Derg: Difference between revisions

|Image       = Emblem of the Provisional Military Government of Socialist Ethiopia.svg

|commanders = [[Tafari Benti]] (1974 - 1977)<br>[[Mengistu Haile Mariam]] (1977 - 1987)

|agents = [[Aman Andom]]<br>[[Tafari benti|Tafari Benti]]<br>[[Atnafu Abate]]

|crimes = Human rights violations<br>[[War crimes]]<br>[[Crimes against humanity]]<br>[[Genocide]]<br>Mass [[murder]]<br>Mass starvation<br>[[Torture]]<br>[[Ethnic cleansing]]<br>[[Christophobia]]<br>[[Anti-Catholicism]]<br>[[Anti-Semitism]]<br>[[Islamophobia]]

|type of villain = Military Junta}}{{Quote|There were two reasons why Mengistu and others in the Derg wanted Soviet arms. First, they came to power as revolutionaries with a radical program. They regularly denounced imperialism, yet they remained dependent on the bulwark of what they called imperialism, the United States, for the most critical of all commodities, weapons for their army. Could they be true revolutionaries and socialists and still have such a vital link to the United States? It was very embarassing. But it was more than that. For the second and equally powerful motive that pushed them toward the Soviets was that they wanted a much bigger army than Ethiopia had at the outbreak of the revolution.|David A. Korn, ''Ethiopia, the United States, and the Soviet Union'', 1986}}

The '''Derg''' (officially known as the '''Provisional Military Government of Socialist Ethiopia''') was the military junta that governed Ethiopia for much of the [[Cold War]]. They were in power from 1974 to 1987.

 

The Derg was established in June 1974 as the '''Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police and Territorial Army''' by low-ranking officers of the Ethiopian Army and police led by Chairman Aman Andom.

The Derg was formally renamed the '''Provisional Military Administrative Council''' and in September 1974 overthrew the government of the Ethiopian Empire and Emperor Haile Selassie I during mass protests.

The Derg abolished the monarchy and embraced communism as an ideology, establishing Ethiopia as a Marxist-Leninist one-party state with itself as the vanguard party in a provisional government. The abolition of feudalism, increased literacy, nationalization, and sweeping land reform including the resettlement and villagization from the Ethiopian Highlands became priorities. [[Mengistu Haile Mariam]] became Chairman in 1977, launching the [[Qey Shibir]] to eliminate political opponents, with tens of thousands imprisoned and executed without trial.