Dawit Wolde-Giorgis, the author of Red Tears, said this is perhaps the greatest scar of the Ethiopian famine. The power of art and celebrity and mass media were combined to engineer a life-saving relief effort in one of the poorest corners of the world. It turns out that writing a song and raising millions of dollars for food assistance was the easy part.

Mengistu to more effectively deal with the alliance of rebel groups, including the Eritrean liberation movement and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, who opposed the communist military regime.Working with Action Aid, a global humanitarian group, he spent weeks in Korem, the epicenter of the famine, and the highlands of Amhara.

Naivete about Africa and Africans, socialism, economics, and the challenges of effectively administering humanitarian aid.This formula—peace and expanding economic freedom—has the power to transform Ethiopia like no amount of humanitarian aid can.