Derg: a short history

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Provisional Military Government of
Socialist Ethiopia

ye-Hebratasabwit tyy Gizywi
Watdarwi Manget

19741987/1991




Flag Emblem

Anthem
tyoya, tyoya, tyoya, qid m
[1]

, ,
Ethiopia, Ethiopia, Ethiopia be first

Capital Addis Ababa
Languages Amharic
Government Marxist
Leninistmilitary junta
Chairman
- 1974 Aman Michael Andom
- 19741977 Tafari Benti
- 19771987 Mengistu Haile Mariam
Legislature Shengo
Historical era Cold War
- Coup d'tat 12 September 1974
- Monarchy abolished 21 March 1975
[2]

- Constitution
adopted 22 February 1987
Area
- 1987
[3]
1,221,900 km(471,778
sq mi)
Population
- 1987
[3]
est. 46,706,229
Density 38.2 /km (99 /sq mi)
Currency Ethiopian birr (ETB)
Calling code +251
Today part of Ethiopia
Eritrea
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The Derg, Common Derg or Dergue (Ge'ez: , meaning "committee" or "council") is the
short name of the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial
Army that ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987. It took power following the ousting of
Emperor Haile Selassie I. Soon after it was established, the committee was formally renamed
the Provisional Military Administrative Council, but continued to be known popularly as "the
Derg". In 1975, it embraced communism as an ideology; it remained in power until
1987.
[4]
Between 1975 and 1987, the Derg executed and imprisoned tens of thousands of its
opponents without trial.
[5]

In 1987 Mengistu Haile Mariam abolished the Derg, establishing the People's Democratic
Republic of Ethiopia. After years of warfare by a coalition of ethnic-based parties, Mengistu
was overthrown in 1991.
Contents
1 Formation and growth
2 Mengistu's leadership
3 Ethiopian Civil War
4 Aid and controversy
5 End of the Derg
6 Chairmen
7 PMAC Standing Committee (January 1985)
8 See also
9 Notes
10 References
11 External links
Formation and growth

High ranking Derg members;Mengistu Haile Mariam, Aman Mikael Andom and Atnafu Abate.
The Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, or the Derg
(Ge'ez "Committee"), was officially announced 28 June 1974 by a group of military officers to
maintain law and order due to the powerlessness of the civilian government following
widespread mutiny in the armed forces of Ethiopia earlier that year. Its members were not
directly involved in those mutinies (as far as anyone knows), nor was this the first military
committee organized to support the administration of Prime Minister Endelkachew
Makonnen. Alem Zewde Tessema had established the Armed Forces Coordinated
Committee 23 March. Over the following months, radicals in the Ethiopian military came to
believe Makonnen was acting on behalf of the hated Tigray aristocracy. When a group of
notables petitioned for the release of a number of government ministers and officials who were
under arrest for corruption and other crimes, three days later the Derg was announced.
[6]

The Derg, which originally consisted of soldiers at the capital, broadened its membership by
including representatives from the 40 units of the Ethiopian Army, Air Force, Navy, Kebur
Zabagna (Imperial Guard), Territorial Army and Police: each unit was expected to send three
representatives, who were supposed to be privates, NCOs and junior officers up to the rank of
major. According to Bahru Zewde, "Senior officers were deemed too compromised by close
association to the regime."
[7]
It is often said that the Derg consisted of 120 soldiers,
[8]
a
statement which has gained wide acceptance due to the habitual secretiveness of the Derg in
its early years. But, Bahru Zewde notes that "in actual fact, their number was less than
110",
[7]
and Aregawi Berhe mentions two different sources which record 109 persons as being
members of the Derg.
[9]
No new members were ever admitted, and the number decreased,
especially in the first few years, as some members were expelled or killed.
The committee elected Major Mengistu Haile Mariam as its chairman and Major Atnafu
Abate as its vice-chairman. The Derg was initially supposed to study the grievances of various
military units, investigate abuses by senior officers and staff, and to root out corruption in the
military.
In the months following its founding, the Derg steadily accrued more power. In July the Derg
obtained key concessions from the emperor, Haile Selassie, which included the power to arrest
not only military officers, but government officials at every level. Soon both former Prime
Ministers Tsehafi Taezaz Aklilu Habte-Wold and Endelkachew Makonnen, along with most of
their cabinets, most regional governors, many senior military officers and officials of the
Imperial court were imprisoned. In August, after a proposed constitution creating a
constitutional monarchy was presented to the emperor, the Derg began a program of
dismantling the imperial government in order to forestall further developments in that direction.
The Derg deposed and imprisoned the emperor on September 12, 1974.
On September 15, the committee renamed itself as the Provisional Military Administrative
Council (PMAC) and took control of the government. The Derg chose Lieutenant
General Aman Andom, a popular military leader and a Sandhurst graduate,
[10]
to be its
chairman and acting head-of-state. This was pending the return of the Crown Prince Asfaw
Wossen from medical treatment in Europe, when he would assume the throne as a
constitutional monarch. However, General Aman Andom quarreled with the radical elements in
the Derg over the issue of a new military offensive in Eritrea and their proposal to execute the
high officials of Selassie's former government.
After eliminating units loyal to him the Engineers, the Imperial Bodyguard and the Air Force
the Derg removed General Aman from power and executed him on November 23, 1974,
along with some supporters and 60 officials of the previous Imperial government.
[11]
Brigadier
General Tafari Benti became both the new Chairman of the Derg and head of state, with
Mengistu and Atnafu Abate as his two vice-Chairmen, both with promotions to the rank of
Lieutenant-Colonels. The monarchy was formally abolished in May 1975, and Marxism-
Leninism was proclaimed the ideology of the state. Emperor Haile Selassie died on August 22,
1975 while his personal physician was absent. It is commonly believed that Mengistu killed
him, either ordering it done or by his own hand.
[12]

Mengistu's leadership
After internal conflicts that resulted in the executions of General Tafari Benti and several of his
supporters by November 1977, and the later execution of Colonel Atnafu Abate, Mengistu
gained undisputed leadership of the Derg. In 1987 he formally dissolved the Derg, and
established the country as the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) under a
new constitution.
Many of the Derg members remained in key government posts, and also served as the
members of the Central Committee and the Politburo of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia (WPE).
This became Ethiopia's civilian version of the Eastern bloc Communist parties. Mengistu
became Secretary General of the WPE, President of the PDRE, while remaining Commander
in Chief of the Armed Forces.
Ethiopian Civil War[

Derg party badge, c. 1979.
Opposition to the reign of the Derg was the cause of the Ethiopian Civil War. This conflict
began as extralegal violence between 1975 and 1977, known as the Red Terror, when the
Derg struggled for authority, first with various opposition groups, then with a variety of groups
jockeying for the role of vanguard party. Though human rights violations were committed by
both sides, the great majority of abuses against civilians as well as actions leading to
devastating famine were committed by the government.
[13]

Once the Derg had gained victory over these groups and successfully fought off an
invasion from Somalia in 1977, it engaged in a brutal war against armed opponents. These
groups included guerrillas fighting for Eritrean independence, rebels based in Tigray (which
included the nascent Tigrayan Peoples' Liberation Front), and other groups that ranged from
the conservative and pro-monarchy Ethiopian Democratic Union to the far leftist Ethiopian
People's Revolutionary Party. Under the Derg, Ethiopia became the Soviet bloc's closest ally in
Africa, and became among the best armed nations of the region as a result of massive military
aid, chiefly from the Soviet Union, East Germany, Cuba and North Korea.
On 4 March 1975, the Derg announced a program of land reform, according to its main slogan
of "Land to the Tiller," which "was unequivocally radical, even in Soviet and Chinese terms. It
nationalized all rural land, abolished tenancy, and put peasants in charge of enforcing the
whole scheme."
[14]
Although the Derg gained little respect during its rule, this reform resulted in
a rare show of support for the junta, as the Ottaways describe:
"During a massive demonstration in Addis Ababa immediately following the announcement, a
group of students broke through police and army barriers, climbed the wall and escarpment
around Menelik Palace, and embraced major Mengistu as the hero of the reform".
[15]

In addition, the Derg in 1975 nationalized most industries and private and some-what secure
urban real-estate holdings.
But, mismanagement, corruption, and general hostility to the Derg's violent rule, coupled with
the draining effects of constant warfare with the separatist guerrilla movements
inEritrea and Tigray, led to a drastic fall in general productivity of food and cash crops. In
October 1978, the Derg announced the National Revolutionary Development Campaign to
mobilize human and material resources to transform the economy, which led to a Ten-Year
Plan (1984/85-1993/94) to expand agricultural and industrial output, forecasting a 6.5% growth
in GDP and a 3.6% rise in per capita income. Instead, per capita income declined 0.8% over
this period.
[16]
Famine scholar Alex de Waal observes that while the faminethat struck the
country in the mid-1980s is usually ascribed to drought, "closer investigation shows that
widespread drought occurred only some months after the famine was already under
way."
[17]
Hundreds of thousands fled economic misery, conscription, and political repression,
and went to live in neighboring countries and all over the Western world, creating an
Ethiopian diaspora for the first time.
Aid and controversy
The famine in the mid-1980s brought the political situation in Ethiopia to the attention of the
world, and inspired charitable drives in western nations, notably by Oxfam and the Live
Aid concerts of July 1985. The money they raised was distributed among NGOs in Ethiopia. A
controversy arose when it was found that some of these NGOs were under Derg control or
influence, and that some Oxfam and Live Aid money had been used to fund the
Derg's enforced resettlement programmes, under which they displaced millions of people and
killed between 50,000 and 100,000.
[18]
A BBC investigation reported that rebels had used
millions of pounds of aid to buy arms; these accusations were later fully retracted by the
Corporation.
[19]

End of the Derg

Tanks in the streets of Addis Ababa after rebels seized the capital
Although the Derg government officially came to an end 22 February 1987, three weeks after
a referendum approved the constitution for the PDRE, it was not until that September the new
government was fully in place and the Derg formally abolished.
[20]
The surviving members of
the Derg remained in power as the leaders of the new civilian regime.
The geopolitical situations turned unfavorable for the communist government in the late 1980s,
with the Soviet Union retreating from the expansion of Communism under Mikhail
Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika. Socialist bloc countries drastically reduced their aid to
Ethiopia, struggling to keep their own economies going. This resulted in even more economic
hardship, and the military gave way in the face of determined onslaughts by guerrilla forces in
the north. The Soviet Union stopped aiding the PDRE altogether in December 1990. Together
with the fall of Communism in the Eastern Bloc in the Revolutions of 1989, this was a serious
blow to the PDRE.
Towards the end of January 1991, a coalition of rebel forces, the Ethiopian People's
Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) capturedGondar, the ancient capital city, Bahar Dar,
and Dessie. Meanwhile, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front had gained control of all of
Eritrea except for Asmara and Assab in the south. The Soviet Union, mired in its internal
turmoil, could no longer prop up the Derg.
[21]
In the words of the former US diplomat Paul B.
Henze, "As his doom became imminent, Mengistu alternated between vowing resistance to the
end and hinting that he might follow Emperor Tewodros's example and commit suicide."
[22]
His
actions were frantic: he convened the Shengo, the Ethiopian Parliament, for an emergency
session and reorganized his cabinet, but as Henze concludes, "these shifts came too late to be
effective."
[22]
On 21 May, claiming that he was going to inspect troops at a base in southern
Ethiopia, Mengistu slipped out of the country to Kenya. From there he flew with his immediate
family to Zimbabwe, where he was granted asylum and as of 2010 still resides.
Upon entering Addis Ababa, the EPRDF immediately disbanded the WPE and arrested almost
all of the prominent Derg officials shortly after. In December 2006, 73 officials of the Derg were
found guilty of genocide. Thirty-four people were in court, 14 others had died during the lengthy
process, and 25, including Mengistu, were tried in absentia.
[23]
The trial ended 26 May 2008,
and many of the officials were sentenced to death. In December 2010, the Ethiopian
government commuted the death sentence of 23 Derg officials. On October 4, 2011, 16 former
Derg officials were freed, after twenty years of incarceration. The Ethiopian government
paroled almost all of those Derg officials who had been jailed for 20 years.
Chairmen
Aman Mikael Andom (September 12, 1974 November 17, 1974)
Mengistu Haile Mariam (November 17, 1974 November 28, 1974) (1st term)
Tafari Benti (November 28, 1974 February 3, 1977)
Mengistu Haile Mariam (February 3, 1977 September 10, 1987) (2nd term, acting to
February 11, 1977)
PMAC Standing Committee (January 1985)
Chairman
Mengistu Haile Mariam
Secretary-General
Lt.-Col. Fikre Selassie Wogderess
Deputy Secretary-General
Fisseha Desta
Military Affairs
Lt.-Gen. Tesfaye Gebre Kidan
Security
Teka Tulu
Development and Planning
Addis Tedla
Party Organization
Legesse Asfaw
Administrative and Legal Affairs
Wubshet Dessie
Other members
Genesse Wolde-Kidan
Endale Tessema
Kassahun Tafesse
Birhanu Bayeh
Notes
1. Jump up^ www.nationalanthems.info
2. Jump up^ "Ethiopia Ends 3,000 Year Monarchy", Milwaukee Sentinel, March 22, 1975, p.
3.;"Ethiopia ends old monarchy", The Day, March 22, 1975, p. 7.; Henc Van Maarseveen
and Ger van der Tang, Written Constitutions: A Computerized Comparative Study (BRILL,
1978) p. 47.; The World Factbook 1987; Worldstatesmen.org Ethiopia
3. Jump up^ The World Factbook 1987
4. Jump up^ David A. Korn, Ethiopia, the United States and the Soviet Union, Routledge,
1986, page 179
5. Jump up^ de Waal 1991.
6. Jump up^ Marina and David Ottaway, Ethiopia: Empire in Revolution (New York: Africana,
1978), p. 52
7. ^ Jump up to:
a

b
Bahru Zewde, 2000, p. 234
8. Jump up^ See, for example, Richard Pankhurst, The Ethiopians: A History (Oxford:
Blackwell, 2001), p. 269.
9. Jump up^ Aregawi Berhe, A Political History of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (Los
Angeles: Tsehai, 2009), p. 127 and note. The sources he cites are both in Amharic:
Zenebe Feleke, Neber (E.C. 1996), and Genet Ayele Anbesie, YeLetena Colonel Mengistu
Hailemariam Tizitawoch (E.C. 1994)
10. Jump up^ Wrong, Michela (2005). I didn't do it for you. Harper Collins. p. 244. ISBN 0-06-
078092-4.
11. Jump up^ Bahru Zewde 2001, 237f.
12. Jump up^ See, for example, Paul Henze, 2000, p. 332n
13. Jump up^ de Waal 1991, iv.
14. Jump up^ Ottaway 1978, 67.
15. Jump up^ Ottaway 1978, 71.
16. Jump up^ Bahru Zewde 2001, 262f.
17. Jump up^ de Waal 1991, 4.
18. Jump up^ David Rieff (24 June 2005). "Cruel to be kind?". The Guardian. Retrieved 9
October 2011.
19. Jump up^ BBC Complaints (17 November 2010). "ECU Ruling: Claims that aid intended
for famine relief in Ethiopia had been diverted to buy arms". BBC. Retrieved 9 October
2011. "Following a complaint . . . the BBC has investigated these statements and
concluded that there was no evidence for them . . . The BBC wishes to apologise
unreservedly".
20. Jump up^ Edmond J. Keller. "The 1987 Constitution". Ethiopia: A country study (Thomas
P. Ofcansky and LaVerle Berry, ed.). Federal Research Division of the Library of
Congressof the USA (1991). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in
thepublic domain.
21. Jump up^ Henze 2000, 322.
22. ^ Jump up to:
a

b
Henze 2000, 327f.
23. Jump up^ Mengistu is handed life sentence, BBC News, 11 January 2007
References
Bahru Zewde. 2001. A History of Modern Ethiopia (second edition). London: James
Currey.
Henze, Paul. 2000. Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia. New York