Wollo is an Ethiopian province associated in the book with the famine of 1973, a crisis that helped consolidate opposition to Haile Selassie. Its significance extends beyond that turning point: the account returns to famine under Mengistu to show how political leaders could respond to the same kind of catastrophe in sharply different ways, including by exploiting it against their opponents.

The 1973 Famine and Opposition

The famine in Wollo in 1973 is presented as one of the developments that finally solidified opposition to Haile Selassie’s regime. The account describes Selassie as apparently indifferent to the famine. Wollo thus enters the political narrative through the consequences of a crisis that helped weaken support for the emperor.

A Contrast with Mengistu

The book sets Selassie’s indifference against Mengistu’s later conduct. Mengistu, it argues, saw famine as a political tool for undermining the strength of his opponents. The contrast is not simply between two rulers’ responses to hardship: it illustrates how a recurring crisis could become bound up with the preservation or challenge of political power.

Historical Significance

Wollo’s famine serves as a concrete point of comparison in the book’s account of repeated political patterns in Ethiopia and across sub-Saharan Africa. Earlier opposition to Selassie gathered force in the context of famine; under Mengistu and the Derg, policies brought recurring famine to Ethiopia’s fertile lands. The account describes this repetition as both tragic and cruel to citizens, emphasizing that political change did not prevent famine from returning or spare the population its consequences.