaints, he also said:
"Yes, they are only willing to pay 10% in foreign exchange, and the rest will be used to offset their loans."
"Loan..."
Ma Mei said:
This book was recently updated in ##六@@九@@书@@!! Updated!
"We will never be able to repay Russia's loans. We need to import more things every year and owe more foreign debts."
Nodding, Mengistu said:
"Yes, fortunately, we can export food. Through exports to Russia, we repaid our foreign debts and exchanged for a large amount of agricultural machinery, fertilizers, pesticides and other various production materials. Of course, we also exchanged goods from the Soviet Union A lot of weapons and equipment.”
In the past few years, Ethiopia has even established the most powerful air power and armored forces south of the Sahara.
This modern army is Mengistu, used to suppress opposition and maintain the foundation of rule.
Ma Mei naturally knew this very well. He thought about it and said:
"But, brother, we always need foreign exchange. After all, importing goods from Western countries requires foreign exchange."
In addition to the production of machinery and arms and weapons, both Mengistu and Ethiopia's nouveau riche needed a variety of luxuries from Western countries.
Luxury cars, jewelry, high-end clothing... and other kinds of luxury goods.
These things require foreign exchange to purchase. However, the Soviet Union was unwilling to pay more foreign exchange. Because of this, many Ethiopian upstarts, including Mengistu, began to have grudges against the Russians and even complained.
After all, they did not just tuck their heads in their belts and become the country's new rich, not just to modernize the country, but certainly to modernize Ethiopia. Their original intention in launching the military coup.
But when they became the country's upstarts from ordinary middle- and lower-level officers, everyone's mentality changed.
They once criticized the emperor and the nobles for their luxurious life and their disregard for the well-being of the people. But when they gained power and became new rich, they also moved into those magnificent mansions and began to enjoy the life that they once hated.
Luxurious cars from the Western world replaced the Jeep, and the luxury goods of the Western world became the capital for them to show off to each other.
They enjoyed fine wines from the West and delicious food prepared by French chefs in their mansions.
In short, it is better than before, but all of this requires money!
After all, those luxury goods in the West need to be bought with money.
This is why they need foreign exchange.
"We cannot do without the Russians now. After all, we cannot do without them in every aspect."
Although he was extremely dissatisfied with the Russians, Mengistu was very aware of the reality.
The reality is that he cannot do without the Russians and Russia's support for him. In particular, those modern farms and agricultural facilities cannot do without Russian consultants and Russian skilled workers.
Without Russian assistance, especially without Russian technical support, Ethiopia will soon be back to its original shape.
So Mengistu was still able to distinguish reality clearly.
After thinking for a while, he said.
"But since we can export grain to the Soviet Union, we can also export grain to other countries. Starting from this year, we will increase the amount of grain exported to the international market.
Moreover, some countries are now showing favor to us. They are different from the Americans, but they have deep conflicts with the Soviets.
Um. We can use the contradictions between them to gain more benefits between the two countries. ”
Having said this, Mengistu thought for a moment and then said.
"We can use them to get rid of the Russian restrictions on us. Well, for example, we can ask them to help us establish a fertilizer company and help us establish a tractor factory..."
Just as Mengistu was saying this, the harsh ringing of the phone interrupted his words, and then Mame took the phone. Listening to the voice on the other end of the phone, his expression suddenly changed and he said:
"What, what did you say?"
After hanging up the phone, Ma Mei, who was shocked, looked at her elder brother and said.
"They, they bombed those training camps, they must have used Tomahawk missiles..."
(End of chapter)