Mengistu Haile Mariam

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Mengistu Haile Mariam (Amharic: መንግሥቱ ኀይለ ማሪያም, born 21 May 1937) is a former socialist Ethiopian politician and army officer.[1]

Mengistu Hailemariam

መንግሥቱ ኀይለ ማሪያም
Born21 May 1937
Galla-Sidamo, Ethiopia
NationalityEthiopia


He was the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 and General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia from 1984 to 1991. He was the chairman of the Derg, or the Provisional Military Government of Socialist Ethiopia, in 1974 and from 1977 to 1987, and the president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) from 1987 to 1991.

Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe in May 1991 after the PDRE National Shengo dissolved itself in response to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Forces (EPRDF) advancing towards Addis Abeba.[2] Mengistu Haile Mariam still lives in Harare, Zimbabwe, despite an Ethiopian court verdict finding him guilty of genocide in absentia.[1]






Early Life[edit | edit source]

Military Career prior to the Revolution[edit | edit source]

Early days of the Derg[edit | edit source]

Leadership of Ethiopia[edit | edit source]

Removal from power and asylum[edit | edit source]

Genocide trial[edit | edit source]

Work and political thought[edit | edit source]

Historiography of Mengistu Haile Mariam[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Saheed A. Adejumobi (2008-02-21). "Mengistu Haile Mariam (1937-)" blackpast.org. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  2. Saheed A. Adejumobi (2007). The History of Ethiopia (pp. 133-134). Westport: Greenwoord Press. [LG]