Mengistu Haile Mariam: Difference between revisions
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Mengistu Haile Mariam is an Ethiopian politician who was the most prominent officer of the Derg, the Communist military junta that governed Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987, and President of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia from 1987 to 1991. Effectively a dictator, he oversaw the Ethiopian Red Terror of 1977–1978, a campaign of repression against the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party and other anti-Derg factions. Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe in 1991 at the conclusion of the Ethiopian Civil War, and remains there despite an Ethiopian court verdict finding him guilty in absentia of genocide.[5] Some estimates for the number of deaths his regime was responsible for are as high as 1.285 million. | Mengistu Haile Mariam (May 21st, 1937 - ) is an Ethiopian politician who was the most prominent officer of the Derg, the Communist military junta that governed Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987, and President of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia from 1987 to 1991. Effectively a dictator, he oversaw the Ethiopian Red Terror of 1977–1978, a campaign of repression against the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party and other anti-Derg factions. Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe in 1991 at the conclusion of the Ethiopian Civil War, and remains there despite an Ethiopian court verdict finding him guilty in absentia of genocide.[5] Some estimates for the number of deaths his regime was responsible for are as high as 1.285 million. | ||
==Early life== | ==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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haile_Selassie 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. | 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 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haile_Selassie 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. | ||
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[[Category:Communists]] | [[Category:Communists]] | ||
[[Category:Living Villains]] | [[Category:Living Villains]] | ||
[[Category:Anti-Religious]] | |||