In September the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Ethiopian revolution culminated in the formal declaration of the Party of the Workers of Ethiopia, a Marxist-Leninist party designed to take over from the PMAC. Mengistu was named head of the party, retaining his titles as commander-in-chief, chairman of the PMAC, head of the Supreme Planning Council, and head of the Council of Ministers. Beginning in Ethiopia again faced a serious famine, possibly worse than the one that helped end the imperial government of Haile Selassie.
In response, Mengistu's government turned to the West for food and technical aid while retaining its strong military and diplomatic ties to the former Soviet Union. The problems of chronic famine in the north, the continued war in Eritrea, and the overall lack of growth in the Ethiopian economy forced Mengistu to rely more heavily on military authority and close political allies.
Unrest continued in the country. Mengistu maintained control through ruthless dealings with the rebellious guerrillas. Eventually rebel groups won decisive victories against his political factions. In , Mengistu resigned and fled the capital city of Addis Ababa into exile. Details on the life of Mengistu Haile Mariam are not readily available.
An army officer, Mengistu first came to prominence in , when the army staged a successful coup against the regime of Emperor Haile Selassie.
Appointed acting chairman of the provisional army council, he became head of state in a second coup in With aid from the Soviet Union and Cuba, he made Ethiopia into a Marxist—Leninist republic, ruthlessly suppressing all opposition. He imposed agricultural collectivization and mass deportations. He pursued the war against the breakaway province of Eritrea, building his forces into the largest army in Africa.
In —85 his policies exacerbated one of the worst periods of famine and drought to affect the Horn of Africa, during which many thousands of Ethiopians died. In Mengistu introduced civilian rule; having banned all but his Workers' Party, he took the Presidency unopposed. After surviving one attempted coup in , his downfall and exile came in May , when a coalition of resistance movements from Eritrea and Tigray, which had made steady advances since the mids, overran Addis Ababa.
Photos from this day have been compiled by the digital archive, Vintage Addis Ababa , to show how people carry on with life in exceptional circumstances. The couple met in when they lived in the same neighbourhood.
A year later, the country's imperial government was overthrown by the Derg communist regime, paving the way for Mengistu's rule.
The chaos that followed upended their lives in ways they could not have imagined. Aynalem had hoped to marry Genet early, as soon as she finished high school.
But in she was arrested for taking part in an opposition protest and jailed for three months. Although the regime banned family from visiting their loved ones in prison, Aynalem used to check on Genet every few days. He was a Revolutionary Guard, which meant she would have been in danger if other opposition activists knew about their relationship. Mr Hailemariam is a member of the coalition that overthrew Mengistu - and has been in Zimbabwe this week heading an African Union election observer mission.
He framed his historic meeting as a reconciliation of sorts, as a screenshot of his deleted post shows. Mengistu, who oversaw a campaign known as the "Red Terror" in which thousands of people were killed, was found guilty in absentia of genocide in Gaim Kibreab, a professor at London's South Bank University who has written extensively on Mengistu, said the visit was surprising even it was encouraged by Ethiopia's new reformist prime minister.
Abiy Ahmed, who succeeded Mr Hailemariam in April, has released thousands of political prisoners in his short time of power and made peace with former enemy Eritrea. While the response to the photo has been largely critical, it is not to say that public opinion on Mengistu is unanimous, says BBC's Amharic's Kalkidan Yibeltal from Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa.
Our reporter says prior to Mr Abiy's reforms some opposition protesters used Mengistu's photo - mostly on social media - to express their anger at the government. Much of that anger has dissipated meaning people are also not afraid to show his image at public gatherings now. In the s, a group of military officers known as the Derg, overthrew Ethiopia's emperor, Haile Selassie.
Mengistu, a relatively obscure army officer at the time, emerged as leader and began the "Red Terror" when nearly half a million intellectuals, professionals and perceived opponents of socialism or the regime died.
0コメント