lieutenant Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam Interview

A 2001 Interview with Former President, Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam, from his exile in Zimbabwe.

Emerging through violence as preeminent military ruler by 1977, he sought Soviet aid, established a socialist People's Republic and fought off Somali incursions and Eritrean rebels. During much of this period, the country was led by the Mengistu-allied Workers' Party of Ethiopia.

Mengistu’s seventeen years in power were witness to numerous human rights violations: the murder of around sixty leading figures in the Emperor’s inner circle in 1974, the execution of hundreds of young people just before the first of May festivities in 1975 and 1976, the “Red Terror” campaign of the years 1977-1979 during which thousands of opponents to the regime were murdered and the forced displacement of thousands of farmers in the eighties.

Here he defends his 17-year rule in a rare interview. Speaking from Zimbabwe where he is in exile, syas that his regime had come to power by popular revolution.

Col. Mengistu's interview Part 1

Col. Mengistu's interview Part 2

Col. Mengistu's interview Part 3

Col. Mengistu's interview Part 4

Final Part of Col. Mengistu's interview


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