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The Dergue (1974-1991

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Mengistu H/Mariyam

Immediatley after Emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown; in September 1974, a military committee (knownas the Dergue) was established from several divisions of the Ethiopian Armed forces. General Aman Amdon was

elected as spokesperson for the Dergue and implemented policies for the country, which included land

distribution to peasants, nationalising industries and services under public ownership and led Ethiopia into theSocialism. The Dergue was credited for these policies which at first gained mass support across the country.

However, the popularity of the Dergue did not live long . The Eritrean conflict, Somalis invasion of Ogaden andother issues surfaced. In particular, General Aman disagreed with the policy on how to deal with the Eritrean

crisis, as he wanted to solve the Eritrean conflict peacefully. He was put under house arrest by the Dergue andexecuted two months later along with other high ranking officers and civil servants. General Tefari Abante was

then elected by the Dergue to lead the country

Initially the Dergue was popular following the coup against Haile Selassie. They came to power under the sloganof "Ethiopia First", "Land to the peasants" and "Democracy and Equality to all". The Dergue then became deeply

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unpopular due to ill sought out policies and m ass executions, which sent a shock wave across the country. Many

Ethiopians joined opposition groups such as Tigray Peoples' Liberation Front (TPLF), Ethiopian Peoples'

Revolutionary Party (EPRP), Eritrean Peoples' Liberation Front (EPLF), Ethiopian Dem ocratic Union (EDU, lead by Prince Mengesha of Tigray, son-in-law of Haile Selassie) and Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). These groups

made up of many ordinary Ethiopians became the victims of the Dergue; thousands of Ethiopians fled the

country to neighbouring countries, Europe and North America.

An internal struggle for power took place within the Dergue; then the unknown figure, Mengistu Hailemariam,eventually emerged as an undisputed and ruthless leader. He executed General Tefari and other high ranking

officers and became the leader of the Dergue. Mengistu adopted a Stalinist policy and declared the "Red Terror"

(mass execution) in 1977. Ethiopia entered a new phase of chaos and a state of civil war in Eritrea and Tigray. TheTPLF, EPRP, EPLF, EDU and OLF opposed and engaged in armed struggle to over throw the Dergue. Mengistu

gave a free hand to his political cadres to carry out his policy. Thousands of students, teachers, workers and

ordinary Ethiopians who were suspected of supporting opposition groups were imprisoned without charge,tortured and executed. This happened random ly across the country and bodies were left for up to three days on

the streets, in front of public building, schools, universities in order to scare others into not to supporting

opposition groups. Even the parents and relatives of victims were not allowed to mourn or to collect the body of the victims and bury their loved ones. The governm ent officials were only allowed to bury all the victims in

unknown mass graves during the night

1977, Somalia invaded Ethiopia and occupied Ogaden and its forces advanced to Harar. Western governments' politics played into and contributed towards the Somalia and Ethiopia conflict. The USA had abandoned Ethiopia

when it adopted Marxist and Leninist ideology and switched its suppor t to Somalia. Mengistu was desperate at the

time; the Soviet Union once a partner of the Somalis changed their suppor t from Somalia to Ethiopia. Mengistureceived military and logistic support from the Soviet Union and Cuba. Thousands of Cuban and Russian

 personnel and armed forces cam e to the aid of the Mengistu regime and were involved in military planning and

fighting against Somalia. Later they were involved in planning and fighting ag ainst the TPLF and EPLF in the

north of the country.

War broke out between the EPRP and TPLE in Eastern Tigray. The TPLE drove the EPRP out of Tigray. The TPLF

also drove the EDU out of the Western art of Ti ra . The TPLF o ularit rew and the became a ma or threat 

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to the Mengistu reg ime. Mengistu retaliated by putting many Tigrayans in pr ison without charge. Many weretortured and executed in a cold blood.

The fam ine in 1984/5 was not helped by the reg ime's politics, which contributed towards it and it was the worst in

living m emory. The Mengistu government imposed a restriction of m ovement on goods and aid to the famineaffected regions. Hundreds of thousands of people died of starvation due to the Mengistu regime refused to

allow aid to be transported to the regions affected by the famine, which were controlled by the rebels.

Instead, the Mengistu regime devised and implemented a policy of resettlement in the famine affected regions as

a cover, to prevent people from supporting the rebels' causes. The government thought this might weaken therebels and stop them getting the support of the people who live in the areas controlled by the rebels. The

Mengistu regime carried out the resettlement programme by taking people by force from markets and their 

home and loading them to buses and lorries and transporting them to swampy areas ridden with malaria in thesouth and west of the country. As a result of the resettlement programme, many people died on their journey and

on arrival because of the inadequate help from the government. Many families were separated f rom their loved

ones and many people returned back home illegally.The resettlement programme was a disaster; nobody volunteered to go but people were forced to resettle in

unknown and inhospitable areas. The TPLF used the plight of the people and the resettlement policy to help its

cause, and the TPLF popularity grew immensely. Many people chose to join the TPLF cause rather than beingforced to resettle in an area they were not familiar with.

In September 1987, The Mengistu regime proclaimed Ethiopia as the Ethiopian Peoples' Democratic Republic and

the Dergue became the Ethiopian Workers party (EWP). In the same year the Amhara opposition group the

Ethiopian Revolutionary Democratic Movement (EPRDM) was form ed and they became a key ally of the TPLF.Large parts of Tigray, Wollo and Gonder fell to the TPLF and EPRDM. It then became clear that the Ethiopian

army was not capable of defeating the rebels and Russian and Cuban help was needed in military planning and to

fight against the rebels.

The TPLF and EPRDM were victorious and took control of the whole Tigray, Wollo, and Gonder Regions and they

then advanced on Addis Ababa. Meanwhile the EPLF in Eritrea took control of the major cities and began to

advance to Asmara and Assab. The government army was in completely disarrayed and defeated on every PDFmyURL.com

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 battlef ront.

In 1991, the TPLF and EPRDM overthrew the Mengistu regime. Mengistu and other high ranking officials fled the

country and many other officials were imprisoned and still on trial accused of mass murder. The TPLF andEPRDM took control of the government under the name of Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front

(EPRDF), led by Meles Zenawi, the TPLF leader.

In April 1993, a referendum took place in Eritrea and the Eritreans voted overwhelming ly for independence.Eritrea became officially independent and separated from Ethiopia, even though many Ethiopians did notsupport the referendum in Eritrea.

In 1995, Ethiopia became a federation divided into 10 administrative reg ions based on ethnic lines. Some

opposition groups did not accept the EPRDF government and still continue to fight against Meles Zenawigovernment.

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