Editing Tafari Benti (section)

== Death ==
Despite this apparent setback, Mengistu proved to be far more resourceful than his opponents believed. The showdown occurred on 3 February 1977, when gunfire erupted during a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Derg. This meeting ended with the deaths of not only Tafari and the two captains, but four other Derg members who had been opposed to Mengistu - Lieutenant Colonel Asrat Desta, Lieutenant Colonel Heruy Haile Selassie, Captain Tefera Denke, and Corporal Haile Belay - as well as one Derg member who supported Mengistu, Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Asfaw, and a civilian Senay Likke. The Ottaways, writing not long after the incident state, "Precisely how the shoot-out began and which side took the initiative remains a typical ''Derg'' mystery". Rene LaFort relates one of the many stories in circulation at the time, where "Mengistu merely turned to his advantage a shoot-out started by someone else." A number of Derg members, including Mengistu, had met that morning to discuss a document which described the "class peace" Tafari Bente had publicly endorsed, and after hours of arguing, it was clear that there was a deadlock on the issue. Mengistu then asked that Tafari attend the meeting, and met the Chairman of the Derg outside who told Mengistu that there was nothing to discuss; tempers flared, a soldier belonging to the anti-Mengistu faction started shooting, and Mengistu's bodyguards opened fire, killing Tafari instantly and fatally wounding Senay Likke; Mengistu then took the 12.7 machine gun from the armed car outside the meeting room and sprayed the corridor and entrance to the meeting room, slaughtering the others. The Ethiopian academic Bahru Zewde, although writing over 20 years later is physically much closer to the scene, and states simply the dead "were readily picked up and summarily shot."
Shortly afterwards, Radio Ethiopia broadcast a charge by Mengistu that Tafari and his associates had been killed because they were secret supporters of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP). Mengistu claimed he had discovered a 47-page master plan in Tafari's possession, which detailed how the EPRP would replace the "scientific socialism" of the Derg.
[[Category:Communist]]
[[Category:Execution]]
[[Category:Evil vs Evil]]
[[Category:Honorable Villains]]
[[Category:Posthumous]]
[[Category:Jingoists]]
[[Category:Power Hungry]]
[[Category:Male]]
[[Category:African Villains]]
[[Category:Insecure]]
[[Category:Presidents]]
[[Category:Anarchist]]
[[Category:Hegemony]]
[[Category:Totalitarians]]
[[Category:Deceased]]
[[Category:Ethiopia]]