Downstream to Kinshasa / film-documentary by Dieudonné Hamadi. Icarus Films: New York. 89 minutes / Colour. Swahili; Lingala / English subtitles. Release: 2021. Copyright: 2020

Abstract

treated Colonel Mengistu’s administration while doing the opposite for the insurgents. The author had visited several socialist and capitalist countries, and these experiences influenced him to evaluate the outcome of socialism in Ethiopia. Likewise, in the second half of Colonel Mengistu’s reign, he had spent several months in Ethiopia, and during his stay, he made numerous journeys to virtually all provinces. These journeys led the author to meet the participants in the events he describes. The author uses some scientific methods, like satellite images, to evaluate accurately harvesting in those years. The author writes about how the military and political policies of Derg determined the development of the country in terms of the economy and social life of the people. In all parts of the book, events are narrated chronologically and the book is artistically laid out. This makes the book attractive with photographs and interviews (full interviews, without any cropping) juxtaposed. Notwithstanding the book’s limitations, the author was a eye witness of the events which occurred during the reign of Colonel Mengistu. His insights are sharpened by the fact that he worked for the government of the United States, his connection to the Derg and his relation to both insurgent groups, the Ethiopian People Democratic Revolutionary Party and the Eritrean People Liberation Front. This make the book important to understand the history of Ethiopia in the 1970s and 1980s and for a study of this period.