Russian
& East German Documents on Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa, 1977-78
Memorandum
of Conversation between Soviet Ambassador to Ethiopia Ratanov and Cuban Ambassador
to Ethiopia Jose Perez Novoa, 23 August 1977
SECRET,
Copy No. 2
From
the journal of 6 September 1977 Ratanov, A.P.
Original No. 324
MEMORANDUM
OF CONVERSATION with the Cuban ambassador to Ethiopia
JOSE
PEREZ NOVOA
23
August 1977
During the course of the conversation, which took
place at the Soviet Embassy, Jose Perez Novoa, on his own initiative, opened
the conversation with a question about sending Cuban military personnel to
Ethiopia in accordance with Mengistu's request. After this he asked
the following: "You had directed attention to the inappropriateness
of the announcement by the leader of the Cuban military specialists in Ethiopia,
Arnoldo Ochoa [to the effect that] 'you were right that the decision to send
Cuban personnel to Ethiopia does not depend on Havana, but on Moscow.'
This was the case, as the Cuban ambassador to Addis Ababa found out.
Raul Castro, in the course of his recent consultations with Soviet leaders
in Moscow, did not raise the issue of the possibility of sending Cuban military
personnel to Ethiopia, and, consequently, A. Ochoa did not have any basis
to make the aforementioned statement to Mengistu. We decided to
tell you this because we would like our relations with Soviet comrades to
be open and clear."
I thanked Jose Perez Novoa. Concerning the
essence of the matter, I noted that the question of inviting Cuban military
personnel is a difficult one not just for socialist states, but also for the
leadership of the PMAC, in that the invitation of combat units from foreign
powers, particularly non-African ones, could be used by Somalia and the Eritrean
separatists to involve military personnel from the Arab states in military
actions at much greater levels than is occurring now.
Jose Perez Novoa did not try to dispute the Soviet
ambassador's statements. This time he also did not dispute the Soviet
ambassador's statements about the necessity of working with the Ethiopian
leadership to continue the Somali-Ethiopian negotiations in Moscow on an expert
level.
In the course of the conversation Jose Perez Novoa
assured that [he would convey] to all Cuban diplomats and specialists the
instructions given to him about the necessity of clarifying the decisive
importance of the assistance rendered by the Soviet Union to defend the revolutionary
achievements of the Ethiopian people and the territorial integrity of the
country.
USSR
AMBASSADOR
TO
SOCIALIST ETHIOPIA
(signature)
/A. Ratanov/
