Mengistu Haile Mariam: The Profile of a Dictator
By Paulos Milkias, Ethiopian Review, February 1994
… continued from page 9
It was immediately known that neither Princess Tenagne Worq nor Ras Emeru had actually seen the body of the Emperor let alone attending the private funeral ceremony mentioned in the Derg press. And when Doctor Asrat Woldeyes, who was the Emperor’s physician, saw a reference to his unavailability, he was furious because he was still in call in Addis Abeba and could have been reached if the Derg wanted.
It has now been ascertained with eye witness account provided by the Emperor’s valet, that the Neguse Negest was actually cold bloodily asphisciated with ether and murdered. In attendance the night of his death were the two strong men of the Derg, Mengistu Haile Mariam and Atnafu Abate. The body of the Emperor was finally exhumed in 1992.
As was usual with whatever the Mengistu regime did, the affair surrounding the secret burial of the Emperor’s body was profoundly bizarre. Following tips from an engineer who unknowingly dug the grave and was subsequently sent to jail for eight years to keep him silent, Haile Selassie’s remains were located directly under the office of Mengistu Haile Mariam. The dictator used this precise spot to preside over the affairs of his regime for more than a decade and a half. The body, tied with rope and devoid of coffin or even clothing was unceremoniously hurled into a pit dug 10 feet deep?
Was Mengistu afraid of the Emperor even in death? Why keep a body under an office he used everyday?
Escape Through the Back Door
Dictator Mengistu’s real nature was exposed in the spring of 1991. As the opposition forces, the EPRDF and their allies, the EPLF, advanced towards the capital city of Addis Abeba, literally with little resistance from the Ethiopian armed forces whose head was already cut off by Mengistu when he slaughtered scores of Generals and Colonels, the self styled President of Ethiopia, who was formerly comparing himself to the heroic Emperor Tewodros, had become more and more of a recluse. His attention had turned to plotting a hoax for an
elaborate escape for himself and his family out of the country. He was rarely seen except when he had to make major public pronouncements at the meetings of the Shengo and only a close coterie of his ministers could obtain an audience with him.
At one time, the acting Prime Minister, Hailu Yemenu, openly complained that he did not have enough audience with the President who appointed him. To appease this official, and mislead those who were attempting to figure out what he was secretly plotting, Mengistu instructed the Deputy President, Tesfaye Gebre Kidan, to summon the meeting of the Council of Ministers. At this meeting, he took the podium and went into a verbal charade, accusing the generals in command of betrayal, treason and cowardice in not checking the advance of the “Woyane” forces. He also told the ministers that he had enough proof that many of these generals had looted the property of the armed forces under the guise of “Woyane” or “Shabiya” expropriation. Their corruption, he said, amounted to going into a bank and coming out with a Samsonite suitcase full of money. Interestingly, many of the generals he was castigating happened to be his own loyal soldiers raised through the ranks at incredible speed to replace the proficient officers in command that he slaughtered for personal vendetta during the previous few years.
To quell the fear of “Woyane’s” invasion of Gojam province, which was a prelude to the fall of Addis Abeba, he stated that this would be a blessing in disguise because “not a single bandit will be able to escape because we are going to annihilate them!” At this point, his constantly shifting eyes bright with messianic intensity and his voice raised to a high crescendo. He told his audience:
I believe in full mobilization… Now, hundreds of thousands of armed people will swiftly confront the enemy which resembles an invading army of locusts and is destined to be wiped out once and for all!”
After this charged statement, he asked a rhetorical question: “Any body who disagrees?” He banged the table and moved his eyes from left to right and then from right to left to see if anybody dissented. What followed was an applause but one could easily see the fear on the faces of the ministers who knew that the objective situations indicate otherwise.
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