the government , meanwhile , made new moves thursday to placate the opposition by freeing 171 political prisoners and toppling a lenin statue -- a symbol of mengistu 's marxist rule -- to the cheers of a crowd . ; threats to the capital culminate a three-month offensive by the main tigrean rebel coalition , the ethiopian people 's revolutionary democratic front , that has garnered its best gains in 16 years of fighting in this horn of africa nation of 51 million people . ;