Mengistu Haile Mariam
1937 – ? Ethiopian military ruler, head of the Derg
Leader of Ethiopia's Marxist Derg regime, associated with the Red Terror, later convicted of genocide in absentia.
- Affiliations
- Derg, Workers' Party of Ethiopia
Mengistu Haile Mariam emerged as the strongman of the Derg, the military council that overthrew Haile Selassie in 1974. His rule is associated with the Red Terror, a campaign of mass killings against political rivals in which large numbers of people died, and with policies during the 1980s famine that worsened its toll. He fled to Zimbabwe in 1991 as his government collapsed and was later convicted of genocide in absentia by an Ethiopian court. He has lived in exile in Zimbabwe since then.
Connections
- rival of Haile Selassie — His movement overthrew and detained the emperor.
- rival of Haile Selassie — The Derg leader whose movement overthrew and detained him.
In the timeline
- 1974 Revolution overthrows Haile Selassie rising Derg figure
- 1977 The Red Terror under Mengistu and the Derg the Derg leader
- 1983 The great famine of 1983 to 1985 the ruling head of state
- 1991 The Derg falls and the EPRDF takes Addis Ababa the fleeing ruler