UN General Assembly
1994

Ethiopia has not only achieved peace but also become a factor for peace in its own subregion and beyond, as is vividly demonstrated by the Ethiopian peace-keeping contingent in Rwanda. Moreover, we have been gratified by the recent successful elections for a Constituent Assembly, which will be convened very soon to prepare a constitution on the basis of which a general election will be held to install the first-ever democratically elected Government in the country. In the course of the last three years, we in Ethiopia have benefited immensely from the generous assistance of the international community, for which we are very grateful. This assistance was again demonstrated during the recent drought, which affected over 7 million people. Thanks to the assistance of the international community, to the role the Ethiopian people themselves played and to the timely, effective measures taken by the Government, the effects of a drought that could have caused massive loss of life, dislocation and displacement commensurate with those of the 1984-1985 drought were successfully contained. Even though Ethiopia has now started to stand on its