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study the history of Ethiopia and the Horn in general and that of their

country in particular.

Unit Objectives

At the end of this unit, students will be able to:

 identify and discuss major socio-economic and political developments in the

country from 1941-74.

 assess the role and influence of the British and the Americans in Ethiopia‟s

domestic and foreign affairs in the post-liberation period.

 analyze the causes, course and consequences of the 1974 revolution.

 account for the revolutionary measures of the Derg.

 discuss the fundamental and immediate factors for the fall of the Derg regime.

 describe the essential nature of the EPRDF led government with reference to the

measures it took shortly after assuming power.

Unit Starters

 What considerations informed the decision of the British government to help

Ethiopia in June 1940?

 Do you remember who colonels Sanford and Wingate, and General Alan

Cunningham were?

 How did the patriots of Gojjam react to the arrival of the Emperor?

 Which day should be observed as an Ethiopian Victory Day - April 6 or May 5?

Why?

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7.1. Post-1941 Imperial Period

7.1.1. Political Scene: Restoration and Consolidation of Imperial Power and

External Relations

Ethiopia and Britain

In the post 1941 period, Britain recognized Ethiopia‟s status as a sovereign state with

mutual diplomatic accreditation, but it continued to exercise the upper hand because of

the role it played in the liberation of Ethiopia from fascist rule. Another reason for the

preponderant influence of Britain in Ethiopia‟s domestic and international affairs was the

continuation of WWII (c. 1939-45) which required adequate provision for the Allied

defense to win the war. Accordingly, despite protests, the British considered Ethiopia

Occupied Enemy Territory Administration (OETA). The 1942 and 1944 agreements that

Emperor Haile-Selassie I was forced to sign with the British show the ascendancy of the

latter.

The 1942 agreement gave Britain a final authority over Ethiopia‟s foreign affairs,

territorial integrity, administration, finances, the military and the police. The British

minster in Ethiopia enjoyed precedence over other foreign diplomats in Ethiopia and

Britain was to approve employment of other nationals by Ethiopian government. Even

more, British citizens held key posts in Ethiopian administration as advisors and judges

while at the same time they maintained total control over the country‟s police force which

was set up in February 1942. Additionally, British aircraft had exclusive aviation rights

and the emperor had to obtain approval from the Commander in Chief of the British

Forces in East Africa, Sir Philip Mitchell, to implement sovereign matters such as

declaration of war or state of emergency. Britain also decided details on disposal of

Italian prisoners of war and civilians and the administration of Italian properties in the

country. In terms of finance, the British assumed control over currency and foreign

exchange as well as imports and exports.

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The emperor resented such restrictions to his powers and made some diplomatic

engagements. With this and the help of the USA and friends of Ethiopia such as Sylvia

Pankhurst, Britain relaxed the restrictions imposed upon the Ethiopian government. The

second Anglo-Ethiopian agreement, signed in 1944, shows some of the concessions the

emperor won from Britain. According to this agreement, the priority accorded to the

British minster over all other foreign diplomats in Ethiopia was lifted. The Ethiopian

government could now employ non-British foreign personnel and it regained control over

a section of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway, a vital line of external communication.

Control over this route assured Ethiopia free access to foreign goods and services

including arms and ammunitions. The British also agreed to evacuate their army from the

region once they equip Ethiopia‟s military force- a task mandated to the British Military

Mission to Ethiopia (BMME). The BMME assisted the government of Ethiopia in

organizing, training, and administration of its army until 1951. Haile-Selassie I Harar

Military Academy was modeled after a British Military Academy called Sandhurst.

Britain did not, however, yield to Ethiopia‟s territorial demands during the negotiation for

the 1944 Agreement. The Ethiopian government requested to annex Eritrea claiming that

it was racially, culturally, and economically inseparable from Ethiopia and Ogaden. Both

Eritrea and Ogaden were part of the Ethiopian empire before they fell into Italian hands

in 1890 and 1936 respectively. But Ethiopia‟s claims to the two territories were met with

little sympathy from the British. Britain insisted that Ogaden should be merged with the

former Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland to form what they called “Greater

Somalia”. Similarly, the western and northern lowlands of Eritrea were intended by the

British to be part of Sudan. Further, they wanted to integrate the Tigrigna-speaking

highlands of Eritrea with Tigray to form a separate state. As a consequence, in

September 1945 at the London conference of Allied powers Ethiopia‟s claims to Eritrea
and Ogaden were rejected.

The territorial issues were resolved only after a decade. In 1948, the British left parts of

Ogaden, and in 1954 they withdrew from the region. In Eritrea people were divided;

those who wanted a union with Ethiopia rallied behind the Unionists. The Liberal

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Progressive Party and later the Muslim League rallied people who sought for separation

and independence. In 1948, the question of Eritrea was referred to the UN by Britain,

France, U. S. A. and U. S. S. R. The UN appointed a commission of five men from

Burma, Guatemala, Norway, Pakistan and South Africa to find out actual wishes of

Eritreans. After a period of investigation, Guatemala and Pakistan recommended granting

independence to Eritrea. While Norway recommended union with Ethiopia, South Africa

and Burma recommended Federation. On December 2, 1950 UN Resolution 390V

granted the Federation of Eritrea with Ethiopia which came into effect in 1952. However,

this arrangement did not satisfy both unionists and the independence bloc; thus, sought to

unmake the federation to fit their respective interests. On November 14 1962, the

Ethiopian government abrogated the federation formula and placed Eritrea under the

imperial umbrella.

Ethiopia and the U.S.A

The first official contacts between Ethiopia and the United States of America dates back

to 1903 when the two countries signed a treaty of friendship and commerce. The relations

between the two countries had been in the doldrums because of the tripartite domination

of the Ethiopian diplomatic scene until the early 1940s. Following the Second World War,

two super-powers, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged. In Ethiopia and the

Horn, British pre-dominance in 1940s was replaced by the dominance of the United

States in 1950s. In his efforts to modernize his country and consolidate his power, Haile-
Selassie I turned towards the United States as a powerful ally than Britain. American

interest in the region began to grow especially after they acquired a communication base

in Asmara known as Radio Marina from the Italians. The radio station was later renamed

Qagnew after the Ethiopian force that fought on the side of the Americans in the Korean

War.

In 1943 the Ethiopian vice finance minister, Yilma Deressa, visited the US to request

expertise especially in law, military, finance. In response, USA extended the Lend-Lease

agreement with Ethiopia and sent a technical mission led by Perry Fellows in May 1944.

Emperor Haile-Selassie I and the American President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, met in

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Egypt and discussed recognition of an American Sinclair Company to prospect for oil in

Ogaden at the beginning of 1945. The renewed contact between the two countries was

concretized with the signing of two agreements in the 1950s. The first Point Four

Agreement that enabled subsequent American assistance in education and public health

was signed in 1952. The second Ethio-US Treaty that granted a continued American use

of the Qagnew base in return for military assistance was signed in 1953. These two

agreements in general but mostly the latter defined the Ethio-American partnership in the

following decades.

Following the 1953 treaty, the US launched a military aid program named the American

Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) to equip Ethiopia‟s armed forces. The

MAAG was to train 60,000 Ethiopian soldiers in 3 separate squadrons namely the air

force, the infantry and the cavalry. In the year between 1953 and 1968, over 2,500

Ethiopians received various forms of military training in the US. It was in the army and

the air force that American military assistance and training was most noticeable. By 1970,

60% of US military aid to Africa went to Ethiopia. In the period between 1946 and 1972,
US military aid was over $180 million. Anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, naval craft,

infantry weapons and some times even uniforms like field jackets were of American

origin.

Civil aviation, road transport, and education were other spheres that the Americans took

active part. From September 8 to December 15 1945, the founding conference of the UN

was held at San Francisco. There, the Ethiopian delegation approached American

delegates for assistance to form a civilian airline. Hence, an agreement was concluded

with Transcontinental and Western World Airline (TWA) that established Ethiopian Air

Lines (EAL) in 1946 with five C-47 warplanes that served during WWII and of which

three were converted to passenger version DC-3. In 1962 EAL entered the jet age.

Meanwhile the shortage of trained Ethiopian personnel slowed the progress towards the

Ethiopianization of the EAL. For almost three decades since the signing of the agreement

with the TWA in 1946, key management and executive posts of the Ethiopian airline

were seized by expatriates notably Americans. EAL got its first indigenous pilot,

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Alemayehu Abebe, in 1957 and Colonel Simeret Medhne became the first Ethiopian

General Manager of EAL in 1971. The Imperial Board of Telecommunication was

established with the help of International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT) organization

between 1950 and 1952. In January 1951, with financial loan from the International Bank

for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the Imperial High Way Authority (IHA)

was set up based on the model of the US Bureau of Roads. It continued to be run by

Americans until 1962. Together with ELA‟s domestic network the improvement of road

transport along with communication services played important role in facilitating national

integration and the speedy transport of such lucrative commodities as coffee. In the field

of education, American presence was particularly evident in the university and high
schools. A variety of American scholarship programs under USAID, African American

Institute and African Graduate Fellowship Program (AFGRAD) with Peace Corps,

offered opportunities for many Ethiopians to go to the United States for their second and

third degrees.

Other foreign countries with significant presence in Imperial Ethiopia include Sweden

and Norway whose advisors were entrusted to the Air force and navy successively.

Germany and Israel trained and equipped the Police Force while the Swedes Imperial

Bodyguard was supported by the Harar Military Academy was entrusted to British

trained Indians. Italians built Qoqa Dam in 1956 and returned the Statue of Judah in 1972,

which they had taken during their occupation of Ethiopia. Russians established good

relations with Ethiopia through their exhibition, library around city hall, post office,

mathematics and literature.

7.1.2. Socio-economic Developments

Ethiopia and the Horn is one of the regions in the world where early domestication of

plants and animals took place. An indication of the antiquity of agriculture in the region

is the production of different varieties of a particular crop naturally adapted to varied

physical environments. In Ethiopia, the agricultural sector provided an agricultural

surplus sufficiently large and reliable enough to support an exceptionally long history of

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political centralization. In the mid-twentieth century, low industrialization meant that

Agriculture was the leading economic sector in providing employment for about 90% of

the population, generating about 70% of the national GDP and supplying almost 100% of

the country‟s income from export trade. Therefore, the holding of land which was a

primary means of production was vital.

Generally, peasants in the northern and central highland parts of Ethiopia held land in the
form of rist. Rist was a communal use of a land which a peasant (gebbar) could claim by

virtue of birth from a real or imaginary founding father i.e. the first occupant. A

hereditary claim to a rist land being inalienable, it was however subject to continuous

division to accommodate claims of descendants from time to time. In the 1970s, more

than 66 percent of the peasant farmers cultivated less than 0.5 hectares each. In the south,

government grants were made for large plots and tenancy was widespread. The disparity

of landownership between north and south Ethiopia by the middle of the twentieth

century can be appreciated from the proportion of tenants to landed peasants. It was only

minority religious and occupational castes who suffered from tenancy in the north while

the tenant population as percentage of total rural population in newly incorporated

regions varied from 37% in Sidamo to a staggering 73% in Illubabor and 75% in

Hararghe, whereas tenancy in northern provinces averaged 11%. Tenants surrendered up

to 60% of their produce to landlords who mostly lived in towns or the capital.

In addition to formal tributes, there were sundry payments that smallholder and landless

farmers had to make, such as “voluntary” contributions to self-help funds for projects

from which they rarely benefitted. Sharecrop tenancy arrangements in the country were

so onerous that increasing production only increased the exploitation of peasants.

Similarly, the extreme taxation to which smallholding peasants were subjected to was

potent enough to discourage peasants from maximizing production beyond subsistence

levels. From 1953 to 1974, the annual growth rate of agricultural production was 2.4%

which was lower than the 2.5% population growth rate. As a consequence, Ethiopia

ranked among the countries with very low per capita income.

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The deteriorating condition of the country‟s economy posed a threat to the social and

political stability of the country and thus, the regime‟s power. This coupled with external
pressure from donors, induced the government to establish a land reform committee in

1961. This later became the Land Reform and Development Authority that grew to

become the Ministry of Land Reform and Administration. Yet no meaningful reform was

implemented because it would affect the vested economic and political interests of

landlords who at that time had taken hold of government.

In 1960s and 1970s commercial agriculture was expanding especially in southern Shawa,

the Setit-Humera region on the Sudan border, and in the Awash valley. The

mechanization of farming in these areas led to eviction of tenants. Profitability of

agriculture led some landlords to work the land by themselves. Sometimes they rented the

land under their ownership to whoever offered them better price in cash (as opposed to

the sharecropping tenancy practice); a price paid in advance and for longer periods. The

effect of all these was the eviction of tenants.

Furthermore the government attempted to enhance the productivity of small farmers

through launching comprehensive agricultural package programs. The most notable in

this regard were the Chilalo Agricultural Development Unit (CADU) and Wolamo [sic]

Agricultural Development Unit (WADU). CADU was launched in 1967 through the

initiative of the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA) while the World

Bank supported WADU. The major objective of the package programs was

demonstrating the effectiveness and efficiency of agricultural packages to pave the way

for subsequent nationwide emulation of the intensive package approach. Nonetheless, the

plan was conceived and implemented without undertaking the crucial task of land reform,

thereby leaving the targeted population (small peasant producers) at a disadvantageous

position vis-a-vis big landlords when it comes to the distribution of benefits. Although

few participant small farmers gained real benefit, farmers with large land-holdings took

the lion‟s share of the benefits accrued from these projects. CADU aggravated tenant
eviction and was finally diverted to serve the interest of big landlords. The Wolamo [sic]

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For example, the Ethiopian share in capital was hardly more than 20% for Wonji-Shawa

and Methara sugar factories which were largely Dutch-owned. Above all, the absence of

meaningful land reform constrained the forces of production in the countryside where the

majority of the population lived.

Consolidation of Autocracy

The post-liberation period witnessed the apogee of the emperor‟s power. As in the period

before, at the center of post-1941 national policies was the state‟s enduring interest to

curb the political and economic bases of the power of regional lords in favour of the

monarch. After he was restored to the throne in May 1941, Emperor Haile-Selassie

embarked on consolidating his power. This was made possible through the

bureaucratization of government, the building of a national army and a centralized fiscal

regime. First of all, in order to fill-in the expanding bureaucracy, education was promoted

at both school and college levels. While primary schools had already been established

prior to 1935, secondary schools were opened in the post 1941 period. The Haile-Selassie

I Secondary School, founded in 1943, and the General Wingate School, established in

1946, became the two most popular and prestigious secondary schools. A significant

number of the educated elites in the 1950s attended either of these two schools. In 1950,

the University College of Addis Ababa (UCAA) was inaugurated. This was followed by

the Engineering and Building College in Addis Ababa, the College of Agriculture in

Alamaya (Hararghe), and the Public Health College in Gondar. These various colleges

were brought together to form the Haile-Selassie I University in 1961 which again was

re-named Addis Ababa University after the outbreak of the Revolution in 1974.

The post-1941 political order was dominated by Haile-Selassie that both the state and the
country came to be identified with the emperor. Significant urban landmarks such as

schools, hospitals, theatre halls, stadiums, main avenues and squares in the country bore

the name of the Emperor. It was common for students to chant songs praising the

emperor who would then gift them with sweets or fruits on holidays such as Ethiopian

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Christmas on January 7.The emperor‟s birthday and coronation day were national

holidays where large sum of money was spent.

Yet another major pre-occupation of the imperial regime was the strengthening of the

military and security apparatus. The ministries of Defense and Interior, in charge of

maintaining public security, consistently received the highest budgetary allocations. For

example, out of the country‟s total budget of ETB 38 million in 1944/5 fiscal year, nearly

11 million was allocated for the Ministry of Interior of which security absorbed almost 5

million and about 8 million went for war. Figures show over 80 million allocation for

Ministry of Defense and nearly 60 million for Ministry of Interior, out of about 400

million ETB in 1967.Ironically although the emperor anticipated that the military that

was composed mainly of the army, the police force and the Imperial Bodyguard would

suppress opposition to the regime, they themselves rebelled more than once. It failed in

1960. It was more successful in 1974.

The traditional aristocracy although made to enjoy urban and rural property, had lost

most of its political privileges. Based on the traditional shum shir, the emperor appointed

and dismissed his ministers, most of whom had humble origins. In 1943, the emperor

appointed eleven ministers to draft laws and appoint junior officials but their

subservience to the monarch was stated in explicit terms. For example, it was only in

1966 that even the prime minster was allowed to select his cabinet members to be

approved by the emperor. Ras Bitweded Mekonnen Endalkachew served as prime

minister from 1943-57. Next to Mekonnen Habte-Wold (1949-58), whose brother, Aklilu,

became the last prime minister of the imperial regime (1961-74), Yilma Deressa left the

strongest mark on the Ministry of Finance. But the most powerful of the ministers in the

post-1941 political order was Tsehafe-Tizaz Wolde-Giorgis Wolde-Yohannis who headed

the strategic Ministry of Pen in the period 1941-55. Besides Wolde-Giorgis held the

portfolios of Justice and Interior on various occasions that he was the defacto prime

minister in the above stated period. Wolde-Giorgis‟access to the emperor and the latter‟s

trust in him made him so powerful. In general, members of royal family, leading nobility

and the Abun still were members of the crown council, which was an advisory body to

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the emperor. In 1959, the Emperor‟s private cabinet was set up as a high-level advisory

body to the emperor and developed into agency doing intelligence.

In 1955, Haile-Selassie promulgated a new constitution, revising the first constitution

issued in 1931. American advisers like John Spencer as well as Tsehafe-Tizaz Wolde-

Giorgis Wolde-Yohannis and Tsehafe-Tizaz Aklilu Habte-Wold were in the drafting

committee of the 1955 revised constitution. More than its predecessor, the 1955 revised

constitution provided the basis for the consolidation of absolutism in Ethiopia. About 36

articles of the 1955 constitution dealt with the question of imperial succession and the

emperor‟s privileges. The constitution clearly states the Emperor‟s personality as sacred,

his dignity inviolable and his power indisputable. Some Human rights provisions like

those of speech and press were accompanied by nullifying phrases like within law limits.

However this constitution introduced universal adult suffrage and elected chamber of

deputies for four years term and that of the senate six years with certain property

qualification.

In the final analysis, however, neither the constitution nor the Parliament that it created
put a limit to the autocratic power of the emperor. He was the head of the three branches

of government: the executive, the legislative and the judiciary. The idea of a

constitutional monarchy was never materialized. Human rights and civic liberties were

restricted and violated. Regional identities, needs and feelings were ignored in the interest

of centralization.

As the years progressed, the emperor started to dedicate his attention to foreign affairs.

He played a significant role in the Non-Aligned Movement and the drive for African

unity and this increased his international stature which finally resulted in the birth of the

Organization of African Unity at the summit of heads of African states held in Addis

Ababa in 1963. As the years progressed, the emperor started to dedicate his attention to

foreign affairs. He played a significant role in the Non-Aligned Movement and the drive

for African unity and this increased his international stature which finally resulted in the

birth of the Organization of African Unity at the summit of heads of African states held in

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Addis Ababa in 1963. But his preoccupation with international affairs detached the

emperor from the domestic affairs that he became unmindful of the signs of trouble at

home.

7.1.3. Opposition: Conspiracies, Revolts and the Downfall of the Monarchical

Regime

Various sectors of the society opposed the imperial rule before the 1974 revolution broke

out. Before the 1960s opposition to the regime took in the form of plots and conspiracies.

After the 1960 Coup d‟état, however, oppositions gained wider mass support and came

out more open. Some leaders of the resistance movement against fascist rule were

opposed to the restoration of the emperor to the throne for he fled the country when it

needed him most whereas others wished for a republican government. Such misgivings
combined with the privileges and rewards accorded to exiles and people who served the

colonial administration exacerbated the resentment against the monarchy leading to

rebellion against the system. One notable patriot who opposed the restoration of the

emperor to the throne after his exile was Dejazmach Belay Zeleqe. The emperor made

Belay governor of a southern province with the rank of Ras because he wanted to remove

him from his base in Bichena in eastern Gojjam. Belay rejected the offer and was even

more dissatisfied at dignified positions of Ras Haylu Belaw (governor general of Gojjam)

and Bitweded Mengesha Jembere (deputy governor general of Gojjam). In February 1943,

forces from Debra-Marqos and Addis Ababa invaded Belay‟s district. After fighting for

three months, Belay surrendered, was detained in Fiche from where he tried to escape and

return to Gojjam a few months later, but was captured with his brother Ejigu. Taken back

to the capital, Belay was finally hanged in public.

Bitweded Negash Bezabih was a vice minister and senate president in the emperor‟s

administration after liberation. He plotted to assassinate the emperor and proclaim a

republic in 1951. In the process, some military officers like Beqele Anasimos were

attracted to the plot, but Dejach Geresu Duki, another patriot, whom the plotters had

unsuccessfully approached to recruit to their cause, exposed them. Finally, the plotters

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were tried and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment after being arrested during

one of their clandestine meetings.

The most fierce and sustained opposition to the emperor came from Blatta Takle Wolde-

Hawaryat couched a plot in constitutionalist terms using Yohannis Iyasu as front and

with the support of some contingents of the army. But the plot was uncovered and he was

detained. In 1945, Blatta Takle Wolde-Hawaryat was released and appointed as deputy

Afe nigus. Yet, he was involved in another plot in 1946 and was detained up to 1954.
Upon his release, he once again became Vice Interior Minister and Afe nigus. He tried to

assassinate the emperor on November 17 1969, but his final plot failed and he barricaded

himself in his house and engaged in a shoot-out with the police in which he was killed.

The most serious challenge to the emperor‟s authority came in 1960 in the form of a coup

attempt. The abortive Coup d'etat of 1960 was led by the Neway brothers, Brigadier

General Mengistu and Girmame. Girmame attended Haile-Sellasie I Secondary School,

and then the University of Wisconsin where he received his B.A and M.A. from

Columbia. Girmame was also president of Ethiopian Students Association during his stay

in the US. Upon his return to Ethiopia, Girmame became the president of a clandestine

alumni association of his former school. As governor of Wolayta, Girmame‟s activities

were alarming to the regime. He monitored police activities, introduced a settlement

program in which he distributed government holdings to landless peasants and ordered

written tenancy agreements. He was then summoned back to Addis Ababa for

explanation. However, unable to criticize Girmame‟s intentions Haile-Selassie sent him

to Jijiga where he continued as radical reformer. He oversaw the digging of new wells

while improving the old, set up clinics and schools etc. But his actions were not liked by

the regime which convinced Girmame of the need for change. Together with his brother

Mengistu Neway, the head of the Imperial Bodyguard and others, the two brothers started

detaining ministers and other members of the nobility when the emperor traveled to

Brazil. They also took over the radio station and spoke about the backwardness of the

country than other newly independent African states. The crown prince Asfawosen was

said to be a salaried constitutional monarch. The prince delivered a speech on Radio

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Addis explaining the rationale of the coup in which he promised the establishment of new

factories, schools etc. On December 14 1960, a new government was declared that was
to be headed by Ras Emiru Haile-Selassie. Major General Mulugeta Buli was chosen as

chief of staff of the armed forces while Brigadier-General Tsige Debu was to lead the

Imperial Bodyguard and the Police Force, and Colonel Workneh Gebeyehu was security

chief.

However, the army and the air force refused to side with the rebels and with the support

of the Americans and the blessing of the patriarch, the loyalists led by General Merid

Mengesha, Ras Asrate Kassa etc attacked. The rebels asked for a ceasefire which the

loyalists rejected. Finally, they had to run for their lives but only after killing the

ministers and other dignitaries they had detained at Geneta L'uel palace. In the meantime

the emperor entered the capital. Finally, Girmame died fighting in the outskirts of the

capital and Mengistu was captured and hanged after trial. The regime made some

concessions after the failed coup attempt, but failed to address the root causes that

triggered the coup itself. Thus, opposition to the imperial regime was only to grow

stronger leading to the outbreak of the 1974 revolution.

A. Peasant Rebellions

The post-liberation period also witnessed growing opposition among peasants in different

parts of the country against Haile Selassie‟s regime thereby giving the opposition a

broader dimension. Peasant revolts, although on a small scale, were especially numerous

in the southern territories, where the imperial government had traditionally rewarded its

supporters with land grants thereby reducing the indigenous peasantry into tenancy. It is

not possible in the space of a brief essay such as this to discuss the numerous peasant

rebellions in the entire country. But an effort will be made to canvas major eruptions in

the country with the intent of showing some of the deficiencies of the system.

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The Woyane Rebellion

The first peasant resistance against imperial rule took place in Tigray, known in history

as the Woyane rebellion. A combination of long-running problems stemming from the

inequities of the system and short-term factors caused the eruption. Peasants felt

victimized by corruption and greed of the territorial army unit stationed in the region and

general administrative inefficiency led to banditry of peasants who possessed armament

left by Italians. This rebellion had the support of members of the nobility who perceived

their position to be endangered by the expansion of central authority. The nobility took

advantage of the popular discontent against government officials and their militias and

put strong resistance against government forces thanks to the able leadership of Blatta

Haile-Mariam Reda. Finally, the government‟s retribution against the Raya-Azebo on

allegation of cattle raids on Afar territory sparked the general rebellion. As such, the

Woyane rebellion was as a continuation of the government‟s punitive campaign against

the region‟s peasants in the late 1920s. The dress rehearsal for the major confrontation

took place on January 11 1942 where the imperial force was crushed and humiliated by

Raya-Azebo peasants. On May 22 1943, the rebels scored an astounding victory fighting

an even larger and well-equipped government army in Addi-Abun. Soon small towns

around Meqelle like Qwiha and Enda-Iyyasus, and Meqelle itself on October 14, 1943

fell in rebel hands. They then expanded to Kilte-Awlalo, Wuqiro etc in central and

eastern Tigray. Such initial advances of the rebel forces, however, did not last long. In

October 1943, the imperial army under the command of Abebe Aregay with the support

of the British Royal Air Force crushed the rebellion. The government exiled or

imprisoned the leaders of the revolt. The emperor took reprisals against peasants

suspected of supporting the Woyane.

The Yejju Rebellion

Overt dissidence of Yejju peasants in Wallo during Haile-Selassie‟s rule occurred three
times. In 1948, peasants rose against the system after their appeal against land alienation

was ignored by the government. With Qegnazmach Melaku Taye and Unda Muhammed

in the forefront, peasants stormed and freed inmates held in Woldya prison. The nech

lebash were called into quell the unrest and eventually the leaders were publicly flogged

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on market day. Throughout the 1950s, localized skirmishes between government forces

and peasants took place in Qobo, Hormat, Tumuga, Karra-Qore etc led by prominent

figures like Ali Dullatti (Aba Jabbi). In 1970 peasants revolted against the introduction of

mechanized agriculture that encroached on pastureland and killed Qegnazmach Abate

Haylu who was a member of the local nobility and direct beneficiary of the new

development. Finally the rising was suppressed by the local militia.

The Gojjam Peasant Rebellion

In 1968, another violent peasant uprising set off in Gojjam caused by the government‟s

attempt to implement new tax on agricultural produce which the parliament adopted in

November 1967. This rebellion was not, however, without its antecedents. The nobles of

Gojjam refused to accept any limitation upon the prevailing land tenure system and

successfully battled the regime over this issue. Although the expansion of central

authority by appointed officials and the development of infrastructural works required a

parallel increase in tax payments, it was fiercely resisted by the local gentry. Against this

background, the then governor of Gojjam, Dejach Kebede Tesema, initiated land

assessment and classification to determine taxation. He then raised tax rate from what it

had been in pre-1935 period. In 1950, a revolt broke out in Mota, Qolla-Daga Damot and

Mecha districts led by people like Dejach Abere Yimam. As a result tax rate was reduced

by 1/3, Kebede was removed and replaced by Haylu Belew, a hereditary ruler of Gojjam.

Later, Haylu‟s Shawan successor named Tsehayu Enqu-Selassie forced handouts to build
the emperor‟s statue in Debra Marqos. Besides, peasants were ordered to pay tax arrears

and register their arms with fees. Meanwhile, peasants were victimized by the ravages

committed by the nech lebash in the pretext of eradicating banditry. With all the above

unfolding, an attempt was made to introduce the new agricultural tax and this finally

sparked the 1968 uprising led by veterans of the resistance period, who had taken titles

for themselves such as leul and fitawrari. The government was forced to transfer

Tsehayu to Kafa, declare amnesty, abandon the new tax, and cancel all tax arrears of

taxation going back to 1950. Despite these concessions, the rebellion spread throughout

Gojjam except Agaw-Midir and Metekel which alarmed the government. Finally the 177

rebellion was subdued by the combined forces of the army, police and nech lebash by the

end of 1968.

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The revolt broke out in El Kerre led by people like Kahin Abdi. Initially, rebel groups

conducted hit-and-run raids against military garrisons and police stations separately.

Soon, however, they tried to coordinate their military activities under an umbrella

organization named the Liberation Front Western Somali, engaging in conventional wars

against government forces. Haile Selassie tried to win loyalty of the people by developing

alliances with notable Oromo leaders. Although this strategy enabled the emperor to

recruit some members of local ruling houses in the service of the imperial system, it

failed to contain the popular revolt. Instead, it quickly spread to Wabe, Dallo and Ganale

under the able leadership of Waqo Gutu and others. In Gola-Abbadi forest, rebels went to

the extent of attacking two government airplanes which campaigned against them with

support from the Americans and Israeli. Further, the rebels killed Girazmach Beqele

Haragu of Adaba and Fitawrari Wolde-Mika‟el Bu‟ii of Dodola in 1965 and 1966,

respectively. In December 1966, the government put Bale under the martial rule of
Wolde-Selassie Baraka, the head of the army‟s Fourth Division. In 1967, the army, police,

territorials (beherawi tor), settler militia (nech lebash) and volunteers (wedo zemach)

launched massive operations against the province. Meanwhile, the rebels lost Somali

support after Mahammad Siad Barre took over the Somali government in 1969 and found

it impossible to sustain their campaigns in southeastern Ethiopia. The rebellion ended in

1970s after some of its popular leaders including Waqo Gutu surrendered to government

forces due to the mediation role played by General Jagama Kello.

B. Movements of Nations and Nationalities

On January 24 1963, the Mecha-Tulama Welfare Association (MTWA) was formed with

the objective of improving the welfare of the Oromo through the expansion of

educational, communication and health facilities in Oromo land. Founding members of

the association included Colonels Alemu Qitessa and Colonel Qedida Guremessa,

Lieutenant Mamo Mezemir, Beqele Nedhi, and Haile Mariam Gemeda. In the next two

years, the association attracted large number of Oromo elites, including such high-

ranking military officers as Brigadier General Taddesse Birru.

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Although the Mecha-Tulama Association had its root in the will and commitment of a

few Oromo elites to mobilized support for the development Oromo inhabited territories,

it soon transformed into a pan-Oromo movement coordinating countrywide peaceful

resistance against the regime. This is evidenced by the successful rallies the association

organized in Arssi, Gindeberet, and Dandi, Dera etc. The association raised contentious

issues such as land and expressed its dissatisfaction with the condition of the Oromo in

the society during mass rallies as well as in private meetings. Furthermore, the

association styled as an umbrella organization of southern nationalities to end the regime

of Emperor Haile Selassie I. Representatives of oppressed ethnic groups of the south

attended the association‟s deliberations in Addis Ababa for liberation. The regime was

alarmed by the activities of the association and determined to curb the movement before

it crystalized into an organized liberation front.

Meanwhile, leaders of the association plotted to assassinate the emperor on the

anniversary of his coronation in November 1966, but the was plot foiled by the security

forces. This coupled with a bombing incident in one of the cinemas at the capital in

which the association was implicated led the government to move swiftly and violently to

ban the association‟s activities. Mecha-Tulama was dissolved in 1970 following the

imprisonment and killing of its prominent leaders such as Mamo Mezemir and

Hailemariam Gemmeda by the regime‟s forces. Brigadier General Taddasa Birru was

captured while retreating to the bush and eventually sentenced to death. Later the death

sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and he was exiled to Gelemso where he

stayed until the outbreak of the 1974 revolution. In 1975 the Derg executed Tadesse on

allegation of instigating armed struggle.

The brutal suppression of the Mecha-Tulama Association, however, did not end the

struggle of the Oromo for justice, equality and liberty. In 1971 an underground

movement called the Ethiopian National Liberation Front (ENLF) was formed by Oromo

elites, perhaps by former members of the association. The Front maintained contact with

student circles and other opposition figures in and outside Addis Ababa. The aim was to

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coordinate local resistance towards a common goal of liberation, although thwarted by

the regime‟s security forces.

The regime‟s unwillingness to accommodate the legitimate and peaceful demands of

various Oromo groups for equality within Ethiopia transformed Oromo nationalism into

militancy for self-determination. In 1973, some members of the ENLF together with
Oromo nationalists from Ethiopian Oppressed Peoples‟ Revolutionary Struggle

(ECH‟AT), Marxist Leninist Revolutionary Organization (MALERID) formed the

Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) with the aim of establishing an independent Democratic

Republic of Oromia. The following year, OLF launched an offensive against the imperial

regime in Hararghe. After the revolution, OLF increased its military activities because the

Derg would not allow the Oromo to elect their rulers and use their language in schools

and newspapers. Accordingly, the armed struggle which set off in the eastern part of

Ethiopia extended to other Oromo inhabited areas such as Arssi and Wollaga.

But the biggest military challenge to the imperial regime came from Eritrea. As we have

discussed above, Eritrea was integrated into the Ethiopian empire. The measure

consolidated internal and external opposition to the union and led to the formation of

liberation movements based in Eritrea and abroad. Although some liberation movements

had taken shape as far back as the late 1940s, they did not seem to have much of an

impact. In 1958, a number of Eritrean exiles had founded the Eritrean Liberation

Movement (ELM) in Cairo. This organization, however, soon was neutralized. In 1961,

Hamid Idris Awate established Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) or Jabaha in Arabic. By

1966 the ELF challenged imperial forces throughout Eritrea. In June 1970 another

liberation movement named the Popular Liberation Forces (PLF) was formed in the Red

Sea area led by Osman Salah Sabbe. At the same time, Salfi Natsenet Eritrea (Front for

Eritrean Independence) emerged under the leadership of Isayas Afeworqi. In early 1972,

a new coalition of forces composed of Eritrean Liberation Front-Popular Liberation Front

(ELF-PLF) led to the founding of the Eritrean People‟s Liberation Front (EPLF) or

Sha'abiya in Arabic. After a long and bloody civil war, the EPLF was able to establish its

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hegemony over the independence movement. And it was the EPLF that succeeded in
achieving independence in 1991.

B. The Ethiopian Student Movement (ESM)

The regime was not only been challenged in the provinces. In fact, the Ethiopian student

movement was building up in the center as a strong opposition against the regime.

Although the movement started within the university, students had turned into a radical

opposition and were already marching on the streets from 1965 onwards and by 1968, it

was spreading to high schools. The parliament‟s rejection of tenancy reform bill in 1964

triggered student protest in the following year demanding “Land to the Tiller”.

Factors that contributed to sharpening the students‟ ideology include the 1960 coup,

students‟ increased awareness of the country‟s socio-economic and political conditions

vis a vis other African countries which they learned from scholarship students from

different parts of Africa, and the Ethiopian University Service (EUS). Launched in 1964,

the EUS required the students to teach and offer other services to the community usually

in the provinces. In 1964 the emergence of a radical group of students with Marxist-

Leninist leanings known as “the Crocodiles” marked the increased militancy of the

students.

Side by side with the radicalization of the movement, students formed the University

College Union (UCU) to coordinate their activities in 1962 and then the National Union

of Ethiopian University Students (NUEUS) 1963. In February 1965, the Main Campus

Student Union (MCSU), and the University Student Union of Addis Ababa (USUAA)

with its paper Tagel (Struggle) were established. Outside the country, students were

organized under the Ethiopian Students Union in North America (ESUNA) with its paper

called Challenge and the Ethiopian Students Union in Europe (ESUE) with its paper

Tateq (Gird yourself) in the USA and Europe. ESUNA and gave ideological support to

MCSU and USUAA.

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Throughout the 1960s a rallying cry of student demonstrations was “land to the tiller”,

but other local and global issues were also raised. For example, students protested against

the minority white regime in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) in 1968, while at other

times they expressed their solidarity with the people of Vietnam. In the national arena,

students protested against Shola Destitute Concentration Relief Camp and fashion show

and educational reform in 1966 and 1969 respectively. With the student‟s demands of

rights of nations and nationalities, the government was alarmed and started taking

measures against leaders of the movement ranging from press campaigns to detentions

and killings. Furthermore, the regime deported large number of students to the torrid

Gibe river valley in 1972. Meanwhile, students‟ opposition was aggravated to armed

hijacking of Dc-aircraft.

By early 1970s, the student movement coupled with other underrunning issues such as

rising inflation, growing discontent of urban residents, corruption and widespread and yet

covered-up famine especially in Wallo all prepared a fertile ground for a revolution.

7.2. The Derg Regime (1974-1991)

The mass uprising that finally put an end to the old regime came in February 1974. From

January 8 to 15 1974, soldiers and non-commissioned officers stationed at a frontier post

Negele-Borana mutinied protesting their bad living conditions. In the process, they

detained the commander of the ground forces who was sent to pacify the situation. The

soldiers made the commander eat their food and drink their water so that he could witness

the kind of life they were living. Also, soldiers of the Second Division in Asmara, the

Fourth Division in Addis Ababa and the Air Force in Debre-Zeyt mutinied demanding

salary increment and political and economic reforms. The various units then set up a

coordinating committee which became a precursor of the later Derg, in order to

coordinate their actions.

Teachers throughout the country protested against the implementation of an education

reform program known as Sector Review, which they deemed was disadvantageous for

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the poor and biased against them. Although the Ethiopian Teachers Association (ETA)

had coordinated demonstrations against the program already in December 1973, it called

for a general strike demanding a number of other social reforms on February 18, 1974.

On the same day, taxi drivers went on strike demanding increase in transport fees (50%)

due to rise of petrol prices that followed the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur war of 1973.

Students, workers and the unemployed youth joined the protests and vehicles particularly

buses and luxury private automobiles were attacked.

The government responded by suspending the Sector Review, reducing petrol prices and

raising the salaries of soldiers. In spite of this, the uprisings continued and on February

28 the cabinet of Prime Minister Aklilu Habte-Wold resigned. He was replaced by

Endalkachew Mekonnin who was an Oxford-educated member of the aristocracy.

Although Endalkachew seemed to gain the support of a group of officers within the army,

promised to introduce reforms, including constitutional reform and included highly

educated and progressive ministers into his cabinet, the protests continued. On March 8

the Confederation of Ethiopian Labour Unions (CELU) staged a successful general strike.

It was only a matter of time before the strikes and demonstrations spread to the provinces.

A major popular demonstration was made on April 20 by about 100,000 Muslim

residents of the capital and their Christian sympathizers who came out demanding

religious equality.

In the meantime, the soldiers, through their various committees, were also taking their

own measures. The coordinating committee of soldiers and NCOs set up in February had
been joined by officers, such as Colonel Alem Zewd Tessema of the Airborne Brigade,

who then became its leader. In April, the Committee, perhaps with an involvement of

Endalkachew, arrested Aklilu and hundreds of other high-ranking officials of the regime.

The Minister of Defense, Lt. General Abiy Abebe, who had noticed the growing power of

the Committee as well as series of demonstrations and strikes, set up what was called the

National Security Commission to restore order and respect for the authority of the

government.

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The leading opposition against the Endalkachaw cabinet were the students. Not only did

they staged their own demonstrations against the cabinet but they also encouraged other

sectors of society to join in the revolutionary tide. But the students were less organized to

achieve their goals and eventually, the struggle was hijacked by the soldiers.

The Derg was officially formed on June 28 1974 when it held its first meeting at the

headquarters of the Fourth Division. “Derg” a Ge‟ez word for “Committee” was the

shorter name given to the Coordinating Committee of representatives from various

military units: the Armed Forces, the Police and the Territorial Army. However, officers

above the rank of major were suspected of supporting the old regime and therefore were

not included. Hence, Major Mengistu Haile-Mariam of the Third Division of Hararghe,

and the vice-chairman, Major Atnafu Abate of the Fourth Division, came to be key

figures.

For some time the Derg exercised power parallel with the Endalkachew‟s cabinet and the

emperor tied up in a dual state, trying to keep a balance between the two. However, on

August 1, Endalkachew was imprisoned and replaced by Lej Mikael Emiru as prime

minister. Meanwhile, the Derg continued arresting other members of the regime whom it

considered obstacles to the revolution. The Derg also tried to define its ideology and
declared the motto, “Yaleminim Dam” (“Without any bloodshed”) “Ethiopia Tiqdam”

(“Ethiopia First”).

The Derg continued systematically working to isolate the emperor and removing the

supports of his imperial power. A strong propaganda campaign was launched against the

regime and the widespread corruption of government functionaries. Two enterprises,

Anbessa Bus Company and the St. George Brewery in which the emperor and the

imperial family had more 50% stake were nationalized. Moreover, a British documentary

film disclosing the hidden horrors of the Wallo famine precisely served the awaited

interest of the Derg. Finally, on September 12, Emperor Haile-Selassie I was deposed

and detained at the Fourth Division headquarters.

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The Derg then proclaimed itself the Provisional Military Administrative Council

(PMAC) and assumed full powers. All strikes and demonstrations were immediately

banned. Very soon, civilian revolutionaries, who had started calling for the establishment

of a provisional people‟s government, started gathering around the Confederation of

Ethiopian Labor Unions (CELU), the University teachers‟ group known as Forum, and

the students. Sections of the military, the Army Engineers Corps, the First Division (the

former Bodyguard), and the Army Aviation, also opposed what was to become a military

government.

However, the Derg was not prepared to make compromise on any ground. Instead, it

imprisoned the leaders of CELU and a leader of the Forum group. On October7, the

militant Engineers were violently crushed in a tank assault which took the lives of five

soldiers and there was massive arrest afterwards. The motto of “Ethiopia First, without

any bloodshed” thus failed as early as then.

On November 23, an even more violent phase commenced. Lieutenant General Aman
Mikael Andom, chairman of the PMAC was shot dead after a disagreement within the

Derg over the Issue of Eritrea. Aman Mikael Andom who was of Eritrean origin

believed in peaceful approach against some radical members of the Derg particularly the

First Vice-Chairman Mengistu Haile-Mariam, who advocated for a military solution. The

killing continued and the Derg announced execution of some 52 prominent members of

the old regime who had been detained and half a dozen other leaders of the military units

who had opposed the Derg as a “political decision.”

7.2.2. Attempts at Socio-Economic Reform

The Derg took a series of measures that aimed at fundamentally transforming the country.

In December 1975, what was called the Development Through Co-operation Campaign

(Edget Behibiret Yetimihirt Ena Yesira Zemecha) was inaugurated. In this campaign, all

high school and university students and their teachers were to be sent to the countryside 187

On the other hand, nationalization killed private initiative and introduced a highly

bureaucratized management of resources. The state, with its significant role and growing

proportion now gained tremendous capacity to reward or penalize. The Derg used

peasant associations to control the countryside and the urban dwellers‟ associations

(qebele) to control the towns. The qebele became battleground when the struggle between

the Derg and the Ethiopian People‟s Revolutionary Party (EPRP) reached its bloodiest

phase in 1976/7. The EPRP targeted qebele leaders and assassinated them while they in

turn led the government‟s campaign of terror against the EPRP called the “Red Terror”,

as opposed to the “White Terror” of the EPRP.

Initially, the leftist opposition to Derg came from two main underground political

organizations called the EPRP and the All-Ethiopian Socialist Movement (in Amharic

Meison) that was founded in Hamburg by Haile Fida, Dr. Nigist Adane, Dr. Kedir

Mohammed, Tesfaye Gebre-Tsadiq, Daniel Taddesse and others. In October 1976 the
Marxist Leninist Revolutionary Organization (OMLR) was formed with its first

Secretariat being Tesfaye Makonin. Later, it was merged to form the Ethiopian Marxist

Leninist Democratic Union (UMLO) but was purged by the military junta in June 1979.

After the land reform proclamation, Meison ceased its opposition to the Derg by adopting

what it called “critical support” and tactically formed an alliance with Derg which helped

it gain more organizational strength.

In the meantime the Derg pushed by the dominant leftist political culture systematically

abandoned “Ethiopian socialism” and embraced Marxism-Leninism. With the setting up

of the POMOA, Derg proclaimed the National Democratic Revolution Program which

was the Chinese model for socialist revolution and had identified feudalism, imperialism

and bureaucratic capitalism as the three main enemies of the people. In a few months,

Derg‟s leftist political organization known as Revolutionary Flame (Abyotawi Seded) was

launched.

In 1977 an alliance called the Union of Ethiopian Marxist–Leninist Organizations

(Emaledeh) was established as prelude to the formation of one vanguard party. The

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Emaledeh was composed of Meison, Revolutionary Flame (Abyotawi Seded), (Workers

League) Proletariat League (Wazlig) founded by a one-time president of the Ethiopian

Students‟ Union in North America, Dr. Senay Like, the Ethiopian Marxist–Leninist

organization (Malerid) and the Ethiopian Oppressed Masses Revolutionary Struggle

(EORS) founded by Baro Tumsa, and the Ethiopian Oppressed Masses Revolutionary

Struggle (Ech’at). That said, the Emaledeh was beset by power struggle from the outset

as each organization competed for supremacy instead of working together to realize the

original objective of the organiztion.

Meanwhile, the struggle between the EPRP and the Derg and its allies had caused a civil
war scenario since September 1976 when EPRP militants were arrested and executed by

the Derg and supporters of the Derg were assassinated by EPRP squads. EPRP had also

attempted to assassinate Mengistu himself in mid-September. In what followed, the Derg

attacked EPRP with large-scale arrests of its members and sympathizers and massive

search and destroy campaigns, particularly in Addis Ababa.

In late 1976, the Derg itself was ideologically divided and with the internal struggles,

Mengistu had eliminated two powerful members of the Derg and potential rivals of his

power and influence, Major Sisay Habte and Major Kiros Alemayehu. Many other key

members of the Derg were accused of being EPRP members or sympathizers. On their

parts, other members such as Lieutenant Alemayehu Hayle and Captain Moges Wolde-

Mikael resented the growing dictatorial power of Mengistu and his alliance with Meison

and other pro-Derg leftist organizations. With the help of the chairman, Brigadier General

Teferi Benti, they then successfully re-organized the structure of the Derg in such a way

that Mengistu was marginalized. On February 3 1977 though, Mengistu hit back with a

coup against Teferi. Eventually, Teferi and other anti-Mengistu Derg members were

executed. After the coup, Mengistu Haile-Mariam assumed the chairmanship of the Derg

and the post of commander-in-chief of the armed forces. He then filled the top positions

in the Derg with his loyal supporters. Within just a year, the only remaining outstanding

Derg member, Lt. Colonel Atnafu Abate, was charged of impeding the revolutionary

process was executed.

189

Then Mengistu and his civilian left allies unleashed what they called the “Red Terror”

initially targeting the EPRP and later including other opposition organizations, including

EPLF and the TPLF (Tigray People‟s Liberation Front) and Meison after its break up

from the Derg. EPRP had to take its only option of turning to rural guerrilla warfare as
internal split within it hastened its collapse.

In the meantime, the Derg faced another challenge. In the summer of 1977, Somalian

government of Said Barre invaded Afder, Deghabour, Fiq, Gode, Kebridehar, Shinnille,

Warder etc from Mogadishu. Within a couple of months, the cities of Harar and Dire

Dawa were endangered. Yet, the government mobilized a force of about 100,000 peasant

militia and other forces that were trained at Angetu, Didessa, Hurso, Tateq and Tolay in a

short time with the help of USSR advisors and equipment. Finally, with 17, 000 Cuban

troop and the help from Southern Yemen Democratic Republic the invaders were

defeated at Kara Mara in Jijiga on March 4 1978. The Somali aggression had been

checked. Overall the Somali invasion in a way made it possible for the Derg to rally the

population to its side.

In early 1977 the Derg had severed relations with the USA as the American cultural and

military institutions ended their operation in the country. This was preceded by the

termination of the Ethio-USA 1953 mutual defense agreement. After a month, Mengistu

concluded agreements with Moscow for economic, cultural and military co-operation.

The relations between Ethiopia and the Soviet remained strong until the end of the

military regime.

In the north, Eritrean insurgents had encircled Asmara while a pro-monarchy

organization, the Ethiopian Democratic Union (EDU), was marching inroads from the

Sudan in the Satit-Humera region. Yet, by the end of 1978, the EPRP had been contained

in the towns. And the Eritrean insurgents had been pushed back. Ethiopian Democratic

Union (EDU) was crushed near the Ethio-Sudan borderland in places like Metema, Abder

Raffi and Satit-Humera.

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The Union of Ethiopian Marxist-Leninist Organizations fell apart once Meison defected
the Derg and its leaders were consequently either killed or arrested as they tried to retreat

to the countryside. The other three member organizations Ech’at, Wazlig, and Malerid

were successively expelled from Emaledeh and their leaders and members executed or

detained. It was only Mengistu‟s Seded that remained as the authentic Marxist-Leninist

organization in the country. The strategy of merging political organizations for party

formation was then replaced by recruitment of individuals loyal to Mengistu Haile-

Mariam. In December 1979, the Commission for Organizing the Party of the Working

People of Ethiopia (COPWE) was established with this motive. In September 1984, the

Workers‟ Party of Ethiopia was inaugurated during the celebration of the tenth

anniversary of the coming of the Derg to power. It was given that Mengistu became the

new party‟s secretary-general.

In order for the government to have a more direct societal control, there was the need for

re-structuring of mass organizations which took place after the formation of the party. It

started with workers who had challenged the Derg right from the start, and on January 6

1977, the CELU was replaced by a government-controlled All Ethiopia Trade Union

(AETU) which was later re-named Ethiopian Trade Union (ETU). This was followed by

the formation of the All Ethiopia Peasants‟ Association (AEPA) which ensured the

government‟s control over peasants. Later AETU was renamed Ethiopia Peasants‟

Association (EPA). Established in 1980, the Revolutionary Ethiopian Women‟s

Association (REWA) and Revolutionary Ethiopian Youth Association (REYA) played

similar role, rallying women and the youth behind the state.

It was when PMAC National Assembly (Shengo) proclaimed the People‟s Democratic

Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) in 1987 that such elaborate organizational set-up designed

to ensure total control of society reached its peak. With the birth of the PDRE, the Derg

officially ceased to exist. A typically Communist constitution already on its way,

Comrade Mengistu had become President of PDRE, secretary general of WPE and

Commander in chief of the national armed forces with Fiseha Desta as Vice President

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while Fiqre-Sellassie Wegderes headed the Council of Ministers as Prime Minister with

five deputies.

Finally it turned out that Mengistu could not stay in power more than four years after he

was proclaimed president of PDRE. The dictator, who had maneuvered the urban left and

had gone ruthless in the process, fell under the attack of rural-based guerrilla movements.

Rural-based movements fighting for national self-determination thrived as liquidation of

the urban-based multi-national movements like the EPRP and Meison intensified in the

center. These included the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), active mainly in the Wollaga

region, the Islamic Front for Liberation of Oromia, based in Hararghe, the Afar

Liberation Front, the Sidama Liberation Front, the Beni Shangul Liberation Front and the

Gambella Liberation Front. Some of these fronts appeared only in the last days of the

Derg. The two significant liberation fronts which could be considered to have jointly

brought about the downfall of the Derg were the EPLF and the TPLF.

In 1984/5 a more devastating famine than the one in 1973/4 indicated the failure of the

Derg‟s economic policies especially in agricultural production and marketing. In the late

20th century, Ethiopia had experienced two major famines that had rose up national and

international mobilization and created bad image on the country in international scene.

These were the 1972-1974 and 1984-1985 famine, the causes of which were shortage of

rain. The state responded to the latter by resettling the affected people in less affected

areas of western Ethiopia. The government responded to the famine by ignoring the

problem for some time and then only to introduce its controversial policy of massive

resettlement of the affected peasants, mostly of Tigray and Wallo provinces, in south-
western Ethiopia. The villagization program that followed the resettlement further

alienated the majority of peasants. It was in this context that the guerrilla forces scored

remarkable victories against the regime forces towards the end of the decade.

International politics too did not carry on serving Mengistu‟s interest as his ally, the

Soviet Union ceased to be the source of his external support. Mikhail Gorbachev‟s policy

of perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost, (openness) in 1985 aimed at making Soviet

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communism more efficient and humane was a failure and the Soviet Union collapsed as a

major world power. Even worse, the United States who the Derg had never been friendly

with, became the sole arbiter of international affairs. Although Mengistu now tried to

improve relations with the Americans, they were more directed towards to his opponents,

the EPLF and the TPLF, who they believed had fully abandoned Marxism Leninism. In

March 1990, the Derg proclaimed a mixed economy policy which seemed to come just

late.

The government‟s military failure came when after crushing the Somali invaders, the

Derg turned its forces to the north, with the rather too assured slogan that “The victory

scored in the east will be repeated in the north.” Initially the plan seemed to go well when

the EPLF forces pulled back under the massive assault launched by the Derg which

regained control over the rebel‟s major strongholds in 1976/7. However, the retreated

EPLF forces were not driven out of their fortress at Naqfa in northern Eritrea. EPLF

crushed its left wing, Menka’e, from its stronghold Naqfa-Raza and scored major victory

at Afabet, north of Asmara, in March 1988. When in 1990, EPLF forces captured the port

town of Massawa, it became only a matter of time before the capital, Asmara, also fell to

them.

The final decisive blow to Mengistu‟s regime came to be administered by the TPLF.
Tigray Peoples Liberation Front/TPLF, that had its origin in Mehibere Gesgest Bihere

Tigrai set up in 1970, was founded in 1975 by a group of university students, who

primarily intended to liberate their own region of Tigray. They enjoyed the support of the

EPLF for which they strategically gave guard against the assault of the Derg. Before it

turned to confront the Derg, the TPLF was engaged in a bloody struggle to drive the

Ethiopian People‟s Revolutionary Army, EPRA, the armed wing of the EPRP and the

EDU out of Tigray, where both had created bases for themselves. The Derg initially

thought that TPLF was a mere creation of the EPLF to be vanished once EPLF was

crushed and thus underestimated its potentials. This made it possible for TPLF to

strengthen its forces and when the Derg opened offensives against it in the early 1980s,

TPLF, which had built strong army was able to successfully fight back. In February 1989

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TPLF scored its most decisive victory at Enda-Selassie, Western Tigray, after a series of

other military successes. At the victory of Enda-Selassie, tens of thousands of

government troops were captured and their commanders were either killed or captured.

This resulted in the withdrawal of all government troops from Tigray. TPLF then took

control of the whole of Tigray and then started marching into the neighboring provinces.

Meanwhile, the prevalent accumulated dissatisfaction with Mengistu‟s regime and the

exhausting war in the north had been high especially in the higher echelons of the army.

In May 1989, commanders of almost all military units, coordinated and led a coup against

Mengistu when he left the country on a state visit to the German Democratic Republic,

East Germany. However, the coup was poorly organized that loyal palace troops

encircled the leaders before they could even announce their intentions to the public.

Mengistu returned triumphantly to take his revenge which he did. The coup leaders were

all imprisoned or executed.

TPLF, which after liberating Tigray, continued to move forward and made the necessary

organizational adjustments forming a bigger front known as the Ethiopian Peoples‟

Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). The member organizations were TPLF, the

Ethiopian People‟s Democratic Movement (EPDM), a fragment group of the EPRP

which had begun to play a significant role in many of the military campaigns, the Oromo

People‟s Democratic Organization (OPDO) and the Ethiopian Democratic Officers‟

Revolutionary Movement (EDORM). Other Liberation Fronts including the Oromo

Liberation Front (OLF), Afar Liberation Front, Sidama Liberation Front, Gambella

Liberation Front and Beni Shangul Liberation Front also became active.

In 1990 and 1991 in consecutive and stunning campaigns, EPRDF forces drove the Derg

out of Gondar, Gojjam, and Wallo and parts of Wollaga and Shawa and approached the

capital from the north and west. In 1990 Oromo forces dismantled the Derg army of the

131st Brigade in battle that liberated Asosa and Bambasi in the then Wollaga province.

In the meantime, negotiations for a peaceful end to the conflict were underway between

the government and the EPLF and the TPLF in Atlanta, Nairobi, and Rome. In May 1991,

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while the last of these negotiations were going on in London, series of events put an end

to the regime.

On May 21, Mengistu fled the country first to Nairobi and then to Harare (Zimbabwe).

There remained no resistance left that the Derg troops could put. In London, the

government delegation could not bargain anymore after the flight of the president. EPLF

forces entered Asmara and Assab and announced the de facto independence of Eritrea.

The PDRE Vice President, Lt General Tesfaye Gebre-Kidan appealed for an end to the

civil war on May 23 1991. Prime Minister Tesfaye Dinqa left for the London peace

conference mediated by the U.S.A‟s Foreign Affair African Service head Mr. Herman
Cohen on May 27 1991. In the early hours of May 28 EPRDF forces triumphantly

entered Addis Ababa.

7.3. Historical Developments, 1991-4

In July 1991, a National Conference of political and ethnic groupings created Transitional

Government of Ethiopia (TGE) for two-and-one-half years. The government consisted a

president and a prime minister, a seventeen-member Council of Ministers, and an eighty-

seven-member Council of Representatives. The Council of Representatives elected Meles

Zenawi, former head of EPRDF, and Negasso Gidada (PhD) president and prime minister

respectively. In the same year, EPLF set up Provisional Government of Eritrea. This was

followed by a referendum to decide the future fate of Eritrea in which the majority of the

population voted for independence from Ethiopia. In May 1993, the Government of

Eritrea was formed with Isayas Afwerki becoming the first elected president of the

country after independence. In December 1994, the constitution of the Federal

Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) was ratified, taking effect following federal

elections in mid-1995. The constitution formalized the division of the country into 9

federated states based on identity, language, settlement patterns and people‟s consent.

The federal arrangement was intended to rectify past injustices and imbalances

perpetuated by an unrepresentative state through the decentralization of power to the

federated states and by accommodating the country‟s various ethno-linguistic groups After the election
Meles Zenawi assumed the premiership while Negasso Gidada became

head of state.