Mengistu Haile Mariam

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Mengistu Haile Mariam

Chairman of the Derg and Head of State of Ethiopia

In office
3 February 1977 10 September 1987

Preceded by

Tafari Benti

Succeeded by

Position abolished

President of Ethiopia

In office
10 September 1987 21 May 1991

Preceded by

Position established

Succeeded by

Tesfaye Gebre Kidan

General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia

In office
12 September 1984 21 May 1991

Preceded by

Position established

Succeeded by

Position abolished

Personal details

Born

21 May 1937 (age 77) [1]

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Political party

Workers Party of Ethiopia

Spouse(s)

Wubanchi Bishaw [2]

Children

Tigest
Andenet
Tilahun

Religion

None (Formerly Ethiopian Orthodox) [3]

This article contains Ethiopic

text.Without proper rendering
support, you may see question
marks, boxes, or other
symbols instead of Ethiopic
characters.
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Mengistu Haile Mariam (Amharic: , pronounced [mnstu hal marjam]; born 21

May 1937) is an Ethiopianpolitician who was the most prominent officer of the Derg,
the Communist military junta that governed Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987, and the President of
the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia from 1987 to 1991. Mengistu has
ethnic Konso ancestry from his mother side and Oromo ancestry from his father. Effectively
a dictator, he oversaw the Ethiopian Red Terror of 19771978,[4] a campaign of repression against
the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party and other anti-Derg factions. Mengistu fled
to Zimbabwein 1991 at the conclusion of the Ethiopian Civil War and remains there despite an
Ethiopian court verdict finding him guilty in absentiaof genocide.[5] Estimates of the number of deaths
for which he was responsible range from 500,000 to over 2,000,000.[6][7]
?

Contents
[hide]

1 Early life
2 Army life

3 The rise of the Derg

4 Leadership in Ethiopia
o 4.1 Political Conflicts
o 4.2 Embracing Marxism
o 4.3 Asylum in Zimbabwe
5 Claims of genocide in Ethiopia
6 Memoirs
7 Personal life
8 Notes
9 References
10 Further reading
11 External links

Early life[edit]
Mengistu's father, Haile Mariam Wolde Ayana, was an ethnic Oromo in the service of
the Shoan landowner Afenegus Eshete Geda. Eshete had encountered Haile Mariam while he was
on a hunting expedition in the administrative district of Gimira and Maji, then under the governorship
of Dejazmach Taye Gulilat. He later became an enlisted man in the Ethiopian army. He was born
80 km west of Addis Ababa in a place called Furii.[8] Afenegus Eshete Geda was the half-brother
of Dejazmach Kebede Tessema's wife, Woizero Yitateku Kidane, and it was through this connection
that Mengistu's parents are alleged to have met. Unsubstantiated accounts allege that Mengistu
Haile Mariam's mother, an ethnic Konso, was the illegitimate daughter of Dejazmach Kebede
Tessema, a high ranking nobleman and Crown Councilor to Emperor Haile Selassie, and himself
suspected of being the illegitimate son of EmperorMenelik II. These rumors of Mengistu being the
grandson of Dejazmach Kebede are widely believed, but have never been confirmed by either
Mengistu himself or by the late nobleman's family.
Mengistu was born on 21 May 1937 in Addis Ababa. His mother died during childbirth when
Mengistu was only 8 years old. After the death of his mother, Mengistu and his two siblings went to
live with their grandmother for a few years. He then came back to live with his father and soon after
joined the army at a very young age. Mengistu's father was very proud of his son's achievements,
though some people believe the Ethiopian popular account that states that his family was far from
proud of his political accomplishments.[8][a]

Army life[edit]
Mengistu followed his father and joined the army, where he attracted the attention of the Eritreanborn general Aman Andom, who raised him to the rank of sergeant and assigned him duties as an
errand boy in his office. Mengistu graduated from the Holetta Military Academy, one of the two
important military academies of Ethiopia.[9] General Aman then became his mentor, and when the
General was assigned to the commander of the Third Division took Mengistu with him to Harar, and
later was assigned as Ordnance officer in the 3rd division. A few years before his departure for
training to the US he was in conflict with the then 3rd Division commander General Haile Baykedagn
whose policy of strict discipline and order did not sit well with Mengistu. At the time, the Ordnance
group was offered military technical training support in The US. Despite his disapproval of
Mengistu's insubordination and disrespect, the General was obliged to release him and Mengistu
went for a six-month training program in Maryland, USA. Returning after his training, he was
expected to command the Ordnance Sub-division in Harar. Years later, Mengistu would murder
General Haile Baykedagn along with the 60 ministers and generals.
Mengistu experienced racial discrimination (while studying in the United States), which led him to a
later strong anti-American sentiment [10] He equated racial discrimination in the United States with the

class discrimination in Ethiopia. When he took power, and attended the meeting of Derg members at
the Fourth Division headquarters in Addis Ababa, Mengistu exclaimed with emotion:
In this country, some aristocratic families automatically categorize persons with dark skin, thick lips,
and kinky hair as "Barias" (Amharic for Slave)... let it be clear to everybody that I shall soon make
these ignoramuses stoop and grind corn![8]
Professor Bahru Zewde notes that Mengistu was distinguished by a "special ability to size up
situations and persons". Although Bahru notes that some observers "rather charitably" equated this
ability with intelligence, the professor believes this skill is more akin to "street smarts": "it is rather
closer to the mark to see it as inner-city smartness (or what in local parlance would be
calledaradanat)."[11]

The rise of the Derg[edit]

Mengistu Haile Mariam with fellow Derg members Aman Mikael Andomand Atnafu Abate.

Emperor Haile Selassie's government, having lost the confidence of the Ethiopian public following
a famine in Wello province, was overthrown in Ethiopian revolution of 1974. As a result, power came
into the hands of a committee of low ranking officers and enlisted soldiers led by Atnafu Abate,
which came to be known as the Derg. Mengistu was originally one of the lesser members, officially
sent to represent the Third Division because his commander, General Nega Tegnegn, considered
him a trouble-maker and wanted to get rid of him.[10] But between July and September 1974,
Mengistu became the most influential member of the shadowy Derg, though he preferred to act
through more public members like his former mentor, general Aman Andom, and later Tafari Benti.[9]
Haile Selassie died in 1975. It is rumored that Mengistu smothered the Emperor using a pillow case,
but Mengistu has denied these rumors.[12] Though several groups were involved in the overthrow, the
Derg succeeded to power. There is no doubt that the Derg under Mengistu's leadership ordered the
execution without trial of 61 ex-officials of the Imperial government on 23 November 1974, and later
of numerous other former nobles and officials including the Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox
Church, Abuna Theophilos, in 1977. Mengistu himself has acknowledged that the Derg ordered
these deaths, but refuses to accept personal responsibility. Members of the Derg have contradicted
him in interviews given from prison, saying he conspired and was in full agreement with their
decisions.

Leadership in Ethiopia[edit]
Mengistu did not emerge as the leader of the Derg until after the 3 February 1977 shootout, in which
Tafari Banti was killed. The vice chairman of the Derg, Atnafu Abate, although with some support at
this time, clashed with Mengistu over the issue of how to handle the war in Eritrea and lost leading to
his execution with 40 other officers, clearing the way for Mengistu to become the complete master of
the situation.[13] He formally assumed power as head of state, and justified his execution of Abate (on
13 November of that year) by claiming that he had "placed the interests of Ethiopia above the

interests of socialism" and undertaken other "counter-revolutionary" activities.[14] Under Mengistu,

Ethiopia received aid from the Soviet Union, other members of the Warsaw Pact, and Cuba.

Political Conflicts[edit]
From 1977 through 1978, resistance against the Derg ensued, led primarily by the Ethiopian
People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP). Mengistu cracked down on the EPRP and other revolutionary
student organizations in what would become called the "Red Terror". The Derg subsequently turned
against the socialist student movement MEISON, a major supporter against the EPRP, in what
would be called the "White Terror".
The EPRP's efforts to discredit and undermine the Derg and its MEISON collaborators escalated in
the fall of 1976. It targeted public buildings and other symbols of state authority for bombings and
assassinated numerous Abyot Seded and MEISON members, as well as public officials at all levels.
The Derg, which countered with its own counter-terrorism campaign, labeled the EPRP's tactics the
White Terror. Mengistu asserted that all "progressives" were given "freedom of action" in helping root
out the revolution's enemies, and his wrath was particularly directed toward the EPRP. Peasants,
workers, public officials, and even students thought to be loyal to the Mengistu regime were provided
with arms to accomplish this task.[15]
Col. Mengistu gave a dramatic send-off to his campaign of terror. In a public speech, he shouted
"Death to counterrevolutionaries! Death to the EPRP!" and then produced three bottles of what
appeared to be blood and smashed them to the ground to show what the revolution would do to its
enemies. Thousands of young men and women turned up dead in the streets of the capital and other
cities in the following two years. They were systematically murdered mainly by militia attached to the
"Kebeles," the neighborhood watch committees which served during Mengistu's reign as the lowest
level local government and security surveillance units. Families had to pay the Kebeles a tax known
as "the wasted bullet" to obtain the bodies of their loved ones.[16] In May 1977 the Swedish general
secretary of the Save the Children Fund stated that "1,000 children have been killed, and their
bodies are left in the streets and are being eaten by wild hyenas . . . You can see the heaped-up
bodies of murdered children, most of them aged eleven to thirteen, lying in the gutter, as you drive
out of Addis Ababa."[17]
Military gains made by the monarchist Ethiopian Democratic Union in Begemder were rolled back
when that party split just as it was on the verge of capturing the old capital ofGondar. The army of
the Somali Democratic Republic invaded Ethiopia having overrun the Ogaden region, and was on
the verge of capturing Harar and Dire Dawa, when Somalia's erstwhile allies, the Soviets and
the Cubans, launched an unprecedented arms and personnel airlift to come to Ethiopia's rescue.
The Derg government turned back the Somali invasion, and made deep strides against the Eritrean
secessionists and the TPLF as well. By the end of the seventies, Mengistu presided over the second
largest army in all of sub-Saharan Africa, as well as a formidable airforce and navy.
Amnesty International estimates that up to 500,000 people were killed during the Ethiopian Red
Terror[18][19][20]

Embracing Marxism[edit]
In the 1970s, Mengistu embraced the philosophy of MarxismLeninism, which was increasingly
popular among many nationalists and revolutionaries throughout Africa and much of the Third
World at the time.
In the mid-1970s, under Mengistu's leadership, the Derg regime began an aggressive program of
changing Ethiopia's system from a mixed feudo-capitalist emergent economy to an Eastern Blocstyle command economy. Shortly after coming to power, all rural land was nationalized, stripping the
Ethiopian Church, the Imperial family and the nobility of all their sizable estates and the bulk of their
wealth. During this same period, all foreign-owned and locally owned companies were nationalized
without compensation in an effort to redistribute the country's wealth. All undeveloped urban property

and all rental property was also nationalized. Private businesses such as banks and insurance
companies, large retail businesses, etc. were also taken over by the government. All this
nationalized property was brought under the administration of large bureaucracies set up to
administer them. Farmers who had once worked on land owned by absentee landlords were now
compelled to join collective farms. All agricultural products were no longer to be offered on the free
market, but were to be controlled and distributed by the government. Despite progressive agricultural
reforms, under the Derg, agricultural output suffered due to civil war, drought and
misguided economic policies. There was also a famine in 1984, which was the 10th anniversary of
the Derg.
During the Ogaden War, learning that after the fall of Jijiga to units of the Somali army (2 September
1977) Ethiopian units had started to mutiny, Mengistu flew to the front and took direct control.
According to Gebru Tareke, he ordered those suspected of leading the mutiny "bayoneted as
cowardly and counterrevolutionary elements", then had the soldiers regrouped and ordered to
recapture Jijiga in simultaneous attacks from the west and north. The Ethiopians recaptured the city
on 5 September, but Jijiga remained within range of the Somali artillery, which shelled the city the
whole night long. The next day the Somalis counterattacked, "considerably strengthened and ever
more determined", and before he could be encircled inside the city, Mengistu fled back to Adew on
the 7th where he boarded a plane back to Addis Ababa. The Somalis broke through Ethiopian lines,
recapturing Jijiga on 12 September, and managing to overrun Ethiopian positions past the Marda
Pass.[21]
In early 1984, under Mengistu's direction, the MarxistLeninist Worker's Party of Ethiopia (WPE) was
founded as the country's ruling party, with Mengistu as general secretary. On 10 September 1987,
a new constitution was adopted, and the country was renamed the People's Democratic Republic of
Ethiopia. Mengistu became president, with sweeping executive and legislative powers. He and the
other surviving members of the Derg all retired from the military and as civilians made up the
Politburo of the WPE.
In the late 1980s, some Western critics of Mengistu, including Michael Johns of the Heritage
Foundation, charged that Mengistu's economic, military and political policies, along with the Soviet
Union's support for Mengistu, were key contributing factors to Ethiopian famine, which ultimately
took over a million lives.[22] Mengistu made seven visits to the Soviet Union between 1977 and 1984,
as well as other visits to his political allies Cuba, Libya, South Yemen, and Mozambique. From 1983
to 1984 Mengistu served as head of the Organization of African Unity.
However, the government's military position gradually weakened. First came the Battle of Afabet in
March 1989, which was a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front,
with 15,000 casualties and the loss of a great deal of equipment. This was followed up less than a
year later by another crushing defeat at Shire, with over 20,000 men either killed or captured and the
loss of even more equipment. On 16 May 1989, while Mengistu was out of the country for a four-day
state visit to East Germany, senior military officials attempted a coup and the Minister of
Defense, Haile Giyorgis Habte Mariam, was killed; Mengistu returned within 24 hours and nine
generals, including the air force commander and the army chief of staff, died as the coup was
crushed.[23]

Asylum in Zimbabwe[edit]
In May 1991, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) forces advanced
on Addis Ababa from all sides, and Mengistu fled the country with 50 family and Derg members. He
was granted asylum in Zimbabwe as an official guest of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
Mengistu left behind almost the entire membership of the original Derg and the WPE leadership,
precluding their escape. Almost all were promptly arrested and put on trial upon the assumption of
power by the EPRDF. Mengistu has claimed that the takeover of his country resulted from the
policies of Mikhail Gorbachev, who in his view allowed the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the
termination of its aid to Ethiopia.

An assassination attempt against Mengistu occurred on 4 November 1995, while he was out walking
with his wife, Wubanchi Bishaw, near his home in the Gunhill suburb ofHarare. While Mengistu was
unharmed, his alleged attacker, Solomon Haile Ghebre Michael, an Eritrean, was shot and arrested
by Mengistu's bodyguards.[24] He was later tried for this assassination attempt, pleading not guilty in a
Zimbabwean court on 8 July 1996.[25] The Eritrean Ambassador to South Africa, Tsegaye Tesfa Tsion,
flew to Harare to attend the trial.[24] The attacker was sentenced to ten years in prison, while his
accomplice Abraham Goletom Joseph, who had been arrested in a police raid, was sentenced to
five years. They said that they had been tortured under Mengistu, and on appeal their sentences
were reduced to two years each due to "mitigatory circumstances".[26] The Ethiopian ambassador to
Zimbabwe, Fantahun Haile Michael, said his government was not involved in the assassination
attempt, and that he heard about the incident from the media.[24]
Mengistu still resides in Zimbabwe, despite the Ethiopian government's desire that he be extradited.
He is said to live in luxurious circumstances, and it is claimed that he advises Mugabe on security
matters; according to Zimbabwean intelligence sources, he proposed the idea of clearing slums,
which was implemented as Operation Murambatsvina in 2005, and chaired meetings at which the
operation was planned.[27][28] State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa strongly denied that Mengistu
was involved in Operation Murambatsvina in any way, saying that Mengistu "does not interfere at all
with the affairs of our country. We also do not allow him to interfere with his country from
Zimbabwe."[26]

Claims of genocide in Ethiopia[edit]

Mengistu was charged by the Ethiopian government led by Meles Zenawi, in absentia, for the killing
of nearly 2,000 people. Mengistu's charge sheet and evidence list was 8,000 pages long. The
evidence against him included signed execution orders, videos of torture sessions and personal
testimonies[29]
The trial began in 1994 and ended in 2006. The court said Mengistu was guilty as charged on 12
December 2006, and imposed a life sentence on Mengistu in January 2007.[30]In addition to the
genocide conviction, the court claimed that he was guilty of imprisonment, illegal homicide and illegal
confiscation of property.[4]
Michael Clough, a US attorney and longtime observer of Ethiopia, said in a statement that[31]
The biggest problem with prosecuting Mengistu for genocide is that his actions did not necessarily
target a particular group. They were directed against anybody who was opposing his government,
and they were generally much more political than based on any ethnic targeting. In contrast, the
irony is the [current] Ethiopian government itself has been accused of genocide based on atrocities
committed in Gambella. Im not sure that they qualify as genocide either. But in Gambella, the
incidents, which were well documented in a human rights report of about 2 years ago, were clearly
directed at a particular group, the tribal group, the Anuak.
Some experts believe hundreds of thousands of university students, intellectuals and politicians
(including Emperor Haile Selassie) were killed during Mengistu's rule.[29] Amnesty
International estimates that a total of half a million people were killed during the Red Terror of 1977
and 1978[18][19][20] Human Rights Watch describes the Red Terror as "one of the most systematic uses
of mass murder by a state ever witnessed in Africa."[29] During his reign it was not uncommon to see
students, suspected government critics or rebel sympathisers hanging from lampposts each morning.
Mengistu himself is alleged to have murdered opponents by garroting or shooting them, saying that
he was leading by example.[32]
106 Derg officials were accused of genocide during the trials, but only 36 of them were present in
the court. Several former members of the Derg have been sentenced to death.[33]
After Mengistu's conviction in December 2006, the Zimbabwean government said that he still
enjoyed asylum and would not be extradited. A Zimbabwean government spokesman explained this

by saying that "Mengistu and his government played a key and commendable role during our
struggle for independence". According to the spokesman, Mengistu assisted his guerrilla fighters
during the Rhodesian Bush War by providing training and arms, and after the war he had provided
training for Zimbabwean air force pilots; the spokesman said that "not many countries have shown
such commitment to us".[34]
Following an appeal on 26 May 2008, Mengistu was sentenced to death in absentia by Ethiopia's
High Court, overturning his previous sentence of life imprisonment. Twenty-three of his most senior
aides also received death sentences that were commuted on 1 June 2011. On October 4, 2011, 16
of former Mengistu officials have been released from prison on parole, due to their old age and good
behavior while incarcerated. However, Mengistu's sentence remains unchanged. It is not clear if a
change in government in Zimbabwe will result in his extradition.[35]

Memoirs[edit]
In 2010, Mengistu announced the publication of his memoirs.[36] In early 2012, a manuscript of the
memoir, entitled Tiglatchin ("Our Struggle" in Ethiopian),[37] was leaked onto the internet.

Personal life[edit]
Mengistu married Wubanchi Bishaw in 1968. They have a son, Andenet, and two daughters, Tigisit
and Tilahun.

Notes[edit]
1.

Jump up^ His grandmother, Woyzero Abebech, was still alive when he seized power, and had
become an Orthodox nun (as is very common amongst elderly women in Ethiopia). Woyzero Abebech
lost her land that she inherited from Empress Zewditu, whom she had served as an attendant, as well
as her husband. She continued to live in a place known as Addis Alem not far from Addis Ababa and
was said to have been furious at the nationalization of her land by her grandson's government.
Mengistu's father was said to have defiantly hung Emperor Haile Selassie's portrait on the walls of his
living room in the villa that the Prime Minister, Fikre Selassie Wogderess, built for him in the middle
class district of Asmera Menged.[8]

References[edit]
1.
2.
3.

4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Jump up^ "Profile: Mengistu Haile Mariam". BBC News Online. 12 December 2006. Retrieved200612-13.. Other accounts state 21 May 1941 [1], 27 May 1941
Jump up^ "Mengistu Haile Mariam's Biography". Durame News Online. 1 May 2012. Retrieved201205-06..
Jump up^ Kjell Goldmann, Ulf Hannerz, Charles Westin (2000). Nationalism and internationalism in
the Post-Cold War era. Taylor & Francis. p. 44. ISBN 0-415-23891-9. But sometimes in the course of
Eritrea's war for independence, the Islamic card was used to win support from the Arabs in Eritrea's
struggle first against the Christian theocracy of Haile Selassie and later against the Marxist-Leninist
atheism of Mengistu Haile Mariam in Addis Ababa.
^ Jump up to:a b "Mengistu found guilty of genocide". BBC News. 12 December 2006.
Jump up^ "Profile: Mengistu Haile Mariam". BBC News Online. 12 December 2006. Retrieved200701-11.
Jump up^ Fitzgerald, Tyrant for the taking in White, Matthew (2011). Atrocitology. Edinburgh:
Canongate. p. 615. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
Jump up^ Rapoport, Knives Are Out in White, Matthew (2011). Atrocitology. Edinburgh: Canongate.
p. 615. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
^ Jump up to:a b c d Dr. Paulos Milkia, "Mengistu Haile Mariam: The Profile of a Dictator", reprinted from
the February 1994 Ethiopian Review (accessed 30 July 2009)

9.
10.

11.
12.

13.
14.
15.
16.

^ Jump up to:a b Edmund J. Keller, Revolutionary Ethiopia (Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1988), p. 185.
^ Jump up to:a b Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 290 n. 13. In
Mengistu's last interview, he mentioned that he knew Kebede Tesemma, but denied a blood
relationship.
Jump up^ Bahru Zewde, A History of Modern Ethiopia, second edition (London: James Currey, 2001),
p. 249
Jump up^ Jeffrey Gettleman, 'Ethiopian court convicts Mengistu Haile Mariam of
genocide',International Herald Tribune, 12 December 2006. Paul Henze, however, states this
accusation as a fact (Layers of Time, p. 188).
Jump up^ Indian Ocean Newsletter publication, 1985 "Ethiopia: Political Power & the Military"
Jump up^ Henze, Layers of Time, p. 302.
Jump up^ A Country Study: Ethiopia (US Library of Congress)
Jump up^ Ethiopian Dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam Human Rights Watch, 1999