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Category: Resource

John Ryle: The trial of the Derg in Ethiopia

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

“We learned a terrible thing in Mengistu’s time. We learned non-compromise. In 1974 people who could have taken up arms submitted themselves to the Derg. The Emperor himself did so. These people had no idea of the catastrophe that was to come. The Derg taught us: don’t wait for justice, not with any government. That’s what is behind the intransigence of the opposition parties. That’s why the opposition press won’t acknowledge anything good about this government.”

“Politics in this country was essentially armed politics,” he said, “and so you don’t usually win through arguments, through logic, you win through shooting straighter than the other guy. So victories and defeats were to a large extent total. And even if they were not total they were perceived to be total. That does not encourage compromise—live and let live and so forth.”

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The New Yorker: AN AFRICAN NUREMBERG

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

In the famine of 1984, as Ethiopians died by the thousands in the countryside, Mengistu hosted a lavish celebration of the Derg’s 10th anniversary in Addis Ababa, hiding the emergency from the world. And when international relief agencies revealed the extent of the famine he used relief supplies as a weapon, diverting food away from needy rebel areas and selling the country’s grain reserves to buy Soviet arms. In international human-rights circles, the trial of the Derg, which had been three years on preparation, was being spoken of as an African Nuremberg. Mengistu himself fled to Zimbabwe, where he remains. For the Amhara elite of Ethiopia, the double shock of the loss of the province of Eritrea and the ascendancy of the Tigrayans has had a disorienting effect. It is as though Soviet Communism had been overthrown not by Russians but by Ukranians, and the Ukranians had taken power in Moscow.

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Africa Watch Report: EVIL DAYS – 30 YEARS OF WAR AND FAMINE IN ETHIOPIA

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

For the past thirty years under both Emperor Haile Selassie and President Mengistu Haile Mariam, Ethiopia has suffered continuous war and intermittent famine until every single province has been affected by war to some degree. Evil Days documents the wide range of violations of basic human rights committed by all sides in the conflict, especially the Mengistu government’s direct responsibility for the deaths of at least half a million Ethiopian civilians. The Ethiopian army and air force have killed tens of thousands of civilians. The notorious urban “Red Terror” of 1977-78 was matched by indiscriminate violence against rural populations, especially in Eritrea and Tigray. Counterinsurgency strategies involved forcibly relocating millions of rural people and cutting food supplies to insurgent areas. Also, these military policies were instrumental in creating famine, and the government used relief supplies as weapons to further its war aims. There is now a prospect of lasting peace, but concerns remain such as the demand for justice and the future protection of human rights.

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Orlando Sentinel: FOOD IS USED AS WAR WEAPON AGAINST STARVING ETHIOPIANS

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

If you’re looking for the worst government on Earth, look no further. Mengistu has combined a murderous assault on human rights with an economic program that has made Ethiopia the world’s poorest nation. He has also prosecuted an endless war against secessionist rebels in two provinces, Eritrea and Tigre. Well, not quite endless: The rebellion in Eritrea began when John Kennedy was president.

Americans will be surprised to learn that the villain is not a lack of food. Vast supplies, including a quarter of a million tons sent by the U.S. government, now sit in Ethiopian ports, waiting to be delivered to those in need. Blocking the way is the Ethiopian government, which uses starvation as a weapon in a monstrous war against its own people. An estimated 7 million people are in mortal danger.

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The Washington Post: IN ETHIOPIA, FOOD IS A WEAPON OF WAR

Posted on by Sami Mulaw

The U.N. operation in Sudan ends up feeding Ethiopians who cannot obtain food in their home country. In 1984-85, about 300,000 refugees, most of them from Eritrea and Tigray, walked west to U.N. camps in Sudan to wait out the famine.

“I am not fed up with the war. I am on my own land. I am in my own village. The EPLF is protecting me,” said Hamed Fayid, 35, a father of four whose family has lived for four years on U.S.-donated food and who last year was given an ox by the Eritrean Relief Association.

“Participation in the struggle is not just carrying the gun,” said Hamed. “If there is an engagement, it is my duty to help with the wounded and carry water.”

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