The Downfall of Mengistu and his Exile to Zimbabwe

Mengistu Haile Mariam, the army colonel who became a hard-line Marxist was little known to the outside world when he led a group of army officers, known as the Derg, in the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie in September 1974. Three years later, in 1977, Mengistu cemented his authority when he survived a gun-battle in which he allegedly took a revolver and shot to death five top political opponents. This happened in the former emperor’s palace…. Initially, Mengistu made profound social and economic changes in Ethiopia, transforming its highly feudal society into a socialist state. The estates of the landowning class were seized, and the land was redistributed to peasants. ********************************************************************** Africa A Modern History, Guy Arnold The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Author(s): Riccardo Orizio and Avril Bardoni, Source: Transition , 2001, No. 89 (2001), pp. 20-43 ETHIOPIA ON THE VERGE OF DISASTER, Author(s): David A. Korn, Sour