The Derg (also spelled Dergue; , ), officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the
military junta
A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...
that ruled
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
, then including present-day
Eritrea
Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...
, from 1974 to 1987, when the military leadership formally "
civilianized" the administration but stayed in power until 1991.
The Derg was established in June 1974 as the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police and Territorial Army, by officers of the
Ethiopian Army
The Ethiopian Ground Forces () is the land service branch of the Ethiopian National Defense Force. It is senior of the two uniformed military branches. It engages in land warfare and combined arms operations, including armored and mechanized o ...
and
Police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
led initially by chairman
Mengistu Haile Mariam
Mengistu Haile Mariam ( am, መንግሥቱ ኀይለ ማሪያም, pronunciation: ; born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian politician and former army officer who was the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 and General Secretary of the Work ...
. On 12 September 1974, the Derg
overthrew the
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
of the
Ethiopian Empire
The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historical ...
and Emperor
Haile Selassie
Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...
during nationwide mass protests, and three days later formally renamed itself the Provisional Military Administrative Council. In March 1975 the Derg abolished the monarchy and established Ethiopia as a
Marxist-Leninist state with itself as the
vanguard party
Vanguardism in the context of Leninist revolutionary struggle, relates to a strategy whereby the most class-conscious and politically "advanced" sections of the proletariat or working class, described as the revolutionary vanguard, form organi ...
in a
provisional government
A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...
. The abolition of
feudalism
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
, increased
literacy
Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...
,
nationalization
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
, and sweeping
land reform
Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...
including the
resettlement and villagization from the
Ethiopian Highlands
The Ethiopian Highlands is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below , while the summits reach heights of up to . ...
became priorities. Mengistu became chairman in 1977, launching the
Red Terror
The Red Terror (russian: Красный террор, krasnyj terror) in Soviet Russia was a campaign of political repression and executions carried out by the Bolsheviks, chiefly through the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police. It started in lat ...
(''Qey Shibir'') political repression campaign to eliminate political opponents, with tens of thousands imprisoned and executed without trial.
By the mid-1980s, Ethiopia was plagued by multiple issues, such as
drought
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
s, economic decline and increasing reliance on
foreign aid
In international relations, aid (also known as international aid, overseas aid, foreign aid, economic aid or foreign assistance) is – from the perspective of governments – a voluntary transfer of resources from one country to another.
Ai ...
, recovering from the
Ogaden War
The Ogaden War, or the Ethio-Somali War (, am, የኢትዮጵያ ሶማሊያ ጦርነት, ye’ītiyop’iya somalīya t’orineti), was a military conflict fought between Somalia and Ethiopia from July 1977 to March 1978 over the Ethiopi ...
, and the
1983–1985 famine from which the Derg itself estimated more than a million deaths during its time in power.
Conflicts between the Derg and various ethnic militias saw a gradual resurgence, particularly the
Ethiopian Civil War
The Ethiopian Civil War was a civil war in Ethiopia and present-day Eritrea, fought between the Ethiopian military junta known as the Derg and Ethiopian-Eritrean anti-government rebels from 12 September 1974 to 28 May 1991.
The Derg overthre ...
and the
Eritrean War of Independence
The Eritrean War of Independence was a war for independence which Eritrean independence fighters waged against successive Ethiopian governments from 1 September 1961 to 24 May 1991.
Eritrea was an Italian colony from the 1880s until the d ...
. Mengistu abolished the Derg in 1987 and formed the
People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
The People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) () was a socialist state that existed in Ethiopia and present day Eritrea from 1987 to 1991.
The PDRE was established in February 1987 as a Marxist-Leninist one-party state upon the adoption o ...
led by the
Workers' Party of Ethiopia
The Workers' Party of Ethiopia ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ሠራተኞች ፓርቲ, Ye'Ityopia Serategnoch Parti, WPE) was a Marxist–Leninist communist party in Ethiopia from 1984 to 1991 led by General Secretary Mengistu Haile Mariam. The Wor ...
, with a new government containing civilians but still dominated by members of the Derg.
History
Formation and growth
![Derg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Derg.gif)
After the
Ethiopian Revolution
The Derg (also spelled Dergue; , ), officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the military junta that ruled Ethiopia, then including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when the military leadership formally " c ...
in February 1974, the first signal of any mass uprisings was the actions of the soldiers of the 4th Brigade of the 4th Army Division in
Nagelle
:
Negele Borana or Neghelle, is a town and separate woreda in southern Ethiopia. Located in the Guji Zone of the Oromia Region on the road connecting Addis Ababa to Dolo Odo, it is the largest town in the Guji Zone, traditionally inhabited by ...
in southern Ethiopia. They were mainly unhappy about the lack of food and water and then arrested their brigade commander and other officers and kept them incarcerated. When the government sent the commander of the ground forces, General
Deresse Dubala Deressa or Deresse ( am, ደረሠ) is a male name of People of Ethiopia, Ethiopian origin that may refer to:
*Deressa Chimsa (born 1976), Ethiopia marathon runner
*Deresse Mekonnen (born 1987), Ethiopian middle-distance runner and two-time world i ...
, to negotiate with the rebels, they held him and forced him to eat their food and drink their water. Similar mutinies took place at the
Ethiopian Air Force
The Ethiopian Air Force (ETAF) () is the air service branch of the Ethiopian National Defence Force. The ETAF is tasked with protecting the national air space, providing support to ground forces, as well as assisting civil operations during natio ...
base at
Bishoftu
Bishoftu (; ) is a town in central Ethiopia. Located in the East Shewa Zone of the Oromia Region, it sits at an elevation of 1,920 metres (6,300 ft). It was formerly known as Debre Zeyit () however since the late 1990s it has been officially kn ...
on 12 February, and at Second Division at Asmara on 25 February. It was these protests that gave rise to a general uprising of the armed forces.
The Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police and Territorial Army, known as the Derg, was officially announced on 28 June 1974 by a group of military officers. This was done under the pretext of maintaining law and order, due to the powerlessness of the civilian government following widespread
mutiny
Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military, of a crew or of a crew of pirates) to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among member ...
in the armed forces of Ethiopia earlier that year. Its members were not directly involved in those mutinies nor was this the first military committee organized to support the administration of Prime Minister
Endelkachew Makonnen
'' Lij'' Endelkachew Makonnen (27 September 1927 – 23 November 1974) was an Ethiopian politician. Born in Addis Ababa, his father, Ras Betwoded Makonnen Endelkachew, served as Prime Minister of Ethiopia in the 1950s. Endelkachew Makonnen ...
.
Alem Zewde Tessema Alem Zewde Tessema (died 1974) was an Ethiopian military figure. He was a colonel of the Airborne Corps, Fourth Division. He was active at the beginning of the Ethiopian Revolution, helping to create the "Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces" ...
had established the armed forces coordinated committee on 23 March. Over the following months, radicals in the Ethiopian military came to believe Makonnen was acting on behalf of the hated feudal aristocracy. When a group of notables petitioned for the release of a number of government ministers and officials who were under arrest for corruption and other crimes, three days later the Derg was announced.
![Ethiopia IMG 4846 Addis Abeba (38824861344)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Ethiopia_IMG_4846_Addis_Abeba_%2838824861344%29.jpg)
The Derg, which originally consisted of soldiers at the capital, broadened its membership by including representatives from the 40 units of the
Ethiopian Army
The Ethiopian Ground Forces () is the land service branch of the Ethiopian National Defense Force. It is senior of the two uniformed military branches. It engages in land warfare and combined arms operations, including armored and mechanized o ...
, Air Force,
Navy
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...
,
Kebur Zabagna
Kebur Zabagna or Zebenya ( am, ክቡር ዘበኛ, kəbur zãbãňňya, lit=honorable guard) was the Ethiopian imperial guard. Also known as the First Division, this unit served the dual purposes of providing security for the Emperor of Ethiopia ...
(Imperial Guard),
Territorial Army and
police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...
: each unit was expected to send three representatives, who were supposed to be privates, NCOs and junior officers up to the rank of major. According to Bahru Zewde, "Senior officers were deemed too compromised by close association to the regime."
[Bahru Zewde, 2000, p. 234] The Derg was reported to have consisted of 120 soldiers, a statement which has gained wide acceptance due to the habitual secretiveness of the Derg in its early years. But, Bahru Zewde notes that "in actual fact, their number was less than 110",
[ and Aregawi Berhe mentions two different sources which record 109 persons as being members of the Derg. No new members were ever admitted, and the number decreased, especially in the first few years, as some members were expelled or killed.
]
The Derg first assembled at the Fourth Division headquarters, and elected Major Mengistu Haile Mariam
Mengistu Haile Mariam ( am, መንግሥቱ ኀይለ ማሪያም, pronunciation: ; born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian politician and former army officer who was the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 and General Secretary of the Work ...
as its chairman and Major Atnafu Abate
Lieutenant Colonel Atnafu Abate ( gez, አጥናፉ አባተ; 31 January 1931 – 12 November 1977) was an Ethiopian military officer and a leading member of the Derg, the military junta which deposed Emperor Haile Selassie and ruled the co ...
as vice-chairman. Their stated mission was to study and address the grievances of various military units, investigate abuses by senior officers and staff and root out corruption in the military. In July, the Derg obtained key concessions from emperor, Haile Selassie
Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...
, which included the power to arrest not only military officers but government officials at every level. Soon both former Prime Ministers Aklilu Habte-Wold
'' Tsehafi Taezaz'' Aklilu Habte-Wold ( am, አክሊሉ ሀብተ ወልድ; 12 March 1912 – 23 November 1974) was an Ethiopian politician under Emperor Haile Selassie. He was foreign minister of Ethiopia from 1947 to 1958 and Prime Minister f ...
and Endelkachew Makonnen
'' Lij'' Endelkachew Makonnen (27 September 1927 – 23 November 1974) was an Ethiopian politician. Born in Addis Ababa, his father, Ras Betwoded Makonnen Endelkachew, served as Prime Minister of Ethiopia in the 1950s. Endelkachew Makonnen ...
, along with most of their cabinets, most regional governors, many senior military officers and officials of the Imperial court were imprisoned. In August, after a proposed constitution creating a constitutional monarchy was presented to the emperor, the Derg began a program of dismantling the imperial government to forestall further developments in that direction. The Derg deposed
Deposition by political means concerns the removal of a politician or monarch.
ORB: The Online Reference for Med ...
and imprisoned the emperor on 12 September 1974.
On 15 September, the committee renamed itself the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC) and took full control of the government and all facilities within the government. The Derg chose Lieutenant General Aman Andom
Aman Mikael Andom (; ti, ኣማን ሚካኤል ዓንዶም; 21 June 1924 – 23 November 1974) was an Eritrean general and the first post-imperial acting head of state of Ethiopia. He was appointed to this position following the coup d'état ...
, a popular military leader and a Sandhurst graduate, to be its chairman and acting head-of-state. This was pending the return of Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen from medical treatment in Europe when he would assume the throne as a constitutional monarch. However, General Aman Andom quarreled with the radical elements in the Derg over the issue of a new military offensive in Eritrea
Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...
and their proposal to execute the high officials of Selassie's former government. After eliminating units loyal to him—the Engineers, the Imperial Bodyguard and the Air Force—the Derg removed General Aman from power and executed him on 23 November 1974, along with some of his supporters and 60 officials of the previous Imperial government.
Brigadier General Tafari Benti
Brigadier General Tafari Benti (; 11 October 1921 – 3 February 1977) was an Ethiopian military officer and politician who served as head of state of Ethiopia from 1974 to 1977 in his role as second chairman of the Derg, the ruling military ...
became the new Chairman of the Derg and the head of state, with Mengistu and Atnafu Abate as his two vice-chairmen, both with promotions to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. The monarchy was formally abolished in March 1975, and Marxism-Leninism was proclaimed the new ideology of the state. Emperor Haile Selassie died under mysterious circumstances on 27 August 1975 while his personal physician was absent. It is commonly believed that Mengistu killed him, either by ordering it done or by his own hand although the former is more possible. Both Derg and Haile Selassie government relocated numerous Amharas into southern Ethiopia, including present-day of the Oromia region, where they served in government administration, courts, church and school, where Oromo texts were eliminated and replaced by Amharic. The Abyssinian elites perceived the Oromo identity and languages as hindrances to Ethiopian national identity expansion.
Under Mengistu's leadership
After internal conflicts that resulted in the execution of General Tafari Benti and several of his supporters in February 1977, and the execution of Colonel Atnafu Abate in November 1977, Mengistu gained undisputed leadership of the Derg. In 1987, he formally dissolved the Derg and established the country as the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
The People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) () was a socialist state that existed in Ethiopia and present day Eritrea from 1987 to 1991.
The PDRE was established in February 1987 as a Marxist-Leninist one-party state upon the adoption o ...
(PDRE) under a new constitution.
Many of the Derg members remained in key government posts and also served as the members of the Central Committee and the Politburo of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia
The Workers' Party of Ethiopia ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ሠራተኞች ፓርቲ, Ye'Ityopia Serategnoch Parti, WPE) was a Marxist–Leninist communist party in Ethiopia from 1984 to 1991 led by General Secretary Mengistu Haile Mariam. The Wor ...
(WPE). This became Ethiopia's civilian version of the Eastern bloc communist parties. Mengistu became Secretary-General of the WPE and President of the PDRE while remaining the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.
Ethiopian Civil War
Opposition to the reign of the Derg was the main cause of the Ethiopian Civil War
The Ethiopian Civil War was a civil war in Ethiopia and present-day Eritrea, fought between the Ethiopian military junta known as the Derg and Ethiopian-Eritrean anti-government rebels from 12 September 1974 to 28 May 1991.
The Derg overthre ...
. This conflict began as extralegal violence between 1975 and 1977, known as the Red Terror
The Red Terror (russian: Красный террор, krasnyj terror) in Soviet Russia was a campaign of political repression and executions carried out by the Bolsheviks, chiefly through the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police. It started in lat ...
, when the Derg struggled for authority, first with various opposition groups within the country, then with a variety of groups jockeying for the role of vanguard party
Vanguardism in the context of Leninist revolutionary struggle, relates to a strategy whereby the most class-conscious and politically "advanced" sections of the proletariat or working class, described as the revolutionary vanguard, form organi ...
. Though human rights violations were committed by all sides, the great majority of abuses against civilians as well as actions leading to devastating famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...
were committed by the government.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋሕዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን, ''Yäityop'ya ortodoks täwahedo bétäkrestyan'') is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Chris ...
, which represents the Christian state church
A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular, is not necessarily a t ...
of Ethiopia for centuries, was disestablished in 1974. The Derg declared a policy of state atheism
State atheism is the incorporation of positive atheism or non-theism into political regimes. It may also refer to large-scale secularization attempts by governments. It is a form of religion-state relationship that is usually ideologically li ...
, a tenet of Marxism-Leninist ideology; this was opposed by the vast majority of the Ethiopian population.
Once the Derg had gained victory over these groups and successfully fought off an invasion from Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
in 1977, it engaged in a brutal war against armed opponents within the country. These grouped ranged from the conservative and pro-monarchy Ethiopian Democratic Union
The Ethiopian Democratic Union or EDU, also known as Teranafit (formerly a separate group based in Shire before it merged with the EDU), was one of the political parties that formed in opposition to the Derg regime of Ethiopia. It merged with th ...
to the far-leftist Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party
The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP) ( am, የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝባዊ አብዮታዊ ፓርቲ, Ye-Ītyōṗṗyā Həzbāwī Abyotawi Party), informally known as Ihapa, is the first modern political party in Ethiopia, esta ...
. Other groups included Eritrean People's Liberation Front
The Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), colloquially known as Shabia, was an armed Marxist–Leninist organization that fought for the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia. It emerged in 1970 as a far-left to left-wing nationalist group ...
(EPLF) guerrillas
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics ...
fighting for Eritrea
Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...
n independence, rebels based in Tigray (which included the nascent Tigray People's Liberation Front
The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF; ti, ህዝባዊ ወያነ ሓርነት ትግራይ, lit=Popular Struggle for the Freedom of Tigray), also called the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a left-wing ethnic nationalist paramilitar ...
) and other groups. Under the Derg, Ethiopia became the Soviet bloc's closest ally in Africa and became one of the best-armed nation of the region as a result of massive military aid, chiefly from the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
, Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
and North Korea
North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
.
On 4 March 1975, the Derg announced a program of land reform
Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...
, according to its main slogan of "Land to the Tiller
Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...
," which was unequivocally radical, even in Soviet and Chinese terms. It nationalized all rural land, abolished tenancy and put peasants in charge of enforcing the whole scheme. Although Derg gained little respect during its rule, this reform resulted in a rare show of support for the junta, as Marina and David Ottaway describe:
During a massive demonstration in Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...
immediately following the announcement, a group of students broke through police and army barriers, climbed the wall and escarpment around Menelik Palace, and embraced major Mengistu as the hero of the reform.
In addition, Derg in 1975 nationalized most industries and private and somewhat secure urban real-estate holdings.
Mismanagement, corruption and general opposition to the Derg's dictatorial and violent communist rule, coupled with the draining effects of constant warfare with the separatist guerrilla movements in Eritrea and Tigray, led to a drastic fall in general productivity of food and cash crops. In October 1978, the Derg announced the National Revolutionary Development Campaign to mobilize human and material resources to transform the economy, which led to a ten-year plan (1984/85 - 1993/94) to expand agricultural and industrial output, forecasting a 6.5% growth in GDP and a 3.6% rise in per capita income. Instead, per capita income declined considerably to 0.8% over this period.
1983–85 famine
Famine scholar Alex de Waal
Alexander William Lowndes de Waal (born 22 February 1963), a British researcher on African elite politics, is the executive director of the World Peace Foundation at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Previously, he wa ...
observed that while the famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...
that struck the country in the mid-1980s is usually ascribed to drought, closer investigation shows that widespread drought occurred only some months after the famine was already underway. Hundreds of thousands fled economic misery, conscription and political repression and went to live in neighbouring countries and all over the Western world
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and state (polity), states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania. , creating, for the first time, an Ethiopian diaspora
A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of origin. Historically, the word was used first in reference to the dispersion of Greeks in the Hellenic world, and later Jews after ...
.
=Aid and controversy
=
The 1984–1985 Tigray famine brought the political situation in Ethiopia to the attention of the world and inspired charitable drives in Western nations
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania. , notably by Oxfam
Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International.
History
Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...
and the Live Aid
Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 fami ...
concerts of July 1985. The money they raised was distributed among NGO
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
s working in Ethiopia. A controversy arose when it was found that some of these NGOs were under Derg control or influence and that some Oxfam and Live Aid money had been used to fund Derg's enforced resettlement programmes, under which they displaced millions of people and killed between 50,000 and 100,000. A BBC investigation reported that Tigray People's Liberation Front
The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF; ti, ህዝባዊ ወያነ ሓርነት ትግራይ, lit=Popular Struggle for the Freedom of Tigray), also called the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, is a left-wing ethnic nationalist paramilitar ...
rebels had used millions of dollars of aid money to buy arms; these accusations were later fully retracted by the corporation.[.]
Dissolution and trials
Although the Derg government came to an end on 22 February 1987, three weeks after a referendum approved the constitution for the PDRE, it was not until that September the new government was fully in place and the Derg formally abolished. The surviving members of the Derg, including Mengistu, remained in power as the leaders of the new civilian regime.
The geopolitical situation became unfavourable for the communist government in the late 1980s, with the Soviet Union retreating from the expansion of Communism under Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
's ''glasnost
''Glasnost'' (; russian: link=no, гласность, ) has several general and specific meanings – a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information, the inadmissibility of hushing up problems, ...
'' and ''perestroika
''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...
.'' Socialist bloc countries drastically reduced their aid to Ethiopia and were struggling to keep their own economies going. This resulted in even more economic hardship, and the military gave way in the face of determined onslaughts by guerrilla forces in the north. The Soviet Union stopped aiding the PDRE altogether in December 1990. Together with the fall of Communism in the Eastern Bloc in the Revolutions of 1989
The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Natio ...
, this itself dealt a serious blow to the PDRE.
Towards the end of January 1991, a coalition of rebel forces, the (EPRDF) captured Gondar
Gondar, also spelled Gonder (Amharic: ጎንደር, ''Gonder'' or ''Gondär''; formerly , ''Gʷandar'' or ''Gʷender''), is a city and woreda in Ethiopia. Located in the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Gondar is north of Lake Tana on t ...
(the ancient capital city), Bahir Dar
Bahir Dar ( amh, ባሕር ዳር, 3=sea shore) is the capital city of Amhara Region, Ethiopia. Bahir Dar is one of the leading tourist destinations in Ethiopia, with a variety of attractions in the nearby Lake Tana and Blue Nile river. The ci ...
and Dessie
Dessiè City which is politically oppressed by the past Ethiopian government systems due to the fact that most of the population follow Islamic religion.
Dessie ( am, ደሴ, Däse; also spelled Dese or Dessye) is a town in north-central Ethiopia ...
. Meanwhile, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front
The Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), colloquially known as Shabia, was an armed Marxist–Leninist organization that fought for the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia. It emerged in 1970 as a far-left to left-wing nationalist group ...
had gained control of all of Eritrea except for Asmara
Asmara ( ), or Asmera, is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the sixth highest capital in the world by altitude and the second highest capital in Africa. The ...
and Assab
Assab or Aseb (, ) is a port city in the Southern Red Sea Region of Eritrea. It is situated on the west coast of the Red Sea.
Languages spoken in Assab are predominantly Afar, Tigrinya, and Arabic. Assab is known for its large market, beaches an ...
in the south. The Soviet Union, mired in its internal turmoil, could no longer prop up the Derg. In the words of the former US diplomat Paul B. Henze, "As his doom became imminent, Mengistu alternated between vowing resistance to the end and hinting that he might follow Emperor Tewodros's example and commit suicide."[Henze 2000, 327f.] His actions were frantic: he convened the Shengo
The National Shengo (, ) was the legislature of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) from 1987 to 1991.
Overview
The Shengo was established on 22 February 1987, three weeks after a national referendum approved a new constitution ...
, for an emergency session and reorganized his cabinet, but as Henze concludes, "these shifts came too late to be effective." On 21 May, claiming that he was going to inspect troops at a base in southern Ethiopia, Mengistu
Mengistu Haile Mariam ( am, መንግሥቱ ኀይለ ማሪያም, pronunciation: ; born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian politician and former army officer who was the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 and General Secretary of the Wor ...
slipped out of the country into Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
. From there he flew along with his immediate family to Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...
, where he was granted asylum and, where he still resides.
Mengistu was sentenced to death in 2008 ''in absentia'', charged with genocide, homicide, illegal imprisonment and property seizures. In 2009, Zimbabwe’s late former Information Minister, Tichaona Jokonya
Dr Tichaona Joseph Benjamin Jokonya (27 December 193824 June 2006) was a Zimbabwean politician, civil servant and diplomat.
Early life
Jokonya was born in the Charter District, since renamed Chikomba and attended Lourdes Mission and Kutama Coll ...
, in an interview with Voice of America
Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...
said Harare
Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...
was not going to extradite Mengistu.
In August 2018, Ethiopian former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn
Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe ( amh, ኃይለማሪያም ደሳለኝ ቦሼ; born 19 July 1965) is an Ethiopian politician who served as prime minister of Ethiopia from 2012 to 2018. He also previously served as deputy prime minister and Minister ...
while heading an African Union
The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...
election observer mission in Harare
Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...
met with Mengistu, and shared their photo on Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
, which was quickly deleted as it proved so controversial and generally unpopular. It is thought that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed
Abiy Ahmed Ali ( om, Abiyi Ahmed Alii; am, አብይ አሕመድ ዐሊ; born 15 August 1976) is an Ethiopian politician who has been the 4th prime minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia since 2 April 2018. He won the 2019 ...
, who had at that time released thousands of political prisoners, had approved the visit possibly because some opposition groups had used Mengistu's image to voice their disapproval of Abiy's policies.
In May 2022, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...
's Foreign Affairs Minister Ambassador Frederick Shava
Frederick Musiiwa Makamure Shava (born 20 March 1949) is a Zimbabwean politician who was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in February 2021 and sworn in on 2 March 2021. He also serves as a member of the Senate repr ...
gave a clear sign that Harare would be prepared to extradite Mengistu, in a reversal of Jokonya's policy.
Given the turmoil in Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
with the Tigray conflict, there have been no further apparent developments.
Upon entering Addis Ababa, the EPRDF immediately disbanded the WPE and arrested almost all of the prominent Derg officials shortly after. In December 2006, seventy-three officials of the Derg were found guilty of genocide. Thirty-four people were in court, fourteen others had died during the lengthy process, and twenty-five, including Mengistu, were tried ''in absentia''. The trial ended 26 May 2008, and many of the officials were sentenced to death. In December 2010, the Ethiopian government commuted the death sentence of 23 Derg officials. On 4 October 2011, 16 former Derg officials were freed after twenty years of incarceration. The Ethiopian government paroled almost all of the Derg officials who had been imprisoned for 20 years. Other Derg ex-officials managed to escape and organized rebel groups to overthrow Ethiopia's new government. One of these groups is the Ethiopian Unity Patriots Front
The Ethiopian Unity Patriots Front (abbreviated EUPF) is a political party and militant rebel organization that waged an insurgency against the Ethiopian government from 1993 to 2012. Formed by ex-officials of the Derg regime, the EUPF was mostly ...
which waged an insurgency in the Gambela Region
The Gambela Region (also spelled Gambella; am, ጋምቤላ), officially the Gambela Peoples' Region, is a regional state in western Ethiopia, bordering South Sudan. Previously known as Region 12, its capital is Gambela. The Region is situated ...
from 1993 to 2012.
At the conclusion of a trial lasting from 1994 to 2006, Mengistu was convicted of genocide
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...
, war crimes and crimes against humanity
Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...
and sentenced ''in absentia'' to death by an Ethiopian court for his role in Ethiopia's Red Terror
The Red Terror (russian: Красный террор, krasnyj terror) in Soviet Russia was a campaign of political repression and executions carried out by the Bolsheviks, chiefly through the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police. It started in lat ...
. The Ethiopian legal definition is distinct from the legal definition as outlined in the Genocide Convention
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), or the Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to pursue the enforcement of its prohibition. It was ...
by the United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
and other definitions in that it defines genocide as intent to wipe out political and not just ethnic groups. In this respect, it closely resembles the definition of politicide
Political cleansing of population is eliminating categories of people in specific areas for political reasons. The means may vary from forced migration to genocide.
Politicide
Politicide is the deliberate physical destruction or elimination o ...
outlined by Barbara Harff
Barbara Harff (born 17 July 1942) is professor of political science emerita at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. In 2003 and again in 2005 she was a distinguished visiting professor at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide S ...
, who wrote in 1992 that no Communist country or governing body had been convicted of genocide.
Chairmen
* Aman Mikael Andom
Aman Mikael Andom (; ti, ኣማን ሚካኤል ዓንዶም; 21 June 1924 – 23 November 1974) was an Eritrean general and the first post-imperial acting head of state of Ethiopia. He was appointed to this position following the coup d'état ...
(15 September 1974 – 17 November 1974)
* Mengistu Haile Mariam
Mengistu Haile Mariam ( am, መንግሥቱ ኀይለ ማሪያም, pronunciation: ; born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian politician and former army officer who was the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 and General Secretary of the Work ...
(17 November 1974 – 28 November 1974) (1st term)
* Tafari Benti
Brigadier General Tafari Benti (; 11 October 1921 – 3 February 1977) was an Ethiopian military officer and politician who served as head of state of Ethiopia from 1974 to 1977 in his role as second chairman of the Derg, the ruling military ...
(28 November 1974 – 3 February 1977)
* Mengistu Haile Mariam
Mengistu Haile Mariam ( am, መንግሥቱ ኀይለ ማሪያም, pronunciation: ; born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian politician and former army officer who was the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 and General Secretary of the Work ...
(3 February 1977 – 10 September 1987) (2nd term, acting to 11 February 1977)
Military
The Derg army had significant role in the government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
and enforcing law since the establishment. By 1976, the Soviet and Derg relations strengthened with the Soviet aided the Derg military with arms. Together with the Cuban soldiers, the military gained support against Somali Democratic Republic
The Somali Democratic Republic ( so, Jamhuuriyadda Dimuqraadiya Soomaaliyeed; ar, الجمهورية الديمقراطية الصومالية, ; it, Repubblica Democratica Somala) was the name that the socialist military government gave to Som ...
during the Ogaden War
The Ogaden War, or the Ethio-Somali War (, am, የኢትዮጵያ ሶማሊያ ጦርነት, ye’ītiyop’iya somalīya t’orineti), was a military conflict fought between Somalia and Ethiopia from July 1977 to March 1978 over the Ethiopi ...
. According to the United States State Department
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...
report in May 1977, 50 Cuban advisors trained Ethiopian troops to combat, while another report in July stated that 3,000 Cubans were in Ethiopia with one Eritrean Liberation Front
ar, جبهة التحرير الإريترية it, Fronte di Liberazione Eritreo
, war = the Ethiopian Civil War, Eritrean War of Independence and the Eritrean Civil Wars
, image =
, caption = Flag of the ELF ...
officer there.
By the fall of the Derg, the army of the Derg were only 45,000 troops which disintegrated shortly afterwards.
PMAC Standing Committee (January 1985)
; Chairman
: Mengistu Haile Mariam
Mengistu Haile Mariam ( am, መንግሥቱ ኀይለ ማሪያም, pronunciation: ; born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian politician and former army officer who was the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 and General Secretary of the Work ...
; Secretary-General
: Lt.-Col. Fikre Selassie Wogderess
Fikre Selassie Wogderess ( gez, ፍቅረ ሥላሴ ወግደረስ; 13 July 1945 – 12 December 2020) was an Ethiopian politician who was the first Prime Minister of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) from 10 September 1987 to ...
; Deputy Secretary-General
: Col Fisseha Desta
Fisseha Desta ( ti, ፍስሃ ደስታ; 21 April 1941 – 7 May 2022) was an Ethiopian military officer and politician who was the first vice president of Ethiopia from 1987 to 1991.
Early life
Fisseha Desta was born into a family of Tigrayan ...
; Military Affairs
: Lt.-Gen. Tesfaye Gebre Kidan
Tesfaye Gebre Kidan Geletu ( am, ተስፋዬ ገብረ ኪዳን ገለቱ, Täsfaye Gäbrä Kidan Gälätu, – 4 June 2004) was an Ethiopian general who was the acting president of Ethiopia for one week in late May 1991.
Biography Military ...
; Security
: Tekla Tulu
Tekla is a software product family that consists of programs for analysis and design, detailing and project communication. Tekla software is produced by Trimble Inc., Trimble, the publicly listed US-based technology company.
History
, Tekla ...
; Development and Planning
: Addis Tedla
Addis may refer to:
Places
*Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia
**Addis Ababa University
**Addis Ketema, a city district
*Addis, Louisiana, a town in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, US
People
*Addis (name)
Businesses
*The Addis Company, a d ...
; Party Organization
: Legesse Asfaw Legesse is a male given name of Ethiopian origin. Notable people with the name include:
* Legesse Wolde-Yohannes, Ethiopian horticultural scientist
* Meskerem Legesse (1986–2013), Ethiopian female middle-distance runner at the 2004 Olympics
* Mes ...
; Administrative and Legal Affairs
: Wubshet Dessie
; Other members
: Genesse Wolde-Kidan
Genesee, derived from the Seneca word for "pleasant valley", may refer to:
Geographic features Canada
* Genesee, Alberta, an unincorporated community
United States
* Genesee, California
*Genesee, Colorado
*Genesee County, Michigan
*Genesee C ...
: Endale Tessema
: Kassahun Tafesse
: Birhanu Bayeh Berhanu Beyeh (born 1938) is a former Ethiopian army officer and politician. He was Foreign Minister during the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (1986–1989). Prior to that, he was chairman of the Derg's committee for legal affairs.
Beyeh ...
See also
* History of Ethiopia
Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries in Africa, the emergence of Ethiopian civilization dates back thousands of years. Due to migration and imperial expansion, it grew to include many other primarily Afro-Asiatic-speaking communities, includ ...
* Vice President of Ethiopia
Vice president of Ethiopia was a political position in Ethiopia during the era of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. The new constitution which established the presidency and vice presidency came to effect on 10 Sept 1987. Both the Pre ...
Notes
References
* Bahru Zewde. 2001. ''A History of Modern Ethiopia'' (second edition). London: James Currey.
* Henze, Paul. 2000. ''Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia''. New York: Palgrave.
* Ottway, Marina & David. 1978. ''Ethiopia: Empire in Revolution''. New York: Africana
*
*
*
External links
ETHIOPIA – A Country Study
''(at the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
)''
The Ethiopian Revolution, The Dergue, Civil War and Famine
Ethiopian Treasures
"Mengistu found guilty of genocide", BBC News
The Economic Policies of Socialist Ethiopia
{{Eastern Bloc parties
Derg
Communism in Ethiopia
Communism in Eritrea
Factions of the Ethiopian Civil War
Government of Ethiopia
20th century in Ethiopia
20th century in Eritrea
1974 establishments in Ethiopia
Military dictatorships
Communist states
Atheist states
1987 disestablishments in Africa
1980s disestablishments in Ethiopia
States and territories established in 1974
States and territories disestablished in 1987
Totalitarian states
Former socialist republics