Mengistu Haile Mariam (Amharic: ????? ????? , pronounced Video Mengistu Haile Mariam
Kehidupan awal
Oromo Mengistu's father, Haile Mariam Wolde Ayana, was born in Furii, 8 km west of Addis Ababa (now in Addis Ababa due to city growth). He was in the ministry of Shewan Afenegus Eshete Geda, who had met him while he was on a hunting expedition in the administrative districts of Gimira and Maji, then under the governor Dejazmach
Mengistu was born on May 21, 1937 in Wolayita or Kaffa Province. Her mother died in labor when Mengistu was only 8 years old. After the death of his mother, Mengistu and his two siblings stayed with their grandmother for several years. He then returned to live with his father and soon after joining the army at a very young age. Mengistu's father was very proud of his son's achievements, though some believe the Ethiopian popular account stating that his family is far from being proud of his political achievements.
Maps Mengistu Haile Mariam
Army life
Mengistu followed his father and joined the army, where he drew the attention of General Aman who was born in Eritrea, who raised him to the rank of sergeant and assigned him as a messenger in his office. Mengistu graduated from Holetta Military Academy, one of the two important military academies in Ethiopia. General Aman later became his mentor, and when the General was assigned to the Third Division commander take Mengistu with him to Harar, and then assigned as an armament officer in the 3rd division. A few years before his departure for training to the US he was in conflict with the 3rd Division commander then General Haile Baykedagn whose strict discipline and order policy did not match Mengistu. At that time, Ordnance groups were offered support for military technical training in the US. Despite his disapproval of Mengistu's dissent and impartiality, the General is obliged to release him and Mengistu goes for a six-month training program in Maryland, USA. Upon his training, he is expected to lead the Division of the Sect in Harar. Years later, Mengistu will kill General Haile Baykedagn along with 60 ministers and generals.
While studying in the United States, Mengistu suffered racial discrimination, which led him to strong anti-American sentiment. He equated racial discrimination in the United States with class discrimination in Ethiopia. When he took power, and attended a meeting of Derg members at the headquarters of the Fourth Division in Addis Ababa, Mengistu exclaimed with emotion:
In this country, some aristocratic families automatically categorize people with dark skin, thick lips, and curly hair as "Barias" (Amharic for Slave)... let it be clear to everyone that I will soon make this stupid bend and grind corn!
Bahru Zewde notes that Mengistu is distinguished by "special ability to measure situations and people". Although Bahru notes that some observers "rather generously" equate this ability with intelligence, academics believe it is more akin to "street intelligence": "somewhat closer to the goal of seeing it as city intelligence (or what the local language would be called aradanat ). "
Awakening of Derg
Emperor Haile Selassie's government, having lost Ethiopia's public confidence after drought and crop failures in the province of Wello, was overthrown in the 1974 Ethiopian revolution. As a result, power entered the hands of low-ranking officers of officers and enlisted soldiers. led by Atnafu Abate, who came to be known as Derg. Mengistu was originally one of the lower members, officially sent to represent the Third Division because his commander, General Nega Tegnegn, regarded him as a problem maker and wanted to get rid of him. But between July and September 1974, Mengistu became a member of the Derg in the shadows, though he preferred to act through more open members like his former mentor, General Aman Andom, and then Tafari Benti. Mengistu and Atnafu Abate were vice chairmen of Derg from March 1975 to February 1977.
Haile Selassie died in 1975. It is rumored that Mengistu extinguished the Emperor using a pillowcase, but Mengistu denied this rumor. Although some groups were involved in the overthrow, Derg succeeded in power. There is no doubt that Derg under the leadership of Mengistu ordered the unlawful execution of 61 former Imperial government officials on November 23, 1974, and then a number of ex-nobles and other officials including Ethiopian Orthodox Patriarch Abuna Theophilos in 1977. Mengistu himself has acknowledged that Derg ordered this death, but refused to accept personal responsibility. Derg members have denied him in an interview given from prison, saying he conspired and fully agreed with their decision.
Leadership in Ethiopia
Mengistu did not appear as a Derg leader until after the 3 February 1977 shooting, in which Tafari Banti was murdered. Derg's deputy chairman, Atnafu Abate, though with support at the moment, clashed with Mengistu on the issue of how to handle the war in Eritrea and lost execution with 40 other officers, clearing the way for Mengistu to be the complete master of the situation. He formally assumed power as head of state, and justified his execution of Abate (on 13 November of that year) by claiming that he "placed Ethiopia's interests above the interests of socialism" and carried out other "counter-revolutionary" activities. Under Mengistu, Ethiopia received help from the Soviet Union, other members of the Warsaw Pact, and Cuba.
Political conflict
From 1977 to 1978, resistance to Derg ensued, led mainly by the Ethiopian Revolutionary People's Party (EPRP). Mengistu cracked down on EPRP and other revolutionary student organizations in what was called "Red Terror". Derg then turned against the movement of socialist student MEISON (All Ethiopian Socialist Movement) in GEEZ ?? ????? ?????? ????, the main supporter of EPRP, in the so-called "White Terror".
The EPRP effort to discredit and weaken Derg and its MEISON collaborators increased in the fall of 1976. It targeted public buildings and other symbols of state authorities to bomb and kill many Abyot Seded and MEISON members, as well as public officials at all levels. Derg, who responds with his own counter-terrorism campaign, calls EPRP's tactics White Terror. Mengistu affirms that all "progressives" are given "freedom of action" in helping to eradicate the enemies of the revolution, and their anger is specifically directed at the EPRP. Farmers, workers, public officials, and even students who are considered loyal to the Mengistu regime are given with weapons to accomplish this task.
Colonel Mengistu gave a dramatic report for his terror campaign. In a public speech, he shouted "Death to counter revolutionaries! Death to EPRP!" and then produced three bottles that looked like blood and hit him to the ground to show what the revolution would do to his enemy. Thousands of young men and women appeared dead on the streets of the capital and other cities in the next two years. They were systematically killed mainly by militias bound to "Kebeles," the environmental monitoring committee that served during the Mengistu government as the lowest government unit and security supervisory unit. Families must pay Kebeles taxes known as "wasted bullets" to get the bodies of their loved ones. In May 1977 the Swedish secretary general of Save the Children Fund stated that "1,000 children have been killed, and their bodies left in the streets and eaten by wild hyenas.You can see a pile of garbage, the corpses of children being killed, most of them aged eleven until thirteen years, lying in a ditch, as you drive out of Addis Ababa. "
The military advantage made by the Ethiopian Democratic Union monarch at Begemder was rolled back when the party split like that on the brink of capturing the old capital of Gondar. The Democratic Republic of Somalia's army invaded Ethiopia after seizing Ogaden territory, and nearly captured Harar and Dire Dawa, when previous Somali allies, Soviets and Cubans, unveiled unprecedented weapons and personnel transport to come to Ethiopia.. The Derg government returned the invasion of Somalia, and made a deep step toward Eritrean separatists and TPLF as well. In the late seventies, Mengistu led the second largest army throughout sub-Saharan Africa, as well as a formidable air force and navy.
Amnesty International estimates that up to 50,000 people died during the Ethiopian Red Cross
Embracing Marxism
In the 1970s, Mengistu embraced the philosophy of Marxism-Leninism, which grew popular among many nationalists and revolutionaries across Africa and much of the Third World at the time.
In the mid-1970s, under the leadership of Mengistu, the Derg regime embarked on an aggressive program transforming the Ethiopian system from a feudo-capitalist mixed economy into a Eastern-style style command economy. Shortly after coming to power, all the country lands were nationalized, stripping the Ethiopian Church, the Imperial family and the nobility of all their large estates and most of their wealth. During the same period, all foreign-owned and locally-owned companies were nationalized without compensation in an effort to distribute state assets. All urban properties are undeveloped and all rental properties are also nationalized. Private businesses such as banks and insurance companies, large retail businesses, etc. are also taken over by the government. All these nationalized properties were brought under the administration of a large bureaucracy set up to manage them. Farmers who had worked on land owned by absent landlords were now forced to join the collective farm. All agricultural products are no longer offered in the free market, but must be controlled and distributed by the government. Despite progressive agricultural reforms, under Derg, agricultural output suffers from civil war, drought and misguided economic policies. There was also a famine in 1984, which was the tenth anniversary of the Derg.
During the Ogaden War, knowing that after the fall of Jijiga to the Somali army unit (2 September 1977) the Ethiopian unit began to rebel, Mengistu flew forward and took direct control. According to Gebru Tareke, he ordered those suspected of leading the rebellion "bayoneted as a coward and counter-revolutionary element", then ordered the army regrouped and ordered to recapture Jijiga in simultaneous attacks from the west and north. Ethiopia regained the city on September 5, but Jijiga remained within reach of the Somali artillery, which fired on the city all night. The next day, the Somalians attacked back, "very strong and steadfast", and before he could be besieged inside the city, Mengistu fled back to Adew on the 7th where he boarded the plane back to Addis Ababa. Somalis broke through the Ethiopian line, recaptured Jijiga on 12 September, and managed to surpass Ethiopia's position past the Marda Pass.
In early 1984, under the direction of Mengistu, the Ethiopian Marxist-Leninist Workers Party (WPE) was established as the ruling party in the country, with Mengistu as secretary-general. On September 10, 1987, a new Soviet-style constitution was adopted, and the country was renamed the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Mengistu became president, with widespread executive and legislative powers. Indeed, because of the doctrine of democratic centralism, it is effectively dictatorial. He and other surviving members of Dergen are all retired from the military. However, even as civilians, they dominate the WPE Politburo. In the late 1980s, some Mengistu Western critics, including Michael Johns of The Heritage Foundation, alleging that Mengistu's economic, military and political policies, along with the Soviet Union's support for Mengistu, were a major contributing factor to Ethiopia's hunger, which eventually took over 500, 000 inhabitants. Mengistu made seven visits to the Soviet Union between 1977 and 1984, as well as other visits to his political allies Cuba, Libya, South Yemen, and Mozambique. From 1983 to 1984 Mengistu served as head of the Organization of African Unity.
However, the government's military position has gradually weakened. First came the Battle of Africa in March 1989, which was a shameful defeat at the hands of the Eritrea People's Liberation Front, with 15,000 casualties and the loss of many equipment. This was followed less than a year later by the rest of the rest of the Shire, with more than 20,000 people killed or caught and lost more equipment. On May 16, 1989, when Mengistu was abroad to conduct a four-day state visit to East Germany, senior military officials sought a coup and Defense Minister, Haile Giyorgis Habte Mariam, was killed; Reinforced in 24 hours and nine generals, including air force commanders and military commanders, were killed when the coup was destroyed.
Asylum in Zimbabwe
In 1990, the Soviet Union had all but ended its support for the Mengistu regime. In an effort to buy more time, Mengistu abandoned Communism in 1990 and began taking steps to open up the economy. However, it only serves to buy his regime a little over a year of life. In May 1991, the Democratic People's Democratic Forces of Ethiopia (EPRDF) advanced with Addis Ababa forces from all sides, and Mengistu fled the country with 50 family members and Derg. He was granted asylum in Zimbabwe as an official guest of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
Mengistu left almost all of Derg's original membership and WPE leadership. The regime only survived without him for a week before the EPRDF flowed into the capital, blocking the previous runaway leadership. Almost all were immediately arrested and tried on the assumption of power by the EPRDF. Mengistu claimed that his country's takeover resulted from the policy of Mikhail Gorbachev, which in his view allowed the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the cessation of its aid to Ethiopia.
An attempted murder of Mengistu occurred on November 4, 1995, while he was walking with his wife, Wubanchi Bishaw, near his home on the outskirts of Harare, Harare. While Mengistu was not injured, his alleged assassin, Solomon Haile Ghebre Michael, an Eritrean, was shot and captured by Mengistu's bodyguard. He was later on trial for this assassination attempt, pleading not guilty in a Zimbabwe court on July 8, 1996. Eritrea's 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 attack, was sentenced to five years. They said that they had been tortured under Mengistu, and on appeal their sentence was reduced to two years each due to "mitigating circumstances". The Ethiopian ambassador to Zimbabwe, Fantahun Haile Michael, said that his government was not involved in the assassination attempt, and that he heard about the incident from the media.
Mengistu is still living in Zimbabwe, despite the Ethiopian government's desire that he be extradited. He is said to live in a state of luxury, and it is claimed that he advised Mugabe on security matters; according to Zimbabwe's intelligence sources, he proposed the idea of ​​cleaning up the slums, which he carried out as Operation Murambatsvina in 2005, and chaired the meeting at which the operation was planned. State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa strongly denied that Mengistu was involved in Operation Murambatsvina in any way, saying that Mengistu "does not interfere in our country's affairs, nor allow him to disrupt his country from Zimbabwe."
Genocide trials
Mengistu was indicted by the Ethiopian government led by Meles Zenawi, in absentia, for the murder of nearly 2,000 people. The cost sheet and the list of evidence for his crime are 8,000 pages. Incriminating evidence includes signing orders of execution, video torture sessions, and personal testimony. The trial began in 1994 and ended in 2006. The court found Mengistu guilty as indicted on December 12, 2006, and sentenced Mengistu to life in January 2007. In addition to genocide belief, the court found him guilty of imprisonment, illegal killing and confiscation of property illegal. Michael Clough, a US lawyer and longtime Ethiopian observer, said in a statement:
The biggest problem with Mengistu's trial for genocide is that its actions do not always target a particular group. They are directed against anyone who opposes his government, and they are generally far more political than ethnic targeting.
Some scholars believe hundreds of thousands of students, intellectuals and politicians (including Emperor Haile Selassie) were killed during Mengistu's rule. Amnesty International estimates that a total of half a million people were killed during the 1977 and 1978 Red Terrors. Human Rights Watch described the Red Terror as "one of the most systematic use of massacres of countries ever witnessed in Africa." During his reign it was not uncommon to see students, suspected government critics or rebel sympathizers hanging on lampposts every morning. Mengistu himself is alleged to have killed his opponents by doing a garrot or shooting them, saying that he led by example.
106 Derg officials were accused of genocide during the trial, but only 36 of them were present in court. Several former Derg members have been sentenced to death.
After Mengistu's confidence in December 2006, the Zimbabwean government said that he still enjoys asylum and will 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 helped Zimbabwe's guerrilla fighters during the Wars of Rhodesia Bush by providing training and weapons; after the war he has provided training for Zimbabwe airforce pilots. The spokesman said that "not many countries have shown such a commitment to us".
Following an appeal on May 26, 2008, Mengistu was sentenced to death in absentia by the Ethiopian High Court, canceling his previous life sentence. The twenty-three of his most senior servants also received a death penalty that was alleviated on June 1, 2011. On October 4, 2011, 16 former Mengistu officials have been released from prison on parole, due to their old age and good behavior while in jail. However, Mengistu's sentence remains unchanged. It is unclear whether changes in government in Zimbabwe will result in extradition.
Memoir
In 2010, Mengistu announced the publication of his memoir. In early 2012, a memoirs manuscript, titled Tiglatchin ("Our Struggle" in Amharic), leaked to the internet. A few months later the first leaked volume was published in the United States, and by 2016 a second volume was followed. This time it was published in Ethiopia. Mengistu accused the remnants of EPRP leaking the first volume to sabotage his publication.
Personal life
Mengistu married Wubanchi Bishaw in 1968. They had a son, Andenet, and daughters, Tigisit and Timihirt.
Note
References
Further reading
- Andrew, Christopher M. and Mitrokhin, Vasili. The World Walks Our Way: KGB and Battle for the Third World. Basic Book, 2005. ISBNÃ, 0-465-00311-7
- Coppa, Frank. 2006. "Mengistu Haile Mariam." The Encyclopedia of Modern Dictators: From Napoleon To The Time
- Applebaum, Anne (introduction) and Hollander, Paul (introduction to PDF files and editors) From Gulag to Killing Fields: Personal Account of Political Violence and Repression in the Communist State. Interollegiate Studies Institute 2006). ISBN: 1-932236-78-3.
- Courtois, Stephane; Werth, Nicolas; Panne, Jean-Louis; Paczkowski, Andrzej; Bartosek, Karel; Margolin, Jean-Louis & amp; Kramer, Mark (1999). Black Communist Book: Crime, Terror, Persecution . Harvard University Press. ISBNÃ, 0-674-07608-7.
- Orizio, Riccardo. Satanic Discussion: Meeting with the Seven Dictators Walker & amp; Company, 2004. ISBNÃ, 0-8027-7692-2
- Ulrich Schmid. Aschemenschen . Berlin, 2006 (in German)
- Taffara Deguefà ©  ©, A Tripping Stone: Ethiopian Prison Diary , Addis Ababa University Press, Addis Ababa, 2003.
- Scott Rempell, "Five Grounds: A Novel," ISBN: 1479201723.
External links
- "Mengistu defends the Red Terror", BBC News, December 28, 1999.
- "The US Strategy to Promote Human Rights in Ethiopia", by Michael Johns, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder # 692, February 23, 1989.
- "Ethiopian dictation Mengistu Haile Mariam", Human Rights Watch, November 29, 1999.
- Derg Test on YouTube. Reuters, 2007
- "Holocaust Gorbachev: Soviet Difficulties in Ethiopian Hunger", by Michael Johns, Policy Review , Summer 1988.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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