UNIT SEVEN

INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS AND

EXTERNAL RELATIONS, 1941-1995
Post-1941 Imperial Period: External Relations
Ethiopia and Britain:
 Britain recognized Ethiopia‘s sovereign status with
mutual diplomatic accreditation, but it continued
to exercise the upper hand because of its role in
the liberation of Ethiopia from Fascist occupation.
 The British considered Ethiopia Occupied Enemy
Territory Administration (OETA)
1
 The 1942 Anglo-Ethiopian agreement gave Britain
final authority over Ethiopia‘s foreign affairs,
territorial integrity, administration, finances, the
military and the police.
 British citizens held key posts in the Ethiopian
government such as advisors and judges.
 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 the declaration of war or
declaration of a state of emergency.
 The British assumed control over currency, foreign
exchange and foreign trade. 2
 The Emperor resented such restrictions to his
powers and opened a diplomatic offensive to
remove them. As a result, Britain relaxed the
restrictions imposed upon Ethiopian government.
 The second Anglo-Ethiopian agreement (signed in
1944) lifted the priority accorded to the British
minster over all other foreign diplomats in
Ethiopia.
 The Ethiopian government could now employ non-
British foreign personnel and it regained control
over a section of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railwy.

3
 Britain did not yield to Ethiopia‘s territorial
demands and Britain insisted that:
i. the Ogaden should be merged with the former
Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland to
form what they called ―Greater Somalia;

ii. the western and northern lowlands of Eritrea

were considered to be part of the Sudan; and

iii. it wanted to integrate the Tigrigna

speakinghighlands of Eritrea with Tigray to form
a separate state.
4
 Ethiopia‘s claims to Eritrea and Ogaden were
rejected at the London Conference of the Allied
powers in September 1945.

 The British left parts of Ogaden in 1948 and

completely withdrew from the region in 1954.

 In Eritrea, people who wanted union with Ethiopia

rallied behind the Unionists while the Liberal
Progressive Party and later the Muslim League
campaigned for separation and independence.

5
 In 1948, the question of Eritrea was referred to the UN,
which appointed a commission of five 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 Eritrea independence.

 South Africa and Burma recommended Federation,

Norway recommended union with Ethiopia.

 On December 2, 1950, UN decided by Resolution

390V to federate Eritrea with Ethiopia, which came
into effect in 1952.
6
 The Eritrean Parliament, under pressure from the
emperor and the unionists, dissolved the
Federation on November 14, 1962.
Ethiopia and the United States:
 American interest in the region began to grow
chiefly after the US acquired an Italian
communication base in Asmara known as Radio
Marina, later renamed Qagnew after the Ethiopian
force that fought on the side of the Americans in
the Korean War (1950-3).
 The Ethiopian vice Minister of Finance, Yilma
Deressa, visited the US in 1943 to request
expertise to assist Ethiopia‘s development. 7
 At the beginning of 1945, the emperor and the US
President Franklin D. Roosevelt met in Egypt and
discussed, among other things, recognition of the
American Sinclair Company‘s prospecting for oil
in the Ogaden.
 The Point Four Agreement and the Ethio-US Treaty
were signed in 1952 and 1953, respectively.
 The first enabled subsequent US assistance in the
military, agriculture, education and public health,
while the second extended the use of the Qagnew
base by the US in return for military assistance.

8
 Following the 1953 treaty, the US launched the
American Military Assistance Advisory Group
(MAAG) to equip Ethiopia‘s armed forces.
 The US supplied anti-tank and anti-aircraft
weapons, naval craft, and weapons for the infantry.
Sixty percent of US military aid to Africa had been
directed to Ethiopia by 1970.
 Civil aviation, telecommunication, road transport,
and education were other spheres in which the
Americans took active part.
 Ethiopia concluded an agreement with the
Transcontinental and Western World Airline (TWA)
to establish Ethiopian Air Lines (EAL) in 1945. 9
 The Imperial Board of Telecommunication was
established between 1950 and 1952. With a
financial loan from the
 The Imperial High Way Authority (IHA) was set up
in January 1951.

 In the field of education, the US offered

scholarship opportunities for many Ethiopians to
attend in the United States for their second and
third degrees.

 American volunteers taught in Ethiopian schools

under the Peace Corps Program. 10
Socio-Economic Developments
 In the post-1941 period, agriculture provided employment for
about 90% of the population, generating about 70% of the GDP
and supplying almost 100% of the country‘s income from export
trade.
 More than 66% of northern peasants cultivated less than 0.5 ha in
the 1970s.

 The government granted land to many of its supporters in southern

Ethiopia.

 The tenant population as percentage of total rural population in the

newly incorporated regions varied from 37% in Sidama
Governorate General to a staggering 73% in Ilu Abba Bor and
75% in Hararghe, whereas tenancy in the northern provinces
averaged 11%, consisting mainly of religious minorities and 11
 Tenants surrendered up to 60 % of their produce to
landlords who mostly lived in towns or the capital.

 In addition to formal tributes, smallholder and landless

farmers were obliged to make varied payments and to
render labor services to the lords.

 Sharecrop tenancy arrangements were so heavy that

increasing production only increased the exploitation of
peasants.

 Such conditions discouraged peasants from maximizing

their production beyond subsistence levels. 12
 The deteriorating economy, coupled with external
pressure from donors, induced the government to
establish a Land Reform Committee in 1961.
 The condition of the farming population further
worsened with the expansion of commercial farming
 (mechanization of farming) in the 1960s and 970s
that caused the eviction of tenants.
 The government attempted to enhance the
productivity of small farmers by launching
comprehensive agricultural package programs such
as the Chilalo Agricultural Development Unit
(CADU) and the Wolayta Agricultural Development
Unit (WADU). 13
Consolidation of Autocracy
 Emperor Haile-Selassie embarked on consolidating his
power through the bureaucratization ofgovernment, the
building of a national army and a centralized fiscal system.
 The two most popular and prestigious secondary schools,
Haile-Selassie I Secondary School and General Wingate
School, were opened in 1943 and 1946 respectively.
 The University College of Addis Ababa (UCAA) was
inaugurated in 1950.
 The Engineering and Building College in Addis Ababa, the
College of Agriculture in Alemaya (Haramaya in
Hararghe) and the Public Health College in Gondar. These
were brought together in 1961 to form Haile-Selassie I
University, which was renamed Addis Ababa University
14
after 1974.
 The traditional aristocracy, although well off
economically, had lost most of its political
privileges.
 The emperor appointed eleven ministers in 1943,
but their subservience to the monarch was stated in
explicit terms.

 The 1931 constitution was revised in 1955. It

clearly stated that the emperor‘s “personality was
sacred, his dignity inviolable and his power
indisputable”.

15
 The emperor was the head of the three branches of
government: the executive, the legislative and the
judiciary.

 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

16
Oppositions and the Downfall of the Monarchical
Regime
Plots and Conspiracies:
 Some patriots were opposed to the restoration of
the emperor to the throne because he had fled the
country when it needed him most.
 This feeling of resentment was exacerbated by the
privileges and rewards accorded to exiles and
bandas (collaborators).
 One such critic was Dejjazmach Belay Zeleke, to
whom the emperor had offered governorship of one
of the southern Ethiopian provinces to remove him
from his base in Bichena District of Gojjam. 17
 Balay rejected the offer, and forces from Dabra
Marqos and Addis Ababa invaded Balay‘s district
in February 1943.

 After three months of fighting, Balay surrendered

and was detained in Fitche, from where he escaped
a few months later but was caught on his way to
Gojjam with his brother Ejjigu, taken back to the
capital and publicly hanged

18
 Bitweded Negash Bezabih, plotted to assassinate
the emperor and proclaim a republic in 1951.

 Negash and his accomplices like Beqele Anasimos

were arrested during one of their clandestine
meetings and sentenced to various terms of
imprisonment.

19
 The most fierce and sustained opposition came
from Blatta Takele Wolde-Hawaryat, who first
hatched a plot with Yohannes Iyasu as front and
with the support of some contingents of the army.

 Nonetheless, the plot was uncovered and he was

detained. Released in 1945, he was involved in
another plot in 1946 and was detained up to 1954.

 He tried to assassinate the emperor on November

17, 1969 but failed. He then barricaded himself in
his house and engaged in a shoot-out with the
police in which he was killed. 20
 The most serious challenge came in the form of a
coup attempt by the Neway brothers, Brigadier
General Mengistu and Germame.
 As governor of Wolayta, Germame monitored
police activities, introduced a settlement program
in which he distributed government holdings to
landless peasants and ordered written tenancy
agreements.
 Haile Selassie sent Germame to Jigjiga where he
continued his radical reforms.

21
 Crown Prince Asfawosen was declared to be a
salaried constitutional monarch and delivered a
speech on Radio Addis explaining the rationale of
the coup and promising the establishment of new
factories, schools etc.

 On December 14, 1960, a new government to be

headed by Ras Emiru Haile-Selassie was declared.

 Major General Mulugeta Buli was chosen as chief

of staff of the armed forces.

22
 the army and the air force refused to side with the
rebels, and with the support of the Americans and
the patriarch, the loyalists, led by General Merid
Mengesha and Ras Asrate Kassa, crushed the coup
and hunted fleeing brothers.

 They were spotted near Zuquala Mountain and, in

the following shootout, Germame died while
Mengistu was wounded, captured, tried and
hanged.

23
Peasant Rebellions
The First Woyane Rebellion of 1942-43
 The inequities of the system, corruption and greed of
the beherawi tor (Territorial Army) unit stationed there
and general administrative inefficiency led to the
peasant protests.
 The 1942 land decree also forced peasants to pay tax
arrears whose collection was problematic.
 The nobility took advantage of the popular discontent
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 the Afar territory
24
sparked general rebellion.
 The first confrontation took place on January 11, 1942,
when the imperial force was defeated and humiliated by
the peasants.

 The rebels further scored an astounding victory in Addi

Awuna on May 22, 1943. Soon small towns around
Mekelle like Qwiha and Enda-Iyyasus fell to the rebels‘
hands on October 14, 1943.

 The imperial army, supported by the British Royal Air

Force, crushed the rebellion in October 1943.

 The emperor ordered reprisals against peasants

suspected of supporting the Woyane. 25
The Yejju Rebellion
 Yejju peasants rose in 1948 after their appeal against
land alienation was ignored by the government.
 Led by Qegnazmach Melaku Taye and Unda
Mohammed,
 The nech lebash (settler militia) quelled the unrest and
eventually the leaders were caught and publicly flogged.
 Peasants revolted in 1970 against the introduction of
mechanized agriculture that encroached on pastureland,
and killed Qegnazmach Abate Haylu, a member of the
local nobility and the main beneficiary of the process.
 Finally, the rising was suppressed by the local militia.

26
The Gojjam Peasant Rebellion
 Dejjach Kebede Tesema, governor of Gojjam
appointed by the central government, initiated land
 assessment and classification to determine taxation
and raised tax rate from what it had been prior to
1935.
 A revolt broke out in Mota, Qolla-Daga Damot and
Mecha districts led by people like Dejjach Abere
Yimam in 1950.
 The tax rate was reduced by 1/3 and Kebede was
removed and replaced by Haylu Belew, a
hereditary ruler of Gojjam.
27
 Haylu‘s successor, Dejjazmach Tsehayu Enqu-Selassie,
again appointed by the central government, imposed
contributions to build the emperor‘s statue in Debra
Marqos. In addition, peasants were ordered to pay tax
arrears and register their arms with penalty fees.
 an attempt was made to introduce agricultural income
tax, which the parliament adopted in November 1967
and this sparked the 1968 uprising.
 The rebellion was crushed by the combined forces of
the army, police and nech lebash at the end of 1968.

 The government was forced to transfer Dejjach

Tsehayu to Kafa, declare amnesty, abandon the new tax
and cancel all tax arrears going back to 1950. 28
The Gumuz Rebellion
 The 1952/3 Gumuz rebellion is named after its famous
leader, Abba Tone, who served the regime as Abba Qoro
(sub-district chief) responsible for tax collection,
maintenance of law and order as well as community
mobilization for public works.
 The people were discontented with the unjust system in
general and heavy taxation and mal-administration in
particular. The Gumuz were determined not to pay taxes
unless the government addressed their concerns.
 An open clash broke out when tax collectors, with the
backing of the police, attempted to force the people to pay
land taxes.
 In the fighting, Abba Tone and his followers were outgunned
and outnumbered by the police. Abba Tone was captured, 29
The Gedeo Peasant Rebellion
 The Gedeo witnessed the denigration of their culture
and an unprecedented level of land expropriation by
members of the northern nobility who were vying for
coffee farms in the 1960s.
 The major contender was the emperor‘s daughter,
Princess Tenagneworq.
 peasants refused to pay erbo (1/4 of agricultural
produce payable to the landlords), and clashed with the
imperial army at Michille in 1960.
 Over a hundred peasants lost their lives while much of
their property was destroyed and the rebellion was
suppressed. Finally, Afe Nigus Eshete Geda fined the
hayicha (elders) accused of supporting the revolt. 30
The Bale Peasant Rebellion
 The causes of this rebellion included the introduction of the
qalad and the accompanying land measurement in 1951,
high taxation, religious and ethnic subjugation(imposition of
the Christian settlers‘ culture on Muslims) that reached to
unprecedented level after the appointment of Warqu Enqu-
Selassie as governor in 1963.
 The Somali government extended material and moral
support as part of its strategy of realizing “Greater Somalia”.
 The revolt broke out in El Kerre led, by notables like Kahin
Abdi. Initially, rebel groups conducted isolated hit-and-run
raids against military garrisons and police stations.
 Soon, however, they began to coordinate their activities
under an umbrella organization, the Western Somali
Liberation Front (WSLF), engaging in conventional war. 31
 In Gola-Abbadi forest, the rebels attacked government
aircraft.
 the rebels killed Girazmach Beqele Haragu of Adaba and
Fitawrari Wolde-Mika‘el Bu‘i of Dodola in 1965 and1966,
respectively.
 The government put Bale under the martial rule of Wolde-
Selassie Baraka, the head of the Fourth Division Army, in
December 1966.
 The army, police, Territorial Army, nech lebash and wedo
zemach (volunteers) launched massive operations in 1967.
 The rebels lost support from Somalia after Mohammed
Siad Barre took power in 1969 and the rebellion ended in
the early 1970s after some of its leaders, including the self-
styled General Waqo Gutu, surrendered to the governmet
forces 32
Movements of Nations and Nationalities
 The Mecha-Tulama Welfare Association (MTWA)
was formed in January 1963 to expand educational,
communication and health facilities in Oromo land.
 Founding members of the association included
Colonel Alemu Qitessa, Qedida Guremessa,
Lieutenant Mamo Mezemir and Haile-Mariam
Gemeda. In the next two years, the association
attracted large number of members of the elite,
including such high-ranking military officers as
Brigadier General Taddese Birru (the Commander
of the Fetno Derash/Rapid Deployment Force).
33
 Starting with development programs like building
schools and clinics, the association began to raise
contentious issues including that of land. Leaders
of the association even went further and plotted to
assassinate the emperor on the anniversary of his
coronation in November 1966, but the plot was
foiled by security forces.
 A bombing incident in one of the cinemas at the
capital in which the association was implicated
finally led the regime to ban the association in 1967
followed by the imprisonment and killing of its
prominent leaders.
34
 Taddese was captured while retreating to the bush and
sentenced to death, which was subsequently commuted to life
imprisonment and he was exiled to Gelemso, where he
remained until the outbreak of the 1974 revolution. The Derg
executed Taddese for allegedly instigating armed struggle in
1975.
 The biggest challenge to the imperial regime came from
Eritrea.
 Following the abrogation of the federation, Eritrean exiles
founded the Eritrean Liberation Movement (ELM) in Cairo in
1958; this later evolved into Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF,
or Jabaha in Arabic) in 1961. Splinter groups such as Popular
Liberation Forces (PLF) and Salfi Natsenet Eritrea (Front for
Eritrean Independence) split from the ELF in June 1970,
eventually leading to the founding of the Eritrean People‘s
Liberation Front (EPLF, or Sha'abiya in Arabic) in early 1972.
35
The Ethiopian Student Movement (ESM)
 Students at the University College of Addis Abab
(UCAA) formed the University College Union
(UCU) to coordinate their activities in the late
1950s.
 The National Union of Ethiopian University
Students (NUEUS) was established in 1963 to
coordinate the activities of university students
throughout the country.
 The parliament‘s rejection of the 1964 tenancy
reform bill triggered student protest in the
following year, when students came out demanding
―Land to the Tiller.‖ 36
 Factors that contributed to sharpening the students‘
ideology included: increased awareness of the country‘s
backward conditions vis a vis other African countries which
they learned from politically more conscious scholarship
students from different parts of Africa, and the Ethiopian
University Service (EUS), launched in 1964.

 The emergence in 1964 of a radical group with Marxist-

Leninist leanings known as ―the Crocodiles‖ marked an
increase in militancy.

 The Main Campus Student Union (MCSU) and the

University Students Union of Addis Ababa (USUAA) with
its paper Tagel (Struggle) were established in 1965 and
1966, respectively. 37
 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).
 Throughout the 1960s, a rallying cry of student
demonstrations was “Land to the Tiller,” but other local and
global issues were also raised.
 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.
 Furthermore, the regime deported a large number of students
to the torrid Gibe River Valley in 1972. Meanwhile, students‘
opposition was elevated to hijacking of aircrafts.
38
The Derg Regime (1974-1991)
Rise and Consolidation of the Derg
 Soldiers and Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs)
stationed at Negele-Borana mutinied from January
8 to 15, 1974, protesting against their bad living
conditions.
 They detained the commander of the ground forces
who had been sent to pacify the situation.
 soldiers of the Second Division in Asmara, the
Fourth Division in Addis Ababa and the Air Force
in Bishoftu (Debre-Zeyt) mutinied demanding
salary increments, and other reforms.
39
 Teachers throughout the country protested against the
implementation of an education reform program known
as Sector Review, which they deemed disadvantageous
for and biased against the poor.
 The Ethiopian Teachers‘ Association (ETA) had
coordinated demonstrations against the program in
December 1973. It called a general strike demanding a
number of other social reforms on February 18, 1974.
 On the same day, taxi drivers went on strike demanding
50% increase in transport fees 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, during which vehicles, particularly buses and
luxury private automobiles, were attacked. 40
 The government responded by suspending the
Sector Review, reducing petrol prices and raising
the salaries of soldiers.

 The cabinet of Prime Minister Aklilu Habte Wold

was replaced by that of Endalkachew Mekonnen on
February 28.

 The Confederation of Ethiopian Labor Unions

(CELU) successfully staged a general strike on
March 8. Then, 100,000 Muslim residents of the
capital and their Christian sympathizers came out
demanding religious equality on April 20. 41
 The Committee arrested Aklilu and hundreds of
high-ranking officials in April. The Defense
Minister, Lt. General Abiy Abebe, set up the
National Security Commission to restore order and
respect for the government authority.
 The Derg, which eventually seized political power,
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
Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, the
Police and the Territorial Army.
42
 officers above the rank of major, suspected of
supporting the old regime, were not included.
 Major Mengistu Haile-Mariam of the Third Division
of Hararghe and Major Atnafu Abate of the Fourth
Division became chairman and vicechairman,
respectively.
 The Derg also declared the motto, “Ethiopia
Tikdem” (“Ethiopia First”), “Yaleminim Dem”
(“Without any bloodshed”) and exercised power
parallel with Endalkachew‘s cabinet for some time.
 The emperor was caught in the middle, trying to keep
a balance between the two.
 Endalkachew was imprisoned and replaced by Lej
43
 Anbessa Bus Company and St. George Brewery, in
which the emperor and the imperial family held
more than 50% stakes, were nationalized.
 A British documentary film that revealed the
hidden horrors of the Wollo famine was exploited
by the Derg to discredit the emperor.

 Finally, Emperor Haile-Selassie I was deposed and

detained at the Fourth Division headquarters on
September 12

44
 The Derg then proclaimed itself the Provisional Military
Administrative Council (PMAC).

 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.

 The Army Engineers Corps, the First Division (the former

Bodyguard) and the Army Aviation also opposed the prospect
of a military government.

 However, the Derg imprisoned the leaders of CELU and the

Forum. The militant Army Engineering Corps was also 45
 Lieutenant General Aman Mikael Andom, chairman
of the PMAC, was shot dead on November 23 after a
disagreement within the Derg over the issue of
Eritrea.
 Aman believed in peaceful approach to resolve the
Eritrean problem, while some radical members of the
Derg, chiefly the First Vice Chairman Mengistu
Haile-Mariam, advocated a military solution.

 At the same time, the Derg announced the 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
46
Attempts at Socio-Economic Reform
 The Derg took a series of measures that aimed at
fundamentally transforming the country.
 Edget Behibiret Zemecha (Development through Co-
operation Campaign) was inaugurated in December 1974.
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
impending land reform proclamation.
 the campaign was opposed by most of the civilian left as a
mechanism that the Derg designed to remove its main
opponents from the center.
 To appease the opposition, the Derg changed its slogan of
47
“Ethiopia First” to “Ethiopian Socialism.”
 Banks and insurance companies were nationalized
following a series of proclamations in February 1975.
 On March 4, 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.
 Another proclamation nationalized all urban lands and
extra houses on July 26, 1975.
 The campaigns showed Derg‘s belief in mass
mobilization. There was the “Green Campaign” of 1978
aimed at bringing about rapid economic development,
the literacy campaign of 1979 aimed at eradicating
illiteracy, and the “Red Star Campaign” of 1982 that
aimed at solving the Eritrean problem once and for all.
48
 Of these campaigns, only the literacy campaign registered
some degree of success. The land reform proclamation
ended landlord exploitation, but failed to make the peasant
master of his land because the state ended up being the
ultimate owner.
 On the other hand, nationalization killed private initiative
and introduced a highly bureaucratized management of
resources. The state, with its enhanced role and growing
proportion, gained tremendous capacity to reward or
penalize.
 The Derg used peasant associations and cooperatives with
monopolistic government enterprises such as Ersha Sebil
Gebeya Dirijit (Agricultural Marketing Corporation) to
control the countryside, and the kebele (urban dwellers‘
associations) to control the towns 49
Political Movements and Opposition
 The leftist opposition to the Derg came from two rival Marxist-
Leninist political organizations: the Ethiopian People‘s
Revolutionary Party/EPRP (formed in Berlin in 1972) and the All-
Ethiopian Socialist Movement (MEISON in its Amharic acronym),
founded in 1968.

 In the meantime, the Derg, pushed by the dominant leftist political

discourse, gradually abandoned “Ethiopian Socialism” and
embraced Marxism-Leninism.

 With the setting up of the Provisional Office for Mass

Organizational Affairs (POMOA) in April 1976, the Derg
proclaimed the National Democratic Revolution Program, which
was the Chinese model for socialist revolution, and identified
feudalism, imperialism and bureaucratic capitalism as the main
50
 The Derg‘s leftist organization known as
Abyotawi Seded (Revolutionary Flame) was
launched a few months later.

 In 1977, Emaledeh (Union of Ethiopian Marxist–

Leninist Organizations/UEMLO), composed of
Marxist-Leninist Revolutionary
Organization/MLRO (Malerid in its Amharic
acronym), Meison, Seded, Wezlig (Workers
League) and Ech’at (Ethiopian Oppressed Masses
Revolutionary Struggle) was established

51
 The struggle between the EPRP and the Derg had created
a civil war scenario since September 1976, when the
Derg started executing EPRP militants while the EPRP
squads assassinated the Derg members and supporters.

 The Derg and its civilian allies unleashed the “Red

Terror”, initially targeting the EPRP, which was said to
have declared “White Terror,” and later including others
like Meison, EPLF and Tigray People‘s Liberation Front
(TPLF).

 Mengistu struck first by executing Teferi and other

dissenting members within the Derg on 3 February 1977.
52
 The Somali National Army had crossed the border into Ethiopia
and carried out military operations in Degahbour, Kebridehar,
Warder and Gode, taking control of Jigjiga and large pockets of
land in the summer of 1977.
 with the help of 17,000 Cuban troops and forces from Southern
Yemen Democratic Republic, the Somali Army was defeated at
Kara-Mara near Jigjiga on March 4, 1978. The Derg had also
severed relations with the USA in early 1977, when the American
cultural and military institutions ended their operations in the
country.

 The Emaledeh began falling apart with the defection of Meison in

1977. The other competing member organizations, Ech’at, Wezlig
and Malerid, were successively expelled from Emaledeh, and
their leaders and members were either executed or detained as
they tried to retreat to the countryside. Only Seded remained as
53
the authentic Marxist-Leninist organization in the country.
 The Commission for Organizing the Party of the Working
People of Ethiopia (COPWE) was set up in December
1979. The Workers‘ Party of Ethiopia/WPE was
inaugurated in September 1984, during the celebration of
the tenth anniversary of the coming of the Derg to power.

 CELU was replaced on January 6, 1977 by the All Ethiopia

Trade Union (AETU), which was later re-named Ethiopian
Trade Union (ETU). Similarly, the All Ethiopia Peasants‘
Association (AEPA) was formed on April 22, 1978 and
was later renamed Ethiopian Peasants‘ Association (EPA).

 The Revolutionary Ethiopian Women‘s Association

(REWA) and Revolutionary Ethiopian Youth Association
(REYA) were established in 1980. 54
 After an election which was predictably won by
WPE, the Beherawi Shengo (National Assembly)
proclaimed the People‘s Democratic Republic of
Ethiopia (PDRE) in 1987, officially replacing the
Derg.
 A typically Communist constitution was put in
place; Colonel Mengistu became President of
PDRE, secretary general of WPE and Commander
in chief of the armed forces, with Fisseha Desta as
Vice President and Fiqre-Sellassie Wegderes as
Prime Minister with five deputies.

55
 The government responded to the 1984/5 famine
by massive resettlement of the affected peasants,
mostly of Tigray and Wollo provinces, in
Southwestern Ethiopia.

 The villagization program that followed further

alienated the majority of peasants. Moreover,
Mikhail Gorbachev‘s policy of perestroika
(restructuring) and glasnost (openness) in 1985
was a blow to Mengistu‘s agenda. He reluctantly
declared a mixed economy, which was too little
too late, in March 1990
56
 The EPLF scored a major victory in March 1988
at Afabet, north of Asmara, from its stronghold in
Naqfa-Raza.

 It followed this significant victoy with the capture

of the port town of Massawa in 1990.

 The TPLF (which grew out of Mahber Gesgesti

Bihere Tigray/Association of Progressives of the
Tigray Nation or Tigrayan National
Organization/TNO, established on 17 September
1974) scored its most decisive victory at Enda-
Selassie, Western Tigray, in February 1989. 57
 Military units coordinated and led a coup against
Mengistu when he left the country on a state visit
to the German Democratic Republic in May 1989.

 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.

58
 The TPLF, after liberating Tigray, continued to move forward and
made organizational adjustments to form a broader front known as
the Ethiopian Peoples‘ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).

 The member organizations were TPLF, the Ethiopian People‘s

Democratic Movement (EPDM), the Oromo People‘s Democratic
Organization (OPDO) and the Ethiopian Democratic Officers‘
Revolutionary Movement (EDORM). The EPRDF forces drove the
Derg out of Gondar, Gojjam and Wollo, and parts of Wallaga and
Shewa, approaching the capital from the north and west in a series
of stunning campaigns in 1990 and 1991.

 Other liberation fronts, including the Oromo Liberation Front

(OLF), the Islamic Front for Liberation of Oromia, the Afar
Liberation Front, the Sidama Liberation Front, the Beni-Shangul
Liberation Front and the Gambella Liberation Front, also became
active. 59
 OLF forces dismantled the Derg‘s 131st Brigade in battle that
liberated Asosa and Bambasi in the then Wallaga Province in 1990.
 In the meantime, negotiations for a peaceful end to the conflict were
undertaken between the government, the EPLF, and the TPLF in
Atlanta, Nairobi and Rome.
 Mengistu fled the country first to Nairobi and then to Harare
(Zimbabwe) on May 21, 1991.

 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 US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs,
Mr. Herman Cohen, on May 27, 1991.

 EPRDF forces triumphantly entered Addis Ababa in the early hours of

May 28, 1991. 60
Transitional Government
 A handful of organizations, many of which were
organized along ethnic lines, assembled to review the
draft Charter prepared by the EPRDF and the OLF on 1
July 1991.
 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 Conference.
 The Conference was attended by delegates from the UN,
the OAU, the G7 Group, the US, the USSR, the Sudan,
Kenya, Djibouti and Eritrea.
 The Conference debated and approved the Transitional
Charter on the basis of which the Transitional 61
 A Council of Ministers was formed as an executive
branch, with Meles Zenawi serving as the President
of the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE).
 Meles then appointed a Prime Minister (Tamirat
Layne) and a seventeen-member Council of
Ministers. Key posts were given to EPRDF and the
OLF members.
 The constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic
of Ethiopia (FDRE) was ratified In December 1994,
and it took effect following federal elections in mid-
1995.
 The constitution stipulates that the country would
have federated states based on ethno-linguistic, 62
 After the election, Meles assumed the premiership
while Dr. Negasso Gidada, representing OPDO,
became president (head of state).

 The 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 secession from
Ethiopia.

 The Government of Eritrea was formed with Isayas

Afwerki becoming the first president of the country
after independence in May 1993 63