WOLAITA SODO UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES

Department Of History & Heritage Management

Common Course: History Of Ethiopia & Horn (Hist. 1012)

CHAPTR 7
 UNIT SEVEN
INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS AND EXTERNAL RELATIONS,
1941–1995
Introduction
This unit examines major social, economic and
political developments in Ethiopia from 1941 to
1995. Specific issues the unit considers include:
-consolidation of imperial power,
-opposition movements,
-the 1974 Revolution, and
-the replacement of the monarc by a Marxist
leaning military government called Derg.
The Derg undertook a series of revolutionary measures that
brought about profound social, economic and political
changes in the country.
In the long term, however, the measures did not prove
valuable to increase and sustain agricultural
productivity and thus improve the condition of peasants.
Meanwhile, the Derg had been overwhelmed from its first
year in power by strife within the government, regional and
ethnic rebellions and separatist movements besides the war
with Somalia.
Finally, the raging civil war in the north against the
backdrop of decelerating economy combined with changes
in global politics led to the demise of the Derg in 1991.
This was followed by the formation of the Transitional
Government of Ethiopia (TGE) in 1991 and then the
promulgation of a new constitution in 1995 that established a
federal form of government led by the Ethiopian People's
Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).
Through the examination of the various topics and historical
developments, the unit aims to encourage students to study
further the history of Ethiopia and the Horn in general and
that of their country in particular in the period under
discussion.
 Post-1941 Imperial Period
Restoration and Consolidation of Imperial Power and External
Relations

• Ethiopia and Britain(British Era)

• In the post-1941 period, Britain recognized Ethiopia’s status as a sovereign state with mutual
diplomatic accreditation, but it continued to exercise the upper hand:-
• because of the role it played in the liberation of Ethiopia
from Fascist rule.
• Another reason for the preponderant(more powerful)
influence of Britain in Ethiopia’s domestic and international affairs
was the continuation of WWII (1939-45) which required
adequate provision for the Allied defense to win the war.
Accordingly, despite protests, the British considered Ethiopia Occupied
Enemy Territory Administration (OETA).
The 1942 and 1944 agreements that Emperor Haile-Selassie I was forced
to sign with the British show the ascendancy(dominance) of the latter.
The first Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement, January 31,
1942
On January 31, 1942 the first Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement was signed.
This agreement:-
 recognized Ethiopia as a sovereign state.
 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.
Additionally, British aircraft had exclusive aviation rights and
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.
With this and the help of the USA and friends of
Ethiopia such as Sylvia Pankhurst, Britain relaxed the
 The Second Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement,
December 1944.
By this agreement the emperor won some concessions from
Britain.
 this agreement lifted, the priority accorded to the British
minster over all other foreign diplomats in Ethiopia.
It allowed the Ethiopian government could now employ
non-British foreign personnel and;
it regained control over a section of the Addis Ababa-
Djibouti railway, a vital line of external communication.
 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 once they equip Ethiopia’s military force- a task
mandated to 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.
 But Britain did not, however, yield to Ethiopia’s territorial
demands of Eritrea & Ogaden to be united with Ethiopia
during the negotiation for the 1944 Agreement.
 Ethiopian Quest for Restoration of Eritrea &
Ogaden and British Reaction
 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”.
Similarly, the western and northern lowlands of Eritrea were intended by the
British to be part of Sudan.
Further, they 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
 In 1948, the British left parts of Ogaden, and in 1954, they withdrew
from the region. By the time the Emperor was raising the Ethiopian
flag in Addis Ababa on May 5, 1941, the people in Asmara were
holding a demonstration calling for the reunification of Eritrea with
Ethiopia. After the arrival, the British encouraged division among
Eritreans helped the formation of different political Parties.
Unionist Party:- 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. But the Commission did not come to unanimity over the
issue.
1. Guatemala and Pakistan, independence.
2. South Africa and Burma recommended- federation with
Ethiopia.
3. Norway favored- union with Ethiopia.
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 (forcefully united).
 American Era
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 because of the Tripartite (Br, Fr, Italy) domination
of the Ethiopian diplomatic scene until the early 1940s.
Following the Second World War, two super-powers, the
Soviet Union and the United States emerged.
In Ethiopia and the Horn, British pre-dominance in 1940s
was replaced by the dominance of the United States in the
1950s.
In his efforts to ensure his sovereign political authority
from British domination, to modernize his country and
consolidate his power, Haile-Selassie I turned towards the
United States as a powerful ally than Britain.
American interest in the region began to grow especially
after they acquired a communication base in Asmara
known as Radio Marina from the Italians.
It was later renamed Qagnew after the Ethiopian force that
fought on the side of the Americans in the Korean-War
(1950-53). As a communication base.
In 1943:-
-the Ethiopian vice Finance Minister, Yilma Deressa,
visited the US to request expertise to assist the
country’s development.
In May 1944:-
-In response, USA extended the Lend-Lease
Agreement with Ethiopia and sent a technical mission led
by Perry Fellows.
At the beginning of 1945:-
Emperor Haile-Selassie I and the American President,
Franklin D. Roosevelt, met in Egypt (Cairo) and discussed
recognition of an American Sinclair Company to prospect for
oil in Ogaden.
in the 1950s:-
-By granting a concession to the company, Ethiopia
sought to reassert its rights in the region as much as it was
eager to exploit a lucrative natural resource.
The renewed contact between the two countries was concretized with
the signing of two agreements in the 1950s.
In 1952:-
-the Point Four Agreement that enabled subsequent American
assistance in education and public health was signed.
In 1953:-
-the Ethio-US Treaty that granted a continued American use of the
Qagnew base in return for military assistance was signed.
These two agreements (1952 & 1953) in general but the latter in
particular defined the Ethio-American relationship in the following
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.
 The MAAG was to train 60,000 Ethiopian soldiers in three separate
divisions.
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.
In the period between 1946 and 1972, US military aid was over 180
million US Dollar.
Anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons, naval craft, infantry
weapons and some times even uniforms like field jackets were of
• Civil aviation, road transport, and education were other
spheres that the Americans took active part.
American Aid in the field of Civil aviation
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 war planes 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.
Between 1950 and 1952, the Imperial Board of
Telecommunication was established with the help of
International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT) organization.
 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 EAL’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.
 US AID 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.
 AID OF Other foreign countries
Other foreign countries with significant presence in Imperial Ethiopia
include :-
Sweden entrusted to advice the Air force and
 Norway entrusted to advice navy.
Germany and Israel trained and equipped the Police Force
the Swedes supported the Imperial Bodyguard and
the Harar Military Academy was entrusted to British trained Indians.
Italians:- in 1956, the Qoqa Dam was built with war reparations by
Italians; 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.
 Socio-Economic Developments

This period marked the low development of industrialization in the

country even well into the 20th century, agriculture remained the
leading economic sector
-in providing employment for about 99% of the population,
-generating about 70 % of the national GDP and
- 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, government 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.
It was only minority religious and occupational castes who
suffered from tenancy in the north while the tenant
population as percentage of total rural population in newly
incorporated regions varied from 37 percent in former
Sidama Governorate General to a staggering 73 percent in
Ilu Abba Bor, and 75 percent in Hararghe, whereas tenancy
in northern provinces averaged 11 percent.
 Comparative view of Tenancy(N VS )
tenant population as percentage in tenant population as percentage
Northern Ethiopia in South Ethiopia

It was only minority religious and It concerns almost entire

occupational castes who suffered populations except regime’s agents
from tenancy in the north and supports though varied from
place to place.
in northern provinces, it was It was 37 percent in former
averaged 11 percent. Sidama Governorate General

It was 73 percent in Ilu Abba Bor,

It was 75 percent in Hararghe,

 Other form of Exploitations
In addition to formal tributes, there were sundry(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.
Share crop tenancy arrangements in the country were so
onerous(heavy) 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
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 southern Shewa, the Setit-Humera
region on the Sudan border, and in the Awash Valley.
What were the effects of commercial agriculture?
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.
Other attempts of Gov’t to Improve Agrarian Productivity.
Furthermore, the government attempted to enhance the productivity
of small farmers through launching comprehensive agricultural
package programs.
It started at Oromia and Wolaita.
 - 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)
WADU:- was supported by the World Bank.
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.
Limitation of agricultural package programs:-
*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 Five Year Plan (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 Five Year Plan (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.
*Also a private bank, Addis Ababa Bank was
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(sides) of life: music, sports, cuisine (feeding
styles) & dress styles.
Was Reform brought Remarkable Change for
Majority Ethiopians?
Yet, much of Ethiopia remained traditional with a low
living standard and
 Ethiopia was one of the least developed country in
global terms.
While 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.
Moreover, 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
Consolidation of Autocracy
•The post-liberation period witnessed the climax of the
emperor’s power.
•As in the period before, at the center of post-1941 national
policies was the state’s enduring interest to curb the political
and economic bases of the power of regional lords in favor
of the monarch.
•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.
While primary schools had already been established prior
to 1935, secondary schools were opened in the post 1941
period.
 Secondary & Higher Education
The two most popular and prestigious secondary
schools in the Capital were :-
The Haile-Selassie I Secondary School, founded in
1943, and
the General Wingate School, established in 1946.
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),
the Public Health College in Gondar.
These various colleges were brought together to
form the Haile- Selassie I University in 1961.
which again was re-named Addis Ababa University
after the outbreak of the Revolution in 1974.
Personality Cult of Mao Vs Emperor Haile Selassie
The post-1941 political order was dominated by Haile-
Selassie that both the state and the country came to be
identified with the emperor.
 State means Haile Selassie & Haile Selasie means State.
(Legislative, Executive, Judiciary=Haile Selassie)
 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
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.
For example, out of the country’s total budget of ETB
38 million in 1944/5 fiscal year, nearly 11 million was
allocated for the Ministry of Interior of which security
absorbed almost 5 million and about 8 million went
for war.
-Figures show over 80 million allocation for Ministry
of Defense and nearly 60 million for Ministry of
Interior, out of about 400 million ETB in 1967.
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.
The traditional aristocracy, although made to enjoy
urban and rural property, had lost most of its
political privileges.
What were the Promotion Criterias of the Emperor?
 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 subservience to the monarch was
stated inexplicit terms.
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.
• Wolde Girogis was powerful and smart.
• He used his powers, at times, for political intrigues against
the other ministers.
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.
Wolde-Giorgis’ access to the emperor and the latter’s trust
in him made him so powerful.
Opposition to the Tsehafe Tezaz was organized by
Mokonen Habtewold, the Minister of Finance, who
finally had sacked him from the post in 1955.
In general, members of the royal family, leading nobility
and the Abun still were members of the crown council,
which was an advisory body to the emperor.
In 1959, the Emperor’s private cabinet was set up as a high-
level advisory body to the emperor and developed into
agency doing intelligence.
 1955 CONSTITUTION
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 Wolde- Yohannis and Tsehafe-Tizaz
Aklilu Habte-Wold were in the drafting committee of the
1955 revised constitution.
More than its predecessor (1931), 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
nullifying 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.s
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 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

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 were
opposed to the restoration of the emperor. Why?
*to the throne for fleeing the country when it needed him most
whereas others wished for a republican government.
* the privileges and rewards accorded to exiles and people who
served the colonial administration exacerbated the resentment
• The three patriots who opposed Emperor
Haile Sellassie after his return from exile
were:-
 Belay Zeleke,
Takele Wolde Hawaryat, and
Ras Abebe Aregay
 Dejazmach Belay Zeleke
One notable patriot who resented the fact that he was not given a stature
recognizing his contribution to the Resistance.
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.
• Bitweded Negash Bezabih
grandson of King Tekle Haimanot of Gojjam.
He had reached the rank of Vice-Minister and had been appointed
President of the Senate after liberation or before his conspiracy.
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 after being arrested during one of their clandestine
meetings.
 Blatta Takele Wolde- Hawaryat,(1941,1946,1969)
The most fierce and sustained opposition to the emperor came from
him,
he hatched (marked) 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.
Up on 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 1960s Coup D’Etat
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 Neway.
Garmame Neway
*attended Haile-Sellasie I Secondary School, and then;
*he received his B.A and M.A Degrees from Columbia University of
Wisconsin;
*At his University, he was also president of Ethiopian Students
Association;
*. Upon his return to Ethiopia, Garmame became the president of a
clandestine alumni (graduates) 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.
He oversaw the digging of new wells while
improving the old, set up clinics, schools etc.
 But his actions were not liked by the regime which
convinced Germame of the need for change.
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 while
Brigadier-General Tsige Dibu was to lead the Imperial
Bodyguard and the Police Force, and
 Colonel Workneh Gebeyehu was security chief.
• Why 1960 Coup d’etat failed?
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.
The regime made some concessions after the
failed coup attempt, but failed to address the
root causes that triggered the coup itself.
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 thereby giving the opposition
a broader dimension.
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.
It is not possible in the space of a brief essay such as this to
discuss the numerous peasant rebellions in the entire country.
But an effort will be made to canvas major eruptions in the
country with the intent of showing some of the deficiencies
of the system.
•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 and short-term factors caused the
eruption.
Peasants felt victimized by corruption and greed of the
Territorial Army unit stationed in the region and
 general administrative inefficiency that led to the shift net
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 whose
collection was problematic.
• This rebellion had the support of members of the nobility
who perceived their position to be endangered by the
expansion of central authority.

• The nobility took advantage of the popular discontent

against government officials and their militias and put
strong resistance against government forces thanks to the
able leadership of Blatta Haile-Mariam Reda.
Finally, the government’s retribution (revenge) against the
Raya-Azebo on allegation(contention) 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.
The dress rehearsal for the major confrontation took place
on January 11, 1942 where the imperial force was
defeated and humiliated by Raya-Azebo peasants.
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.
October 14, 1943, soon small towns around
Mekelle like Qwiha and Enda-Iyyasus, and
Meqelle itself 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.
How the government managed the Rebellion?
In October 1943, the imperial army under the command of
Abebe Aregay with the support of the British Royal Air
Force crushed the rebellion.
Measurements of Imperial Government
The government exiled or imprisoned the leaders of the revolt.
 The emperor took reprisals (revenges) against peasants suspected of
supporting the Woyane.
Meanwhile, the imperial regime reversed the 1942 land decree,
the Wejjerat and Raya-Azebo lost their autonomous status, and
 Raya- Azebo was made part of Wollo.
 The Yejju Rebellion
Overt dissidence (rebellion) of Yejju peasants in Wollo
during Haile-Selassie’s rule occurred three times (1948,
1950s & 1970).
-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, Karra- Qore etc
led by prominent figures like Ali Dullatti
(Abba Jabbi).
In 1970, peasants revolted against the introduction
of mechanized agriculture that encroached on
pasture land 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
Causes of the Rebellion
• It was caused by the government’s attempt to
implement new tax on agricultural produce, which the
parliament adopted in November 1967.
Antecedent of the 1968 Rebellion.
• This rebellion was not, however, without its
antecedents(past history).
• The nobles of Gojjam refused to accept any limitation
upon the prevailing land tenure system and
successfully battled the regime over this issue.
Although the expansion of central authority by appointed
officials and the development of infrastructural works
required a parallel increase in tax payments, it was fiercely
resisted by the local gentry.
 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 of the Rebellions
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.
What was the Immediate cause Sparked 1968 Rebellion?
an attempt was made to introduce the new agricultural
tax;
this finally sparked the 1968 uprising led by veterans of
the resistance period (1935-1941), who had taken titles for
themselves such as leul and fitawrari.
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.
 Taxation

1942 another proclamation was issued which established a

uniform rate of taxation to be paid in official currency.
To this effect, land was classified into three categories: -
- cultivated, (lem)
- semi-cultivated ( Lem-taf) and
-uncultivated (taf)
 In 1947 education tax had been introduced.
In 1959 a health tax was introduced.
These act were, imposed on land.
 The Gumuz Rebellion
Came to be known as Abba Tone, because it named after
one of its famous leaders, Abba Tone.
The Gumuz staged major armed rebellion against the
regime of Emperor Haile-Selassie in 1952/3.
 Abba Tone served the imperial regime with a position of
Abba Qoro (head /chief of a sub- district)
He was responsible for:-
-collection of taxes,
- maintenance of law and order
- mobilization of the people for public works in time of
peace
What were Its root causes?
 Abba Tone armed uprising had its roots in administrative
injustice(mal-administration), land and taxation policies
(heavy taxation) of the imperial regime.
Abba Tone sided with the discontented local people.
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.
Finally, an open clash broke out between the policemen
and the Gumuz when tax collectors with the backing of the
police force attempted to force the people pay land taxes.
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.
Abba Tone and his followers were outgunned
and outnumbered and thus, the government
was able to put down the uprising.
Abba Tone was captured and later released
on pardon.
The Gedeo Peasant Rebellion(Michille)

the major source of peasant discontent in Gedeo was land

alienation.
The dispossession of land from the indigenous peasantry
was unabated (relentless) 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(striving) for coffee farms.
The major contender in this regard was the emperor’s daughter
Princess Tenagneworq.
This coupled with the denigration (disparagement) of their
culture exacerbated Gedeo’s resentment against the system.
The outbreak of Struggle
Petitions and appeals to higher authorities to curb the continued land
alienation proved futile.
The 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

It lasted from 1963 to 1970, presented the most serious challenge to the
Ethiopian government.
causes (Qelad system, high tax, religious and ethnic antagonism,
political and cultural domination…)
It has multifaceted causes.
the introduction of the qalad that initiated land measurement in 1951
degraded peasants into tenancy on their own land.
 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 Outbreak of Revolt
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.
 it quickly spread to Wabe, Dallo and Ganale under the
able leadership of Waqo Gutu and others.
In Gola-Abbadi forest, rebels went to the extent of
attacking government forces.
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.
Mecha-Tulama movement
It was formed in January 1963, in the form of welfare
association called Mecha-Tulama Welfare Association
(MTWA).
It 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 Colonel
Alemu Qitessa and Colonel Qedida Guremessa, Lieutenant
Mamo Mezemir, Beqele Nedhi, and Haile-Mariam
Gemeda.
In the next two years, the association attracted large
number of Oromo elites, including such high-ranking
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 Gindeberet, Dandi, Arsi (Dera and Iteyya), etc.
The association raised contentious (quarrelsome) 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.
The regime was alarmed by the activities of the association and
determined to curb the movement before it crystallized into an
organized liberation front.
Meanwhile, leaders of the association plotted to assassinate the
emperor and change the regime on the anniversary of his coronation
in November 1966, but the plot was foiled by security forces.
This coupled with a bombing incident in one of the cinemas at the
capital in which the association was implicated led the government to
move swiftly and violently to ban the association’s activities.
Mecha-Tulama was dissolved in 1967 following the imprisonment
and killing of its prominent leaders such as Mamo Mezemir and
Haile-Mariam Gemeda by the regime’s forces.
 Brigadier General Taddese Birru was captured while retreating to
the bush and eventually sentenced to death.
-Later the death sentence was commuted to life
imprisonment and he was exiled to Gelemso where
he stayed until the outbreak of the 1974 revolution. In
1975 the Derg executed Tadesse on
allegation (charge) of instigating armed struggle.
The brutal suppression of the Mecha-Tulama Association,
however, did not end the struggle of the Oromo for justice,
equality and liberty.
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 Front maintained contact with student circles and
other opposition figures in and outside Addis Ababa.
The aim was to coordinate local resistance towards a
common goal of liberation, although thwarted (frustrated)
by the regime’s security forces.
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 (1974), 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.
 Accordingly, the armed struggle which set off in the eastern part of
Ethiopia extended to other Oromo inhabited areas such as Arsi and
Wallagga.
Eritrean Liberation Movement (ELM)
 the biggest military challenge to the imperial regime however,
came from Eritrea. Eritrea was integrated into the Ethiopian empire
after independence from Italy.
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 liberation
movements emerged from the ELF.
1) The Popular Liberation Forces (PLF)
- It was formed in the Red Sea area led by
Osman Salah Sabbe
2) The Salfi Natsenet Eritrea (Front for
Eritrean Independence).
- It was emerged under the leadership of Isayas
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 regime was not only challenged in the provinces.

 In fact, 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 in the following year demanding
“Land to the Tiller, 1965.”
Factors that contributed to sharpening the students’
ideology include:
the 1960 coup,
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
Side by side with the radicalization of the movement, students
formed:- the University College Union (UCU) to coordinate
their activities in 1962
the National Union of Ethiopian University Students
(NUEUS) in 1963.
• In 1965,the Main Campus Student Union (MCSU) and in
1968 the University Student Union of Addis Ababa (USUAA)
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 and the Ethiopian Students Union in
Europe (ESUE) with its paper Tateq (Gird yourself) in the
USA and Europe.
• ESUNA and ESUE gave ideological support to MCSU and
What were the major issues students raised?
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,
 at other times they expressed their solidarity with the
people of Vietnam.
In the national arena, students protested against Shola
Destitute Concentration Relief Camp and the holding of
expatriate sponsored fashion show at the university campus
and educational reform(Educational Sector Review) in
-In 1969, students demanded the respect of the rights of nations
and nationalities,
What was the reaction of the government?
 But 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 large number of students to
the torrid Gibe river valley in 1972. Meanwhile, 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 and yet covered-up
famine especially in Wollo all prepared a fertile ground for a
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
(Debela Dinsa) who was sent to pacify the situation.
-The soldiers made the commander eat their food and drink their water
so that he could witness the kind of life they were living.
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.
The various units then set up a coordinating committee which became
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.
The protesters attacked vehicles particularly buses, and luxury
private automobiles.
 The Reaction of Imperial Government and the Protesters.
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.
Although Endalkachew seemed to gain the support of a group of
officers within the army, promised to introduce reforms, including
constitutional reform and included highly educated and
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.
Measures of Soldiers Committee
In the meantime, the soldiers, through their various committees, were
also taking their own measures.
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 1974, the Committee, perhaps with involvement of
Endalkachew Mekonin, arrested Aklilu Habte Wold and hundreds
of other high-ranking officials of the regime.
The Minister of Defense, Lt. General Abiy Abebe, who had
noticed the growing power of the Committee as well as series of
demonstrations and strikes, 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.
Not only did they stage their own demonstrations
against the cabinet but they also encouraged other
sectors of society to join the revolutionary tide.
Nevertheless, the students were less organized to
achieve their goals and eventually, the soldiers
hijacked the struggle.
The Formation of the Derg= Committee
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:
of the Armed Forces, the Police and the Territorial Army.
However, officers above the rank of major were suspected
of supporting the old regime and therefore were not included.
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, 1974, 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”), (“Without
any bloodshed”). “Yaleminim Dem”
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 12 September 1975, Emperor Haile-Selassie I
was deposed and detained at the Fourth Division
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 7,1975, 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 23 November,1975, 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 Haile- Mariam, 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
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 Co- operation 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,
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
(PA), which were to be implemented with the cooperation of the zemach
(campaign).
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
There was also “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.
“White Terror” Vs “Red Terror”
The kebele became battleground when the struggle.
The Derg used peasant associations to control the countryside
and the urban dwellers’ associations (kebele) to control the
towns.
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.
-It 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 one-time 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.
 The onset of Civil War
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 Haile- Mariam 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 (let lose) 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.
The Derg and the Somalia Aggression
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.
The Shift of Ethiopian Relation from West to East
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
• 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 Defection of Meison against Derg
o 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.
o The other three member organizations Ech’at, Wezlig, and Malerid were
successively expelled from Emaledeh and their leaders and members
executed or detained.
o It was only Mengistu’s Seded that remained as the authentic Marxist-
Leninist organization in the country.
o The strategy of merging political organizations for party formation was then
replaced by recruitment of individuals loyal to Mengistu Haile-Mariam.
o In December 1979, the Commission for Organizing the Party of the Working
People of Ethiopia (COPWE) was established with this motive.
o In September 1984, the Workers’ Party of Ethiopia (WPE) 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-
 Re-structuring of Mass Organizations
In order for the government to have a more direct societal control, there
was the need for re-structuring 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 re- named
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
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 (1987), the Derg officially
ceased to exist.
A typically Communist constitution already on its way,
Colonel Mengistu became President of People’s
Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (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.
 The Decline and Fall of Derg
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 Eritran Liberation
Front (EPLF ) and the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
Famine and Environmental Degradation
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 (environmental cause; drought) 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
 External Challenges and Derg
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
 The Military Failure of Derg
i)The Derg Vs EPLF
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
 ii)The Derg Vs TPLP
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 Tigrayan University Students’ Association 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 self-
determination 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
 The Derg and Its Internal Dissatisfaction among Parties
Meanwhile, the prevalent accumulated dissatisfaction
with Mengistu’s regime and the exhausting war in the
north had been high especially in the higher
echelons(ranks) 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 March of TPLF to AA
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 of EPRDF 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) & 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.
The Fled of Mengistu & the total Victory of TPLF
oOn 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.
oIn London, the government delegation could not bargain anymore
after the flight of the president.
oEPLF forces entered Asmara and Assab and announced the de
facto independence of Eritrea.
oThe PDRE Vice President, Lt. General Tesfaye Gebre-Kidan
appealed for an end to the civil war on May 23, 1991.
oPrime 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.
oIn the early hours of May 28, EPRDF, forces triumphantly
 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
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.
 EPLF & Eritrean Independence

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.

END OF CHAPTER 7
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