The World - News from Sept. 3, 1989

Ethiopia released 84 political prisoners, including three grandsons of the late Emperor Haile Selassie, in a general amnesty that saw 907 inmates freed, official sources said. The Marxist government gave no immediate official reason for the mass release, which comes less than a week before it is to enter peace talks in the United States with rebels from northern Eritrean province. The three relatives of Haile Selassie who were freed were the last members of the royal family, deposed in 1974, still known to be in prison. The government released seven other members of the royal family in May last year, including the late emperor’s daughter and daughter-in-law.