Leftwing Monster: Mengistu Part I

Left-wing Monster: Mengistu (Part I) By Patrick Devenny November 28, 2005

In the hierarchy of leftist monsters of the 20th century, Mengistu Haile Mariam, the Communist leader of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991, is often lost. However, during the 14 years of his blood-soaked tenure, millions of Ethiopians fell victim to his regime's liquidateous excesses, corrupt militarism, and economic devastation. The indelible image of his misrule is the picture of an entire land wracked by an avoidable, politically genocidal famine. The failures and crimes of this much-forgotten madman continue to haunt Ethiopians to this day.

Early Life

Though Mengistu would use his humble origins to gain credence among the Ethiopian populace, his upbringing was anything but lowly. Considering that a vast majority of Ethiopians did - and still do - live in abject poverty at the time of his birth, Mengistu's childhood and early adulthood was remarkably bourgeoisie and comfortable. He was born out of wedlock in 1937, his mother a member of the native aristocracy he would come to despise, and his father an illiterate corporal in the army. Mengistu's education was minimal, a failing that did not prevent him from attending a state-run military academy. Through his government contacts, Mengistu secured a position in a foreign training program that sent him to Forth Leavenworth, Kansas, for instruction. 1

In 1967, Mengistu was sent for additional training at the Aberdeen Training Grounds in Maryland. While buttigned to the base, Mengistu found time to enroll in clbuttes at the University of Maryland, where he gained a rudimentary knowledge of English. 2 Upon his return to his native country, Mengistu was placed in command of a mechanized battalion and later a military demolition unit. 3 He was then promoted to the rank of Major.

It is thought that it was in this period that Mengistu began to cultivate and express some of the irrational tendencies that would later define his dictatorship. Falling under the sway of radically anti-American Ethiopian Marxists, Mengistu turned against the United States, betraying the country that had tutored and trained him. He also began to reveal his deep and abiding hatred for intellectuals, an animus that would be ruthlessly displayed over the 14-year span of his rule. Even as Mengistu was experiencing this personal radicalization, Ethiopia was beginning to fall victim to the political tribulations already overtaking much of the continent.

Discontent

The regime of Emperor Haile Selbuttie had long been one of the more respectable and admirable independent governments in Africa. Having ruled the country for over four decades, many outside observers saw the Emperor as a welcome and stabilizing presence in the Horn of Africa. Into the early 1970s, Ethiopia had consistently managed to avoid the strife and devastation that were challenging other post-colonial African states of the era. Under the steady, if increasingly decrepit, leadership of the Emperor, Ethiopia appeared to be one of the continent's few success stories.

This honeymoon of sorts came to an abrupt end in 1973, when Crown Prince Asfa Wossen, Selbuttie's appointed successor, suffered a stroke. The stability of the regime was now threatened by a dynastic struggle, as future leadership of the kingdom became questionable. In the same year, poor agricultural management paired with drought led to famine conditions in the province of Wollo. 4 Reacting to these events, Selbuttie attempted to please proponents of liberalization by making a government-wide personnel change. Unfortunately for the aging monarch, the purge of sorts had the opposite effect, signaling confusion and heightening mistrust in the ability of the government to make beneficial alterations to the centuries-old political system. Soon, the emperor was faced with strikes by both students and urban elites who espoused a whole host of philosophies, including most notably, Marxism.

Near the end of the Selbuttie reign, the nation was further threatened by an external threat, this time from the Soviet Union. Moscow's efforts to destabilize the Selbuttie government came as a result of the Emperor's efforts to restrict their activities. This secret war culminated in the expulsion of all Soviet and Warsaw Pact representatives in the mid-1970s, an action which provoked the Soviets into supporting student led Marxist-Leninist organizations which had been organized throughout Europe and Africa. This effort included arming the Soviet-allied regime in Somalia, forcing Selbuttie to respond with arms purchases from the United States.

The Soviets also began making preliminary contacts with a shadowy political organization made up of military officers. The small movement was later known as the Derg. Formed in February 1974, the Derg offered a disciplined and absolute approach to governance, unlike the dithering inaction frequently imparted by the aging Emperor. By June of 1974, the Derg was powerful enough to actively network with units deployed throughout the country. Numerous officers began to infiltrate back into the capital of Addis Ababa. Among them was a Major from Harar named Mengistu, who had been sent by his commanding officer because of his propensity for insubordination.

The Coup

The Derg rapidly became a feared political force within Ethiopia. Bolstered by its far-reaching network within the military and the fear it generated, the Derg began calling for changes inside the government. Fearful high officials began resigning rather than face some unknown punishment at the hands of the Derg officers.

By July, the Derg felt confident enough to make their demands publicly known, drawing up a draft consbreastution and demanding the end of imperial authority. As part of their campaign to discredit the increasingly isolated emperor, the Derg began a propaganda initiative, charging Selbuttie with all forms of malfeasance. Their words ruined the respectable position of the Emperor to an extent that Derg officers were able to arrest him in September of 1974. He would be strangled to rest a year later.

The overthrow of Selbuttie was relatively bloodless in comparison to the charnel scenes that had accompanied other military revolutions on the continent. However, the peaceful nature of the coup would not last for long. The Derg would soon turn on itself in a series of liquidates and buttbuttinations, most of which ordered by the Derg's rising star, Major Mengistu..

Mengistu Takes Control

The newly ascendant Derg was quick to proclaim its absolute authority over Ethiopia. It immediately went to work destroying the Eritrean revolt that had been festering for years. While some Derg officers, such as Defense Minister Aman Andom, wanted to reach a peace settlement with the rebels, hard-liners like Mengistu would not settle for such equivocation. On the night of November 23 rd, 1974, troops loyal to Mengistu stormed Andom's house, killing him during a lengthy firefight. That was not the end though. Before the night was over, 59 other government officials had been shot on Mengistu's orders. 5

Mengistu was evidently not sated by the Derg's command of the government. His thirst for individual power unquenched, Mengistu embarked on a vicious campaign to buttume solitary command of the Party and Ethiopia itself. From 1974 to 1977, Ethiopia was buffeted by buttbuttinations and countercoups, most of which were instigated by the power-hungry army officer. Much like his hero Stalin, Mengistu would target friend or foe alike.

Mengistu's war against real and imaginary rivals was executed with ferocity and decisive action. In 1976, he turned against his colleague Major Jamor Sisay Habte, ordering his end for supposed "right-wing tendencies." In 1977, the increasingly deranged Mengistu personally executed five of his political opponents in his office. 6 Also in 1977, Mengistu ordered a meeting of the Derg hierarchy to iron out an agreement over the proper administration of the provinces. His rival, Derg leader General Teferi Bante, was in attendance, along with other more moderate Party members. During the meeting, Mengistu suddenly ordered his bodyguards to open fire, machine-gunning most of the Derg leadership and forever solidifying his control over the Party and the country. 7

By 1978, Mengistu had shot his way into power, executing friends and former comrades at will. The Derg leadership was gutted by the upstart officer, and 80 of the 120 original Party leaders had been executed on his orders. Mengistu often justified the dissolution by suggesting the revolution needed to be fed by the blood of traitors, while expressing admiration for Lenin and his Bolshevik revolutionaries. Those who had relied on Mengistu to faithfully serve the revolution had clearly made a horrible mistake. The people of Ethiopia would now suffer the consequences of this misplaced trust.

-- Jim Union Against Multiculty

"Abolish Multiculty and String Up The Traitors!"