Mengistu Haile Mariam: Difference between revisions

{{Villain_Infobox

|fullname = Mengistu Haile Mariam

|origin = Kaffa Province, Italian East Africa

|hobby = N/A

|goals = Remain in power (failed)<br>Prevent Eritrea from becoming independent (failed)

{{Quote|In this country some aristocratic families automatically categorize people with dark skin, thick lips and kinky hair as 'Barias'... Let it be clear to everybody that I shall make these ignoramuses stoop and grind corn!|Mengistu Haile Mariam}}

==Early life==

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.

==The rise of the Derg==

==Leadership in Ethiopia==

===Political Conflicts===

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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-LOC-web_14-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mengistu_Haile_Mariam#cite_note-LOC-web-14 [14]]</sup>

===Embracing Marxism===

In the 1970s, Mengistu embraced the philosophy of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism-Leninism Marxism-Leninism], which was increasingly popular among many nationalists and revolutionaries throughout Africa and much of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World Third World] at the time. Some have argued that Mengistu, whom his commanders did not consider to be an intellectual, was more of a nationalist than a convinced Marxist, but that Marxism provided the best ideology for those trying to resist the dominant world powers, a policy that had been skilfully followed by previous Ethiopian leaders not least Emperor [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menelik_II_of_Ethiopia Menelik II].

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 bloc style command economy. Shortly after coming to power, all rural land was [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalization 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|civil war]], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famines_in_Ethiopia drought] and misguided [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Ethiopia economic policies]. There was also a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983%E2%80%931985_famine_in_Ethiopia famine in 1984], which was the 10th anniversary of the Derg.

During the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogaden_War Ogaden War], learning that after the fall of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jijiga Jijiga] to units of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_Somalia 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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-20">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mengistu_Haile_Mariam#cite_note-20 [20]]</sup>

In early 1984, under Mengistu's direction, the Marxist-Leninist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worker%27s_Party_of_Ethiopia Worker's Party of Ethiopia] (WPE) was founded as the country's ruling party, with Mengistu as general secretary. On 10 September 1987, a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_Constitution_of_Ethiopia new constitution] was adopted, and the country was renamed the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Democratic_Republic_of_Ethiopia 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.

===Asylum in Zimbabwe===

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 of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harare Harare]. While Mengistu was unharmed, his alleged attacker, Solomon Haile Ghebre Michael, an Eritrean, was shot and arrested by Mengistu's bodyguards. He was later tried for this assassination attempt, pleading not guilty in a Zimbabwean court on 8 July 1996. The Eritrean Ambassador to South Africa, Tsegaye Tesfa Tsion, flew to Harare to attend the trial. 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". 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.

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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodesian_Bush_War 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".

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