ABSTRACT
Vice President George Bush caution notwithstanding, after the Berlin Wall tumbled in November 1989 it was clear that the end of the Cold War was imminent and a new era had begun. Thus, as the Cold War came to an end, the Ethiopia seemed to “shine with new promise,” as editorial in Time magazine professed, and the ‘special relationship’ between Ethiopia and the United States had been reborn. Rather than abandon Ethiopia to its own devices, the United States acknowledged the legacy of the special relationship and stepped in to try to help to restore order. As well as encouraging developments with regards to the American-Ethiopian relationship, hopes of peace in the war-torn Horn of Africa were boosted by developments in Somalia during Ronald Wilson Reagan’s second term. With the full support of the Bush administration, Jimmy Carter, under the auspices of the Carter Center, began talks aimed at bringing an end to the longest civil war in Africa.
