Mengistu Haile Mariam

Lieutenant Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam
መንግሥቱ ኀይለ ማርያም
Mengistu in 1978
General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia
In office 12 September 1984 – 21 May 1991
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Position abolished
President of Ethiopia
In office 10 September 1987 – 21 May 1991
Prime Minister	Fikre Selassie Wogderess Hailu Yimenu Tesfaye Dinka
Vice President	Fisseha Desta (1987–1991) Tesfaye Gebre Kidan (1991)
Preceded by	Himself as Chairman of the Derg
Succeeded by	Tesfaye Gebre Kidan (Acting)
Chairman of the Derg and Head of State of Ethiopia
In office 17 November 1974 – 28 November 1974 Acting
Preceded by	Aman Mikael Andom
Succeeded by	Tafari Benti
In office 3 February 1977 – 10 September 1987
Deputy	Atnafu Abate
Preceded by	Tafari Benti
Succeeded by	Himself as President
Personal details
Born	(1937-05-21) 21 May 1937 (age 87)[1] Caffa & Ghimirra, Galla-Sidamo Governorate, Italian East Africa[1][2] (now Ethiopia)
Political party	Workers' Party of Ethiopia (1984–1991)
Spouse	Wubanchi Bishaw[3]
Children	3
Residence(s)	Harare, Zimbabwe
Military service
Allegiance	Ethiopian Empire Derg PDR Ethiopia
Branch/service	Ethiopian Army
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel Commander-in-Chief
Battles/wars	1964 Ethiopian–Somali Border War Ethiopian Civil War Eritrean War of Independence Ogaden War
Criminal details
Years active	1976–1978 (Red Terror) 1983–1985 (1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia)
Conviction(s)	Genocide (in absentia)
Criminal penalty	Life imprisonment (in absentia) Elevated at death penalty (in absentia)
Details
Victims	+1,200,000

This article is part of a series about Mengistu Haile Mariam
WPE 1987 leader of Ethiopia 1974–1974, 1977–1987, 1984–1991 (1987–1991) Government Ethiopian Revolution Land reform Red Terror Civil War 1987 constitutional referendum 1987 Constitution of Ethiopia Shengo famine Ogaden War Eritrea(EPLF)-Ethiopia War Fall of the Derg Soviet-ethiopian relations
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Mengistu Haile Mariam (Amharic: መንግሥቱ ኀይለ ማርያም, pronunciation: [mənɡɨstu haɪlə marjam]; born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian former politician and former military officer who was the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 and General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia from 1984 to 1991. He was the chairman of the Derg, the Marxist-Leninist military junta that governed Ethiopia, from 1977 to 1987, and the president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) from 1987 to 1991.^[4]

The Derg took power in the Ethiopian Revolution following the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie I in 1974, marking the end of the Solomonic dynasty which had ruled Ethiopia since the 13th century. Mengistu purged rivals for power from the Derg and made himself dictator of Ethiopia, attempting to modernize the feudal economy of Ethiopia through Marxist-Leninist-inspired policies such as nationalization and land redistribution. His bloody consolidation of power in 1977–1978 is known as the Ethiopian Red Terror,^[5] a brutal crackdown on opposition groups and civilians following a failed assassination attempt by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP) in September 1976, after it had ignored the Derg's invitation to join the union of socialist parties. The death toll is unknown but is often estimated at between 30,000 and 750,000.

Internal rebellion, government repression, and economic mismanagement characterized Mengistu's presidency, the Red Terror period being a battle for dominance between the Derg, the EPRP, and their rival the All-Ethiopia Socialist Movement (MEISON), which had initially aligned itself with the Derg. While this internal conflict was being fought, Ethiopia was threatened by both the Somali invasion and the guerrilla campaign of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, who demanded independence for Eritrea, then a province of Ethiopia. The Ogaden War of 1977–1978 with Somalia, fought over a disputed border region (Ogaden), was notable for the prominent role of Mengistu's Soviet and Cuban allies in securing an Ethiopian victory. The catastrophic famine of 1983–1985 is what brought his government the most international attention.

Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe in May 1991 after the PDRE National Shengo dissolved itself and called for a transitional government. His departure brought an abrupt end to the Ethiopian Civil War. Mengistu Haile Mariam still lives in Harare, Zimbabwe, despite an Ethiopian court verdict which found him guilty of genocide in absentia.^[6] Mengistu's government is estimated to be responsible for the deaths of 500,000 to 2,000,000 Ethiopians, mostly during the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia.^{[7][8][9][10]}