Mengistu Haile Mariam: End of dictatorship
By IBRAHIM GARBA GWARZO
E-mail ibraheemgarba@yahoo.com
MEngistu Haile Mariam, a former Ethiopian ruler, was recently convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide charges by a court in Addis Ababa. But for his age, Mariam would have bagged the death sentence which many persons believe would have been commensurate with the atrocities he committed while in office. Most of the defendants in the case, who were also key officers in his regime, were sentenced along with him.
Mariam was president of Ethiopia between 1977 and 1991, after the death of Emperor Haile Selassie. His regime led by the then ruling Allied Workers Party of Ethiopia was characterised by gross human rights abuses and several killings of political opponents. His government fell in 1991 and he fled to Zimbabwe on exile. While in Zimbabwe, several attempts were made by the Ethiopian government for his extradition without success. After 12 years of trial in abstentia, he was found guilty and sentenced accordingly. Analysts have put the number of deaths in his 14 year regime at 1.5 million. These people were tortured, detained and killed by his henchmen from his Derge.
However, an intriguing discovery was the refusal of Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe, to extradite the deposed Ethiopian leader to face justice in his home country. And the reason as it was alleged was due to the enormous support rendered by Mengistu’s regime in Zimbabwe’s fight for independence from white Rhodesian rule in 1980.
William Nhara, Zimbabwe’s spokesman narrates; “As a comrade of our struggle, Comrade Mengistu and his government played a key and commendable role during our struggle for independence and no one can dispute that … Comrade Mengistu asked for asylum and he was granted that asylum. That position will not change.”
At the height of his dictatorial regime in 1991, EPRDF forces moved to Addis Ababa and forced Mengistu, his family and members of the Derg to flee to Zimbabwe. The former Ethiopian ruler had removed Emperor Selassie whose regime suffered credibility question and lost the confidence of the people of that country as a result of famine that besiged Wollo province of the nation. Before his overthrow Selassie’s regime suffered bouts of protest by the Derg, students and workers nationwide. His regime was eventually brought down in the face of harsh economic stress caused by the 1973 OPEC oil embargo.
According to a university don, “Emperor Haile Selassie’s regime was marked by isolated cases of brutality, nevertheless, he was termed the symbol of Ethiopian unity because of his high level of patriotism. Mengistu, on the other hand, was a dictator whose regime grossly abused human rights. His regime also engaged Somalia in a bloody war which left Ethiopia in an impoverished state.”
Between 1977 and 1991, Ethiopia ,under the government of Mengistu witnessed several civil conflicts and armed insurrections against his administration. There were guerilla attacks by the then anti Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP). And the EPRP’s campaigns against the Derg and its MEISON collaborators escalated and resulted in the bombings of public buildings and assassination of MEISON members as well as public officials. Counter terrorist attacks by the Derg led to a fratricidal chaos. And as one event led to the other an estimated 5,000 persons were killed.
Some analysts attributed Mengistu’s autocratic tendencies to his affinity with the then Soviet Union. He embarced the Marxism – Leninism philosophy, which was popular among many third world countries at that time. In 1980, Ethiopia, under Mengistu’s regime adopted a constitution modelled after that of the Soviet Union and saw the establishment of the Marxist – Leninist Workers Party of Ethiopia (WPE). During the period all companies owned by foreigners were nationalised without compensation in an effort to redistribute the country’s wealth. On September 10, 1987, Mengistu became a civilian president under a new constitution, and the country was renamed the People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
Political analysts have concluded that what Ethiopia is suffering today is as a result of misrule by the Mengistu regime. The nation had hardly recovered from the great drought and famine that befell it in the early 1980s. According to Dr. F.I. Minimah, a senior lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, University of Port Harcourt, “Mengistu is the worst ruler Ethiopia has ever produced. He was in a position to tackle the twin problem of famine and drought. This is because as a socialist regime all the nation’s resources concentrated in the hands of the government. Rather than face those problems he used his nation’s resources to build what many people considered the largest army in all of sub-Saharan African, and a formidable airforce and navy as well.”
The African continent has continued to record a plethora of tyrants and dictators. These dictators have plunged their people into mass suffering and dejection. In Sudan, for instance, there are obvious indications that President Omar al-Bashar may be made to face justice when he leaves office because of gross violations of human rights. A recent United Nations report has indicted him for his alleged involvement in the killing of civilians in Darfur. His government has also been opposed to the deployment of UN troops in the Darfur region.
In Uganda, the leader of the Lord Resistance Army (LRA), Joseph Kony, has not ceased from killing innocent civilians in spite of several peace moves by President Yoweri Museveni’s government to stop him from his dastardly act. Several killings and organised crimes have also been reported in Somalia. The conviction of Mengistu has confirmed the fact that perpetrators of genocide will ultimately have a date with history when nemesis shall catch up with them. But the question is, will other tyrants in Africa learn any lesson from Mengistu’s conviction? Only time will tell.
Ibrahim is a journalist based in Kano.