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Mengistu Haile Mariam
The Profile of a Dictator

By Paulos Milkias
Ethiopian Review, February 1994

Origin
The Ethiopian dictator, Mengistu Haile Mariam, who shaped the destiny of this ancient kingdom from 1974 to 1991, has a humble origin that has an intricate web of bizarre twists resembling a story from a fairy tale. On his mother's side, he is said to be a direct descendant of Queen Zewditu's maid and Dejazmatch Kebede Tesemma, one of the most prominent aristocrats and a person known for a long time for his involvement in a series of court intrigues. Dejazmatch Kebede was Empress Zewditu's butler in the 1920s, at a time when she was in an intractable power struggle to keep her throne.

While serving the Queen, the Dejazmatch also doubled as a confidante of the Regent, Ras Teferi Makonnen, later Emperor Haile Selassie who was in line to ascend to the throne. When the Queen was mysteriously found dead in her palace, the same day her Gondere husband, Ras Gugsa Wole, was killed in battle. A Swiss doctor named Aner who was ushered in by Dejazamatch Kebede was suspected of carrying out a coup degrace. Whether or not the Dejazmatch knew of the doctor's personal mission is, however, not certain.

It was while he was in the commission of the Queen that Dejazmatch Kebedde met Mengistu's grandmother nicknamed Totit (female ape). Totit had to remain chaste as Ethiopian court tradition states since she was an umbrella bearer to the Queen on all occasions and left the latter's bedroom only at night. She slept on the floor in an adjacent room in case her services were needed.

An illicit and secret matrimonial relation, entailing a severe breach of court protocol took place between the two and Mengistu's mother was born. Queen Zewditu, who was angered by this insolence, ordered a special investigation to track down the father of the baby so that he would be prosecuted according to Ethiopian court traditions. But no one came foreword to shed light on the affair.

Dejazmatch Kebede's uncle Azazh Tilaye, who was in charge of Palace affairs, intervened in order to cover up for Dejazmatch Kebedde who was brought to the court by him from his birth place in the Amhara countryside of Menz (Northern Shoa). The Azazh, prostrating before the queen, maintained that he had sinned before the queen and God and that after realizing his gross error, he tried to take his own life and survived only upon the intervention of close friends. The Queen accepted the explanation, but reprimanded and ordered Totit to leave the palace. The child, who would later be Mengistu's mother was brought up at Dejazmatch Kebede's home.

Mengistu's grandmother was still alive when he seized power. As an old lady, she had taken a vow and was a nun of the Ethiopian Orthodox faith. In fact, on the special orders of her grandson, the nationalization of land did not apply to her. She continued to own the land near the Holotta Military Academy just 30 miles from Addis Abeba which the queen granted her for services prior to her expulsion from the palace in 1928.

On his father's side, Mengistu is the son of a former slave who was bought by an aristocratic Sub-provincial governor, the Shoan landowner Afenegus Eshete Geda, who encountered Mengistu's father, Haile Mariam, while he was on a hunting expedition at the administrative district of Gimira and Maji, (in Southern Ethiopia) then under the governorship of Dejazmatch Taye Gulilat.

As a child, Mengistu used to hear derogatory comments against his Negroid features and dark color -- rooted in the Konso background on his father's side. As a result, he had always hated all light-colored Ethiopians with Semitic and Hamitic features. It was not surprising, therefore, that when he took over power, and was attending the meeting of Derg members at the 4th Division headquarters in Addis Abeba, Mengistu exclaimed with emotion:

In this country, some aristocratic families automatically categorize persons with dark skin, thick lips, and kinky hair as "Barias"... (Amharic for slave); let it be clear to everybody that I shall soon make these ignoramuses stoop and grind corn!

It is interesting that as a self proclaimed Marxist, Mengistu did not accept the reference to his slave background even when it was meant to point out his working class origin. For example, in 1975, the Cuban communist author, Valdes Vivo, wrote a book about the Ethiopian revolution and tried to impress upon his readers that it was lead by none other than "the son of a slave"-- Mengistu Haile Mariam. But the word "slave" was struck out by the censors on the orders of Mengistu before it was distributed in Ethiopia. When Vivo came to Addis Abeba to seek an audience, he was snubbed by Mengistu, even though the former was a senior member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.

Mengistu was not only biologically tied to Kebede Tesemma. He grew up in his household and was groomed in the age old Ethiopian court wheeling and dealings, conspiratorial machinations and the A, B, Cs of palace revolts. Dejazmatch Kebede, whose service touched Menelik, Iyasu, Zewditu and Haile Selassie -- five traditional absolute monarchs -- was said to be fond of orally recounting his court observations in the evenings, just before going to bed. And Mengistu was always spellbound by the stories of his grandfather. People
who were close acquaintances of Dejazmatch Kebede and Mengistu point out that the former had indeed left on his grandson an enduring mark and had molded a scheming character, the least of which was the ability to outmaneuver political foes and survive the ever present and intractable Ethiopian court intrigues.

When the Fascists occupied Ethiopia, Dejazmatch Kebede went into exile in Jerusalem, leaving his wife, Woizero Yitatequ who went to live with her brother-in-law, Afenegus Eshete Geda, (then residing in the district of Chafe Donsa). It was then that she took Mengistu's mother with her. At that time, the Fascists recruited Haile Mariam who still resided at the Afenegus' residence as a Carabiniere soldier. Here, Mengistu's mother and Haile Mariam met and got married. The marriage resulted with the birth of Mengistu's elder sister, and then Mengistu himself.

After the Fascists were defeated and left the country in 1941, the couple moved to Addis Abeba where Haile Mariam joined Haile Selassie's fledgling army where he received the rank of corporal. Later, they moved to Jimma in the province of Keffa where Mengistu attended school up to 6th grade. When Corporal Haile Mariam was transferred to the ammunition's production unit of the imperial army in Addis Abeba, Mengistu joined the household of Dejazmatch Kebede Tesemma, his biological grandfather, who later become the Governor
General of Gojam province.

In Gojam, Mengistu attended the Negus Tekle Haimanot Elementary School in Debre Marcos. Later, when Dejazmatch Kebede was transferred to Addis Abeba to become Minister of the Palace, he joined the Junior Signal Corps of the army where he took training in radio communications.

At school, Mengistu was not known to be serious with his studies. He had completed only 8th Grade. Classmates remember that he had no patience to read even a single book. But he had a fertile imagination. It was said that Mengistu was a good listener and could quote what he heard with ease, sometimes with great embellishments -- qualities people who knew him when he was in power also recall vividly.

Mengistu's father, Corporal Haile Mariam was a known alcoholic and beat up his son at the slightst chance. He frequented tej bets , where Ethiopian honey wine is sold. It is interesting to note that following in his fathers foot-steps, the future dictator of Ethiopia, was also known as an alcoholic before he became one of the key organizers of the Derg. He was notorious for constant outbursts. He beat up his religious and loyal Gojame wife at the slightest opportunity.

Even after the Prime Minister, Fikre Selassie Wogderess, built him a modern villa and assigned him armed body guards in the middle class district of Asmera Menged, near Bole Airport, Mengistu's father continued to curse his son for overthrowing the Emperor and for bringing a reign of terror on the country. He defiantly hang Emperor Haile Selassie's portrait on the walls of his living room. Often, he slipped out of sight of his bodyguards whom he considered his jailers and went to the lower class neighborhood tej bets where he always felt at home. People who sported him on the street euphemistically referred to him as Yenigusu Abat, (the King's Father). Mengistu, on his part, ignored his father and never tried to help him directly even when he was short of cash.
As an ambitious young soldier, Mengistu attracted the attention of a very popular Eritrean born general, Aman Mickael Andom, who raised him to the rank of sergeant and assigned him duties as an errand boy in his office. Aman then recommended him to the Holota Military Academy from where he received the rank of Second Lieutenant in 1957.

Aman, as a mentor, took Mengistu to Harer when he was assigned as the commander of the 3rd Division and sent him to the U.S. to study military weapons technology for six months. Upon return from the U.S., Mengistu was assigned a job in the armaments depot at the 3rd Division in Harer.

Aman was abruptly transferred to Addis Abeba. The ancient regime found him too popular with the soldiers especially after his commendable military exploits in the engagement against the Somali army at Tog Wuchale, in 1963. Like Douglas Macarther, he tried but failed to receive political support for his immediate military urge to cross over the boarder and occupy the country that was the root of the war -- Somalia. Consequently, the government of Prime Minister Aklilu Habte Wold removed the soldier affectionately known to his fighting men as "the desert lion" from army duties and assigned him as a senator, a job he hated very much as he recounted to his author, but could not refuse without arousing the Emperor's ire. Aman's replacement was General Haile Baikedagn, who found Mengistu an intriguer and a very dangerous young officer. General Haile had actually written a secret report to his superiors to put a close watch on Mengistu and not give him a raise in the military ranks. Haile Baikedagn was one of Mengistu's first victims. On the orders of the then rising Derg dictator, he was machine-gunned with 64 ministers and generals of Haile Selassie in 1974.

Ascent From a Political Maelstrom
When the government of Emperor Haile Selassie crumbled in 1974, of the one hundred and twelve obscure officers known as the Derg (committee) who found themselves the political executive and collegially commanders-in-chief of the Ethiopian armed forces, Mengistu Haile Mariam was the only bold and ambitious soldier to attempt to become primus interpares. Mengistu was chosen to represent his unit in Harar when the Derg was being formed to take grievances to the Emperor because he had a reputation for talkativeness and troublemaking exploits. And in time, through sheer demagoguery and political intrigues, he succeeded to outmaneuver all officers who stood in his way and climbed the political ladder. Thus, early during the establishment of the Derg in 1974, he joined the senior director of the movement, Colonel Atnafu Abate as second in command.

In the power struggle that ensued, Mengistu had carefully cultivated the support of some Derg officers who were in stinctively searching for a reliable and valiant commandant at a time when vacillation could have cost their lives. To win the support of this group, Mengistu hinted at a messianic vision awaiting the leadership. Others who were noncommittal at first provided him support in the course of the struggle, both out of fear of loosing their lives and to climb to power on the dictator's coattails.

Despite his rapid ascent to power, the development was still not safe enough for Mengistu's grand plan of forging a one man rule. He needed an organization which he could utilize in neutralizing his potentially threatening colleagues. As constantly reminded to him by his close adviser, Dr. Sennay Likkie, a Berkeley educated radical intellectual, he came to the conclusion that the only solution to his predicament was to establish a communist party with all its dictatorial trappings and intricate security networks.

The Establishment of a Malevolent Despot
The founding of the Worker's Party of Ethiopia in the early eighties not only provided Mengistu an opportunity of directly controlling a political organization, it also afforded him an occasion to disband his Derg colleagues. All were inducted into the party but their power was systematically whittled away. Some were sent far from the center to become regional governors. Others such as Dame Deressa were weeded out on corruption charges. Still others such as Tamrat Ferede, who refused to fall in line were sent on a scholarship abroad to remove them away from the center of power. The latter, upon return from abroad, was rejected by his colleagues. He consequently become a chronic alcoholic and committed suicide by jumping to his death from the roof of a high rise building in Addis Abeba.
Once the Workers' Party of Ethiopia (WPE) was formed to suit Mengistu's long range aspirations, he become the only person who could appoint or remove the prime minister. He headed the government hierarchy as well as the party that was theoretically supreme. The fiction of collegiality in both the administrative and party organs were paid lip service to, but in fact the leadership role of the party, the politburo, and the Central Committee were personalized in Mengistu. Nevertheless, even these trappings did not stop him from casting doubt on the loyalties of the high officials in both camps; with the help of his secret police, he played one off against the other and concentrated power in his own hands.
Even Emperor Haile Selassie with traditional legitimacy had gone nowhere near the centralization of power fostered by Mengistu.

In time, the WPE apparatus became the instituionlized extension of Mengistu's personal will. The erstwhile tyrant was soon surrounded by a privileged throng of sycophants led by a group known as the "the Gang of Four" who chanted his reverence and carried out his will. The "Gang" members were the following: a)Legesse Asfaw, an army sergeant: b) Alemu Abebe, a man of humble origin who grew up on scraps of food donated by the students of Haile Selassie I Secondary School, then found an opportunity to go to Russia, joined Patrice Lumumba University, the Soviet Union's fundamentally Propaganda school for Third World students where he received a degree as a veterinarian; c) Shewandange Belete, an opportunist intellectual who, together with his close friend, Fikre Selassie Wogderess, betrayed his Woz League colleagues, got them slaughtered and jumped on the bandwagon with Mengistu; and d) Shimelis Mazengia, a former elementary school teacher, a person of low-level formal education but who had his way with words and thus warmed his way to become Mengistu's Amharic speech writer.

It was to Mengistu's advantage that just like during the last days of Emperor Haile Selassie's regime, there was a serious fissure in the government camp. Mengistu rejoiced at the development and inflamed the personal disputes between his officials by favoring one over the other and then reversing his actions when opportunities arose. Among the protagonists were Fikre Selassie Wogderess (Prime Minister until 1990); Sergeant Legesse Asfaw (head of the secretariat and the party cadres until his appointment to be army commander and led the major contingent of the Ethiopian army in the Tigray front to disaster; Colonel Tesfaye Wolde Selassie (the security chief); Mengistu's Uncle, Kassa Kebede (who in time inherited Legesse Asfaw's potentially powerful position of commanding the cadres), Alemu Abebe (politburo member and a key figure among the "Gang of Four"; Bizuayehu Alemayehu (First Secretary in the State council); Fiseha Desta, Hailu Yimenu and Ashagre Yigletu (deputy prime ministers). The latter, has been nicknamed by Goshu Wolde as Ashatre, (literally "the intriguer" -- a play on the words of his name but which, according to people who knew him well, is an
accurate description). All the protagonists had their own clicks and informer networks, mostly working at cross purposes. That this fragile structural network was custom made for Mengistu's purposes can hardly be emphasized.

Military or Death
Even though the Workers Party of Ethiopia was formed as a civilian organization, the majority of the leadership was still military. The few civilians put in the politburo and the central committee were the dictator's "yes men." Among these were several ambitious intellectuals who were prepared to sell their principles -- even their souls -- for money, power and glory.

It was clear from the beginning that Mengistu could not tolerate anybody who suggested that power be handed over to civilians. In one case in 1976, Lieutenant Gebeyehu Temesgen, one of his 120 Derg colleagues, had a change of heart after witnessing the mass slaughter of thousands of innocents on the streets of Addis Abeba. He consequently remarked to Mengistu:

It would be a disservice to subject the Ethiopian people who trustingly gave us power to such atrocities... Is it not a noble thing to hand over power to qualified civilians who could lead the country towards peaceful development?"
Mengistu did not even attempt to answer the question. He simply motioned a secret gesture to his bodyguards. The guards politely ushered him out of the palace, telling him that they would give him transport home. They put him in the back of a car, stopped the car at Afincho-Ber (near the Addis Abeba University campus), dragged the hitherto unsuspecting official out of the car and shot him dead as the bewildered victim cried through the volley of machine gun
fire: "Why? Is the revolution betrayed?." In a few hours, there was an announcement on the government controlled radio that he was assassinated by the Anarcho-Fascist, (a name the derg reserved for the EPRP).

Mengistu or Death
As Mengistu started to gain prominence specially following his elimination of the popular general Aman Andom, a faction loyal to Aman and forming the bulk of the latter's former fighters in the Ogaden war demanded Mengistu's return to his unit in Harer. This group held his wife and children who were still in Harer hostage and demanded his return; they warned that otherwise their well being could be in danger. Mengistu's reply was: "You can cook and eat them for all I care!" The hostages were released without harm after a personal promise from Mengistu of non-retaliation, but later, the ringleaders were all systematically eliminated one by one.

When Mengistu wanted to have someone killed, his sadistic approach was said to seem unduly polite. He patted the unsuspecting victim on the back. He smiled and talked of matters important to the victim. He even hinted appointment to a high position. It seemed as if he got pleasure out of raising their hopes high only to be dashed in a matter of minutes.

The Scapegoats
When the "Chairman" passed orders, the duty of everyone was to obey, not to ask why: even if the orders happened to be contradictory. Mengistu once passed directives to all party apparatchiks and high placed individuals that they had to wear their best in western style suits for the, 10th anniversary of the revolution in 1984. The people were told then that to be a revolsionary did not mean to look destitute. So thousands of individuals bought themselves custom made western style suits for the occasion. However, before many of them had even paid the money they borrowed to buy these expensive suits, Mengistu had changed his mind after a visit to Kim Il Sung's Korea. In the name of equality and promoting locally made products, Mengistu ordered all government officials and those earning a salary of over $500 Birr to wear blue or kaki uniforms a la North Korea.

If a course of action backfired and became unpopular, Mengistu, who ordered the policy to be put in place, would look for a scapegoat. In one case, he ordered price controls on basic things. When officials immediately set price controls on chickens and eggs, and the peasants hoarded their produce and refused to sell them, there was an uproar in the urban areas. Mengistu immediately ordered the arrest of officials who put price controls on chickens and eggs dubbing them "saboteurs."

Military generals were sometimes ordered by Mengistu to attack the enemy at a specific spot. The officers often objected because they had better information and experience than him. But he would order them hinting at insubordination and they would have no choice but to carry it out. When the war went against the government, he blamed it on the commanders, stripped them off their positions in front of the army they commanded, and sometimes shot them on the spot.

Mengistu commissioned individuals at whim. Sometimes, those who were officially appointed heard it on the radio for the first time. It was the same with those who lost their position. When in 1990 Mengistu decided to remove a populist derg member, Debela Dinsa, from power, it was announced that "Col. Debela Dinsa resigned from his post as the Administrator of Shoa province due to illness." A man who spotted Debela at a bar asked him what his sickness was and Debela, always with a stinging humour, replied; "I do not know. I also heard about my sickness on the radio, and am still waiting to find out what kind of sickness it is!"

Rotten Fish
As the Ethiopian saying goes: "Fish rots from the crown down." The chairman of the Derg, Mengistu Haile Mariam, who used to go to the palace and badger the deposed Emperor about his collection of gold ingots in Switzerland, had also unabashedly started to loot from the till as soon as he became an absolute dictator. The $45,000,000 that was collected from nationalized housing rented to foreign personnel and institutions and part of the gold mined from Adola and Benishangul were said to be sent directly to Mengistu Haile Mariam's secret bank account.

Even the Ethiopian government initiated gold smuggling ring that was unmasked in India in 1988, although spearheaded by Prime Minister Fikre Selassie Wogderess, was said to be partly for the coffers of Mengistu. It is interesting that despite wide coverage in the Indian press, the Ethiopian government went to great lengths to provide false identities to the anti-hijacker slated for arrest in Bombay and smuggled him out. Upon return, instead of being tried in Ethiopian courts, the smuggler was promoted to a better office on the direct orders of Fikre Selassie Wogderess. It was also said that the $30,000,000 paid by Israel in 1991 in order to secure a permission for 15,000 Falashas (Ethiopian Jews) to immigrate to Israel, was slated for Mengistu, but that its transfer was overtaken by time.

Of Cowardice and Portly Guards
Despite his common image as a courageous individual, it was known by all who were nearest to him that Mengistu Haile Mariam was a coward. And it was his cowardice plus sheer luck that helped him survive for so long. Unlike Emperor Haile Selassie who often ordered his limousine stopped to distribute money to the poor, Mengistu traveled fast through the city, was always escorted by heavily armed guards, and sat in one of a fleet of look-alike bullet proof cars so as not to be a target of a possible assassin. He always wore a bullet proof vest.

Because he was such a recreant, Mengistu never took a chance. If he, for any reason, suspected that someone was going to usurp his power or to endanger his life, he allowed no time to assure if his suspicions were well founded. He got the person eliminated immediately. If it was later discovered that the victim was innocent, his henchmen would simply remark: "do not forget that revolution eats its own children."

After dissolving Haile Selassie's Imperial Body-Guard, Mengistu created a special personal patrol of his own. These rotund personal guards were known to the people as kilib tor (fattened warriors) and numbered about 4,000. The Kilib tor were recruited from minority groups of the south, particularly the Konsos who are members of his father's ethnic group and were led by General Getachew Shibeshi, the most notorious leader of the palace death squad. Most spoke only their local tongue. International languages such as English and French could no

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