Editing Mengistu Haile Mariam (section)

==Early life==
Unsubstantiated accounts allege that Mengistu Haile Mariam's mother was the illegitimate daughter of ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dejazmach Dejazmach]'' Kebede Tessema, a high-ranking nobleman and Crown Councilor to Emperor [[Haile Selassie]], and himself suspected of being the illegitimate son of Emperor [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menelik_II Menelik 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 27 May 1937 in Addis Ababa. Mengistu's father, Haile Mariam, was in the service of an aristocratic sub-provincial governor, the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoa,_Ethiopia Shoan] landowner ''Afenegus'' Eshete Geda. Eshete encountered Haile Mariam while he was on a hunting expedition in the administrative district of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimira Gimira] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maji Maji] (in Southern Ethiopia), then under the governorship of ''Dejazmach'' Taye Gulilat. He later became an enlisted man in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_army Ethiopian army]. ''Afenegus'' Eshete Geda was the half-brother of ''Dejazmach'' Kebede's wife, Woizero Yitateku Kidane, and it was through this connection that Mengistu's parents are alleged to have met.

Mengistu's mother died during childbirth when Mengistu was only 8 years old. After the death of his mother, Mengistu and his 2 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 Haile Mariam Wolde 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. His grandmother, who was called 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 (Mengistu's grandmother) lost her land that she inherited from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Zewditu 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, Haile Mariam, is said to have defiantly hung Emperor Haile Selassie's portrait on the walls of his living room in the villa that the Prime Minister, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fikre_Selassie_Wogderess Fikre Selassie Wogderess], built for him in the middle-class district of Asmera Menged.