UNIT SEVEN

INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS AND EXTERNAL

RELATIONS, 1941–1995 (5 hours)

7.1. Post-1941 Imperial Period

7.1.1. Restoration and Consolidation of
Imperial Power and External Relations

A.Ethiopia and Britain

In the post-1941 period, Britain recognized Ethiopia’s status as a
sovereign state with mutual diplomatic accreditation.
but Britain continued her greater influence on Ethiopia
because of:

 the role it played in the liberation of Ethiopia from

Fascist rule.
 the continuation of WWII (1939-45) which required
adequate provision for the Allied defense to win the
war.

the British considered Ethiopia Occupied Enemy Territory

Administration (OETA).

The 1942 and 1944 agreements that Emperor Haile-

Selassie I was Britain
• 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.
• British aircraft had exclusive aviation rights
• 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 import-
exports
• The Emperor resented such restrictions to his
powers and made some diplomatic
engagements.

• 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,

• 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
after they equip Ethiopia’s military force by the role of 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 union of

Eritrea with Ethiopia

• 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”.

• the western and northern lowlands of Eritrea were intended

by the British to be part of Sudan.

• they also wanted to integrate the Tigrigna speaking highlands

of Eritrea with Tigray to form a separate state.

• Therefore, 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 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 UNSC by Britain,

France, USA and USSR.

• The UN appointed a commission of five men from Burma, Guatemala,

Norway, Pakistan and South Africa to find out the 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; each side seeking to unmake the federation to
fit their respective interests.

• On November 14, 1962, the Eritrean Parliament, under pressure

from the Ethiopian government, resolved to dissolve the
Federation and placed Eritrea under the imperial umbrella.
B. Ethiopia and the USA

The first official contacts between Ethiopia and

the United States of America traced back to 1903
when Ethiopia signed a Treaty of Friendship and
Commerce with the USA delegate led under
Robert P. Skinner.

The relations between the two countries had

been in the doldrums/stagnation because of the
Tripartite domination of the Ethiopian diplomatic
scene until the early 1940s.
In Ethiopia and the Horn, British pre-dominance in 1940s was replaced
by the dominance of the United States in the 1950s.

Haile-Selassie I turned towards the United States as a powerful ally

than Britain to
 ensure his sovereign political authority from British domination,
 modernize his country and consolidate his power,

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 on renamed Qagnew after the Ethiopian
force that fought on the side of the Americans in the Korean War
(1950-3).
• In 1943, the Ethiopian vice Finance Minister, Yilma
Deressa, visited the US to request expertise to
assist the country's development.

• 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 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.

• First, the Point Four Agreement that enabled subsequent

American assistance in education and public health was signed in
1952.

• Second, the 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 the latter in particular

defined the Ethio-American relationship 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.

• 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 that American military assistance and training

was most noticeable.

• By 1970, sixty percent of US military aid to Africa went to

Ethiopia.

• 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 8 September to 15 December 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 by
the Americans.

• EAL got its first Ethiopian national pilot,

• 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

and African American Institute African Graduate Fellowship
Program (AFGRAD) offered opportunities for many
Ethiopians to go to the United States for their second and
third Degrees.

• Meanwhile, many American volunteers came to Ethiopia to

teach in Ethiopian schools under the Peace Corps Program.
• Other foreign countries with significant
presence in Imperial Ethiopia include
 Sweden and Norway entrusted to the
Air force and navy successively.
 Germany and Israel trained and
equipped the Police Force
 the Swedes supported the Imperial
Bodyguard
 the Harar Military Academy was
entrusted to British trained Indians.
• In 1956, the Qoqa Dam was built with war
reparations money that the Italians agreed to
pay.

• This was followed by the return of the Statue

of Judah in 1970, which Italians had taken
during the occupation period.

• Russians established good relations with

Ethiopia through their exhibition, library
around city hall, post office, mathematics, and
literature.
7.1.2. Socio-Economic Developments

Given the low development of industrialization in the country

even well into the 20th c,

agriculture remained the leading economic sector in:

 providing employment for about 90% of the
population,
 generating about 70% of the national GDP
 supplying almost 100% of the country’s income from
export trade.

Therefore, the landholding that 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.

• In the 1970s, more than sixty-six percent of the peasant

farmers cultivated less than 0.5 hectares.

• In southern Ethiopia, grants were made by the

Government for large number of its supporters and
tenancy was widespread.

• The disparity of landownership between north and

south Ethiopia by the middle of the twentieth century
can be seen from the proportion of tenants to landed
peasants.
• In addition to formal tributes, there were various 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 too high discouraging peasants from maximizing
production beyond subsistence levels.

• From 1953 to 1974, the annual growth rate of agricultural production

was only 2.4 percent, which was lower than the 2.5 percent population
growth rate.

• Consequently, Ethiopia ranked among the countries with very low per
capita income.
• 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 the 1960s and 1970s, commercial agriculture was expanding
especially in
 The southern Shewa,
 the Setit-Humera region
 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)
 Wolayta 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.

• The unintended outcome of CADU was aggravating tenant eviction.

• WADU initiated by the World Bank was more successful in promoting re-
settlement.
• Since the 1950s, the government formulated strategic plans for economic
development and this came in a series of five-year plans.

• The First Five Year Plan (1957-1961) targeted the development of

infrastructure.

• The Second (1962-1967) turned towards mining, manufacturing and electricity.

The Plan also mentioned major constraints to the development of the
agricultural sector, although in very general terms.

• The Third (1968-1972) gave priority to large-scale agricultural development

and ‘bringing higher living standard’. The package projects noted above were
part of the third plan.

• Following these plans, the Ethiopian economy witnessed some progress

particularly after 1950.

• Overall, domestic output increased nearly three and a half times and even
better progress was registered in manufacturing.
• The number of industrial enterprises grew to over four
hundred and the industrial working force to nearly sixty
thousand.

• The electricity supply and infrastructure expanded

considerably.

• Road and air communication enabled linkage of parts of the

country.

• The emergence of new towns and the development of city

life hastened urbanization.

• Moreover, public revenue and expenditure both grew nine

and tenfold, respectively.
• Banking facilities expanded and the State Bank of Ethiopia was
formed in 1942.

• In 1963, it was divided into the Commercial Bank and the

National Bank of Ethiopia.

• A private bank, Addis Ababa Bank was established in 1963.

• The capital Addis Ababa became a continental capital when the

UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Organization
of African Unity (OAU) were established in 1958 and 1963,
respectively.

• Overall, there was relatively high level modernization that was

reflected in many facets of life: music, sports, cuisine and dress
styles.
  The manufacturing sector contributed less than five percent of
the national income,
 industrialization was spatially limited in the capital and its
vicinity in addition only to Asmara and Dire Dawa.
 The manufacturing sector only produced light consumer goods.
Industrial investment was also primarily of foreign origin.

• For example, the Ethiopian share in capital was hardly more than
twenty percent for Wonji-Shewa and Metahara 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 climax of the emperor’s
power.

• 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 system.

• In order to fill-in the expanding bureaucracy, education was

promoted at both school and college levels as primary schools had
already been established
• 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 HaileSelassie 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 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.

• 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- a failed coup in 1960 and the more successful
one in 1974.
• Based on the traditional shum shir, the emperor
appointed and demoted his ministers, most of whom had
humble origins.

• In 1943, the emperor appointed eleven ministers to draft

laws and appoint junior officials but their

• 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 1942
• 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.
• 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 WoldeYohannis 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 invalidating 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.
• In foreign affairs:

• He played a significant role in the Non-Aligned

Movement and the drive for African unity and this
increased his international stature that 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.

• But his preoccupation with international affairs

detached the emperor from the domestic affairs that
he failed to see the signs of trouble at home.
7.1.3. Oppositions and the Downfall of the Monarchical
Regime

A. Plots and Conspiracies

• 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 openly.

• Some leaders of the resistance movement against Fascist rule opposed to

the restoration of the emperor to the throne for fleeing the country
whereas others wished for a republican government.
• One notable patriot who resented the fact
that he was not given a stature recognizing his
contribution to the Resistance was Dejazmach
Belay Zeleke.

• The emperor made Belay governor of a

southern province of Gojjam 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 were tried and sentenced to various

terms of imprisonment
• The most fierce and sustained opposition to the emperor came from Blatta
Takele WoldeHawaryat, who hatched a plot in constitutionalist terms using
Yohannes 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 Takele
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 Germame.

• Garmame attended Haile-Sellasie I Secondary School,

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

• Garmame was also president of Ethiopian Students

Association during his stay in the USA.
• Upon his return to Ethiopia, Garmame became the
president of a clandestine alumni association of his
former school.

• As governor of Wolayta, Germame’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 Germame’s intentions
Haile-Selassie sent him to Jijiga where he
continued as radical reformer.

• Together with his brother General 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 was on state visit in Brazil.

• They also took over the radio station and spoke

about the backwardness of the country than
newly independent African states.
• The crown prince Asfawosen was declared to be a salaried
constitutional monarch.

• The prince delivered a speech on Radio 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
• Brigadier-General Tsige Dibu 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 plotters.

• The rebels asked for a cease-fire, 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, Garmame

died fighting in the outskirts of the capital and Mengistu was
captured and hanged after trial.

• Thus, opposition to the imperial regime was only to grow stronger

leading to the outbreak of the 1974 Revolution.
B. Peasant Rebellions

The post-liberation period also witnessed growing

opposition among peasants in different parts of
the country against Haile-Selassie’s regime

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 local peasantry into tenancy.
The Woyane Rebellion

The first peasant resistance against imperial rule took place in Tigray,
known in history as the Woyane rebellion.

The term Woyane means 'revolt' in Tigrigna language.

A combination of long running problems stemming from the inequities

of the system

Peasants felt victimized by corruption and greed of the Territorial Army

unit stationed in the region and general administrative inefficiency that
led to the shiftnet of peasants who possessed armament left by Italians.

The peoples of Wejjerat and Raya-Azebo had wanted to maintain their

local autonomy that the government violated.
• Another cause for the rebellion was the 1942 land
decree which forced peasants to pay tax arrears

• This rebellion had the support of members of the

nobility who perceived their position to be endangered
by the expansion of central authority.

• 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.
• On May 22, 1943, the rebels scored an
astounding victory fighting an even larger and
well-equipped government army in Addi
Awuna, 15 kms away from Hewane in
southern Tigray.

• Soon small towns around Mekelle 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 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 emperor took reprisals against peasants suspected of

supporting the Woyane.

• Meanwhile, the imperial regime reversed the 1942 land

decree, although the Wejjerat and Raya-Azebo lost their
autonomous status, and Raya Azebo was made part of
Wollo
The Yejju Rebellion
In 1948, peasants rose against the system after their appeal against land
alienation was ignored by the government.

With Qegnazmach Melaku Taye and Unda Mohammed in the forefront, peasants
stormed and freed inmates held in Woldya prison. The nech lebash were called
to quell the unrest and eventually the leaders were publicly flogged.

Throughout the 1950s, localized skirmishes between government forces and

peasants expanded to Qobo, Hormat, Tumuga, KarraQore etc led by prominent
figures like Ali Dullatti (Abba Jabbi).

In 1970, peasants revolted against the introduction of mechanized agriculture

that 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.
• 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 the 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 Shewan successor named Dejjazmach Tsehayu Enqu-

Selassie forced contributions 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.

• The government was forced to transfer Dejazmach

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 rebellion was subdued by the combined forces

of the army, police and nech lebash by the end of 1968.
The Gumuz Rebellion

The Gumuz staged major armed rebellion against the regime of

Emperor Haile-Selassie in 1952/3.

The movement is named after one of its famous leaders, Abba

Tone.

Abba Tone served the imperial regime with a position of Abba

Qoro (head /chief of a sub- district) responsible for
 collection of taxes,
 maintenance of law and order
 mobilization of the people for public works in time of
peace and for war in cases of conflict.
• the Abba Tone armed uprising had its roots in
administrative injustice, land and taxation
policies of the imperial regime.

• Although Abba Tone reported the complaints of

the peasants to higher government authorities
in Najjo and Gimbi, they were not in a position
to solve the problem.

• Meanwhile, the Gumuz were determined not to

pay taxes unless the government took
appropriate measures to address their concerns
• The situation soon grew into an open rebellion against the
government leading to a general breakdown of law and order in
the region, particularly in places like Gaba Robi and Tullu Lubu
where the first clash had occurred.

• During the initial engagement between the government’s

expeditionary forces and those of Abba Tone, the latter obtained
an upper hand over the former.

• Nevertheless, the government forces were soon reinforced with

more weapons and manpower and put down the
uprising.

• Abba Tone was captured and later released on pardon.

The Gedeo Peasant Rebellion

The major source of peasant discontent in Gedeo was land

alienation.

The dispossession of land from the indigenous peasantry was

unabated particularly following the introduction of land
measurement in the 1920s.

In the 1960s, the Gedeo witnessed an unprecedented level of

land expropriation by members of the northern nobility who
were vying for coffee farms.

The major contender in this regard was the emperor’s

daughter Princess Tenagneworq.
• Petitions and appeals to higher authorities to curb the continued land
alienation proved futile.

• Then peasants refused to pay erbo (1/4 of agricultural produce

payable to landlords), armed themselves with traditional weapons
like spears, swords and arrows and
clashed with the imperial army at Michille in 1960.

• That is why it was known as the Michille rebellion.

• Over a hundred peasants lost their lives in the fight while much of
their property was destroyed.

• Finally, Afe Nigus Eshete Geda, fined the elders locally called the
hayicha accused of supporting the rebellion.
The Bale Peasant Rebellion
The Bale peasant uprising, which lasted from 1963 to 1970, presented the most serious
challenge to the Ethiopian government.

The causes of the uprising were multifaceted. The indigenous peasants largely became
tenants on their own land after the introduction of the qalad that initiated land
measurement in 1951.

Peasants also suffered from high taxation, religious and ethnic antagonism that reached
to unprecedented level after the appointment of Warqu Enqu Selassie as governor of
the territory in 1963.

The predominantly Muslim population resented the imposition of alien rule from the
northern and central highlands parts of the empire and thus, political and cultural
domination by Christian settlers.

Further, the government of Somalia extended material and moral support to the rebels
as part of its strategy of re-establishing a “Greater Somalia”.
• 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 Western Somali Liberation Front
(WSLF), 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,
• Instead it quickly spread to Wabe, Dallo and Ganale under the able leadership
of Waqo Gutu and others.

• Further, the rebels killed Girazmach Beqele Haragu of Adaba and Fitawrari
Wolde-Mika’el Bu’i 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, Territorial Army (beherawi tor), settler militia (nech
lebash) and volunteers (wedo zemach) launched massive operations against
the province.

• Meanwhile, the rebels lost support from the government of Somalia after
Mohammed Siad Barre took over power 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 the
self-styled General Waqo Gutu surrendered to government forces.
C. Movements of Nations and Nationalities

Oppositions to the imperial rule did not come only from

 individuals,
 peasants,
 students and
 the army.

The question of nations and nationalities for equality, freedom

and autonomy was also assuming a significant development
towards the end of the imperial regime.

Among the movement of nations and nationalities of this period,

the Mecha-Tulama movement of the Oromo deserves a special
treatment here.
• In January 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.
• Although the Mecha-Tulama Association had its root in the
will and commitment of a few Oromo elites to mobilize
support for the development of 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 Ginde beret, Dandi, Arsi (Dera and Iteyya), 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.
• 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 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 and other Oromo

nationalists formed the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) with
the aim of establishing an independent State 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.
The Eritrean Libration Movement
• The biggest military challenge to the imperial regime came from Eritrea.

• 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 opposition 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 founded the Eritrean Liberation Movement

(ELM) in Cairo.

• In 1961, the ELM evolved into the Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) or Jabaha in
Arabic.

• Hamid Idris Awate who fired the first bullet of the Eritrean armed struggle (he was
the one who ‘started the armed struggle’).
• By 1966 the ELF challenged imperial forces throughout Eritrea.

• In June 1970, two splinter group of liberation movements;

 the Popular Liberation Forces (PLF) and
 the Salfi Natsenet Eritrea (Front for Eritrean Independence) emerged .

• The PLF was formed in the Red Sea area led by Osman Salah Sabbe while Salfi
Natsenet Eritrea 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 hegemony
over the independence movement.

• Finally, the EPLF succeeded in achieving de facto independence in 1991 and

which eventually was confirmed through referendum in 1993.
D. The Ethiopian Student Movement (ESM)

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 was spreading to the high schools by 1968.

The parliament’s rejection of tenancy reform bill in

1964 triggered student protest demanding “Land to
the Tiller.”
• Factors that contributed to sharpening the students’
ideology include the 1960 coup, that 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.
 students formed
 the University College Union (UCU) to
coordinate their activities in 1962
 then the National Union of Ethiopian
University Students (NUEUS) in 1963.
 The Main Campus Student Union (MCSU)
in 1965
 the University Student Union of Addis
Ababa (USUAA) in 1968 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 in the USA
 the Ethiopian Students Union in Europe
(ESUE) with its paper Tateq (Gird
yourself) in Europe.

• ESUNA and ESUE gave ideological support to

MCSU and USUAA.
• 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 hola

Destitute Concentration Relief Camp and the holding
of expatriate sponsored fashion show at the university
campus and educational reform in 1966 and 1969
respectively.
• With the students’ demands for the respect of
the 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.

 deporting large number of students to the
torrid Gibe river valley in 1972.

• students’ opposition was aggravated to armed

hijacking of transport aircrafts.
• By early 1970s, the student movement
coupled with other under-running issues such
as
 rising inflation,
 growing discontent of urban residents,
corruption and widespread
 famine especially in Wollo 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 in 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.

Also, soldiers of the Second Division in Asmara, the Fourth Division

in Addis Ababa and the Air Force in Debre-Zeyt (Bishoftu) mutinied
demanding salary increment and political and economic reforms.
• Teachers throughout the country protested against the
implementation of an education reform program known as Sector
Review, which they deemed was disadvantageous for 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 18 February1974.

• On the same day, taxi drivers went on strike demanding increase in

transport fees (fifty percent) 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,

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.

• On March 8, the Confederation of Ethiopian Labor

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 held on

April 20 by about 100,000 Muslim residents of
the capital and their Christian sympathizers
who came out demanding religious equality.
• The coordinating committee of soldiers and Non
Commissioned Officers (NCOs) set up in February were
joined by officers, such as Colonel Alem Zewd Tessema
of the Airborne Brigade, who then became its leader.

• In April, the Committee, perhaps with involvement of

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

• The Minister of Defense, Lt. General Abiy Abebe, set up

what was called the National Security Commission to
restore order and respect for the authority of the
government.
• The leading opposition against the
Endalkachew cabinet were the students.

• Nevertheless, the students were less

organized to achieve their goals and
eventually, the soldiers hijacked the struggle
• 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.

• 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, “Ethiopia Tikdem” (“Ethiopia First”), “Yaleminim
Dem” (“Without any bloodshed”).
• 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
than fifty percent stake were nationalized.

• Moreover, a British documentary film disclosing the hidden horrors

of the Wollo 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.
• 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 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 October 7, a militant group within the Army

Engineering Corps was 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 HaileMariam,
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 1974, what was called the Edget Behibiret Zemecha

(Development Through Cooperation Campaign) was inaugurated.

In this campaign, all high school and university students and their
teachers were to be sent to the countryside to help transform the
life of peasants through programs such as literacy campaigns and
the implementation of the awaited land reform proclamation.
However, the campaign was opposed by most of the
civilian left as a system that the Derg designed to remove
its main opponents from the center.

To appease the oppositions, the Derg changed its slogan

of “Ethiopia First” to “Ethiopian Socialism.”

It also adopted slogans like

 Ethiopian Unity or Death,
 Revolutionary Motherland or Death, and
 later Every Thing to the War Front,
 Produce while Fighting or
 Fight While Producing, etc.
• In 1975, banks and insurance companies were
nationalized following a series of proclamations.
Over seventy private commercial and industrial
companies were then nationalized.

• Finally, in March 1975 the Derg made a radical land

reform proclamation, which abolished all private
land ownership and set the upper limit on family
holdings at ten hectares.

• The proclamation also provided the establishment of

peasant associations, which were to be implemented
with the cooperation of the zemach.
• On 26 July1975 another proclamation
nationalized all urban lands and extra houses.

• In April 1976, PMAC proclaimed National

Democratic Revolution Program and set up
the Provisional Office for Mass Organization
and Affairs (POMOA) with the objective of
organizing and raising the political
consciousness of the masses.
• The campaigns showed Derg’s belief in mass mobilization to
achieve a cause.

• There was the “Green Campaign” of 1978 aimed at bringing

about rapid economic development, the literacy campaign
aimed at eradicating illiteracy, and the “Red Star Campaign” of
1982 that aimed at solving the Eritrean problem. Of these
campaigns, only the literacy campaign registered some degree
of success. The land reform proclamation did put an end to
landlord exploitation but it
failed to make the peasant master of his land because now the
state took over as ultimate owner, with the peasant
associations serving as its agents. The cooperatives only led to
monopolistic government enterprises such as Ersha Sebil
Gebeya Dirijit (Agricultural Marketing Corporation),
resettlements and villagization.
• 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 (kebele) to control the
towns.

• The kebele became battleground when the struggle between the Derg
and the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP) (formed in Berlin
in 1972) reached its bloodiest phase in 1976/7.

• The EPRP targeted kebele 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 the Derg came from two rival Marxist-Leninist political
organizations called the EPRP and the All-Ethiopian Socialist Movement (acronym in Amharic,
Meison). 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 Abyotawi Seded (Revolutionary Flame) was launched.

In 1977, an alliance called Emaledeh (the Union of Ethiopian Marxist–Leninist Organizations)
was established as prelude to the formation of one vanguard party. The Emaledeh was composed
of Marxist Leninist Revolutionary Organization (MLRO, or in its more common Amharic acronym
Malerid),
Meison, Abyotawi Seded (Revolutionary Flame), Wezlig (Workers League) founded by a onetime
president of the Ethiopian Students’ Union in North America, Dr. Senay,Malerid (the
Ethiopian Marxist–Leninist organization) and Ech’at (the Ethiopian Oppressed Masses
Revolutionary Struggle) founded by Baro Tumsa. 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 organization.
• Meanwhile, the struggle between the EPRP and
the Derg and its allies had created 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 also attempted to
assassinate Mengistu himself in mid-September.
In what was followed, the Derg attacked EPRP
with large-scale arrests of its members and
sympathizers and carried out massive search and
destroy campaigns, particularly in Addis Ababa.
• In late 1976, the Derg itself was ideologically divided and beset 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 chairperson, 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 Mengistu hit back with a coup against Teferi. Eventually,
Teferi and other anti-Mengistu Derg members were executed. After the coup, Mengistu
HaileMariam 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 and executed.
• 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
Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) 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, the government
of
Somalia led by Siad Barre waged a large-scale war against Ethiopia. The Somalia National
Army
crossed the border into Ethiopia and carried out military operations in Degahbour,
Kebridehar,
Warder and Godey taking control of Jigjiga and large scale pockets of western regions in the
first
two weeks of the war. Within a couple of months, the cities of Harar and Dire Dawa were
endangered. Yet Somalia’s victory did not last long. 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
troops and the help from Southern Yemen Democratic Republic, the Somalia National Army
was
defeated at Kara-Mara near Jigjiga on March 4, 1978. The aggression of the State of Somalia
had
been checked. The defeat led to the weakening of Siad Barre’s government and contributed
to its
fall. At the same time, the aggression of the State of Somalia 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 Union 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 were pushed back. EDU was crushed

near the Ethio-Sudan borderland in places like
Metema, Abder Raffi and Satit-Humera.
• 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, Wezlig, 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 a
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 restructuring of mass organizations that
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 renamed 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 the Shengo (PMAC National Assembly)
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, Colonel Mengistu
became President of PDRE, secretary general of WPE
and Commander in chief of the national
armed forces with Fisseha Desta as Vice President and
Fiqre-Sellassie Wegderes head of 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 Wallagga 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 twentieth
century, Ethiopia had experienced two major famines that gave rise to national and
international
mobilization created a bad image on the country in international scene. These were the
1972-4
and 1984-5 famines, caused by a variety of interrelated factors, which include
environmental
crises (notably drought), economic, social causes as well as political factors. 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 Wollo provinces, in southwestern 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 had turned against 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
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 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 too late.
• The government’s military failure came after defeating the invading
force of Somalia; 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. In March 1988, EPLF
scored a major victory at
Afabet, north of Asmara, from its stronghold in Naqfa-Raza. 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 that
aimed to
secure the self-determination of Tigray within the Ethiopian polity. The TPLF, at its
inception,
was grounded on the cumulative grievances of Tigray people against the successive
regimes of
Ethiopia. To address the problems, Tigrayan students created the Political Association of
Tigrayans (PAT) and the Tigrayan University Students’ Association (TUSA) in the early
1970s.
PAT developed into a radical nationalist group calling for the independence of Tigray,
establishing the Tigray Liberation Front (TLF) in 1974. In TUSA, there emerged a Marxist
leaning group favoring national self-determination for Tigray within a revolutionary
transformed
democratic Ethiopia. Whereas the multinational left movements such as the EPRP and
MEISON
advanced the view that the problem of Ethiopian nationalities could be resolved
through class
struggle, the Marxists of TUSA argued that due to the existing inequalities among
Ethiopian
nationalities, revolutionaries must use the struggle of Ethiopian nationalities for
selfdetermination as the launching pad for the ultimate socialist revolution.
• In February 1974, the Marxists within TUSA
welcomed the Ethiopian Revolution, but opposed
the Derg as they were convinced that it would
neither lead a genuine socialist revolution nor
correctly resolve the Ethiopian nationality question.
Three days after the Derg took power, on 14
September 1974 the Mahber Gesgesti Bihere Tigray
(Association of Progressives of the Tigray

Nation), also known as Tigrayan National

Organization (TNO) was established. TNO was to
prepare the ground for the future-armed movement
of Tigray.
• The TPLF started in February 1975 as a small guerrilla band in the northern region of
Ethiopia
and eventually grew to provide the core of a future Ethiopian government. Before it
turned to
confront the Derg, the TPLF was engaged in a bloody struggle with the Ethiopian People’s
Revolutionary Army, EPRA (the armed wing of the EPRP), EDU, ELF, and TLF. 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 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 so 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. The coup leaders were all imprisoned or
executed.
• TPLF, 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 Wollo and parts of Wallagga and
Shewa 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
Wollega province. In the meantime,
negotiations for a peaceful end to the conflict were
underway between the government, the
EPLF, and the TPLF in Atlanta, Nairobi, and Rome. In May
1991, while the last of these
negotiations were going on in London, a 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. Transitional Government

On 1 July 1991, a handful of organizations of which

many were organized along ethnic lines assembled
to review the draft Charter prepared by the EPRDF
and the OLF. The gathering was called the Peace and
Democracy Transitional Conference of Ethiopia. The
USA was at the forefront in providing the necessary
diplomatic backing for the Peace and Democracy
Conference. The Conference was attended by
delegates from the UN, the OAU, the G7, the US, the
USSR, Sudan, Kenya, Djibouti and Eritrea. Eritrea was
represented by its future president, Isayas Afeworki
• The Conference debated and approved the Transitional Charter on the
basis of which the
Transitional Government of Ethiopia was created. Representatives of 27
organizations formed a
Council of Representatives (COR) which acted as a legislative body
(‘Parliament’). This

transitional parliament had 87 seats of which 32 were taken by the

EPRDF and the remaining 55
seats were divided among the 23 non-EPRDF organizations. At the same
time, a Council of
Ministers was formed as an executive branch, with Meles Zenawi as the
President of the
Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE). Meles Zenawi then
appointed a Prime Minister
(Tamirat Layne) and a seventeen-member Council of Ministers. Key
posts were given to
members of the EPRDF and OLF
• 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 stipulates that the
country would have nine federated states based
on ethno-linguistic, identity and settlement
patterns. The federal arrangement sought to
decentralize power to the regional states by
accommodating the country’s various ethno-
linguistic groups. After the election, Meles Zenawi
assumed the premiership while Dr. Negasso
Gidada became head of state.
• Meanwhile, EPLF set up a Provisional
Government of Eritrea in 1991. This was
followed by a
referendum to decide the 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 president of the
country after independence.