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History of the Red Terror (Ethiopia)

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Women statue in front of the "Red Terror" Martyrs' Memorial Museum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The History of the Red Terror refers to a political repression that was launched by the military junta Derg in Ethiopia, from 1976 to 1978. It resulted in more than 10,000 deaths.

Terminology

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The government officially uses the phrase "Red Terror" to refer to the events.[1][2]

Urban opposition

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The Haile Selassie government was heavily criticized during the 1960s and early 1970s among the educated, especially by university students, who supported left-wing philosophies and held a deep resentment towards their living and studying conditions, as well as the insufficient amount of career opportunities that they were presented with after graduating. This led to hostile methods to overthrow the government.[3]

Students' songs praised Ho Chi Minh and Che Guevara, and a popular slogan was "Through Bale not Bole", referring to an expectation of revolution through rural insurgency (as in Bale) and not through returning exiles (who arrive in Addis Ababa through Bole International Airport).[4][1] Soon after, the opposition altered to radical elements and the formation of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP) and All-Ethiopia Socialist Movement (known by Amharic acronym as MEISON). Those groups had tactical difference over the status of Eritrea, but their political goal was relatively a brand of Marxism.[5][6] By 1976, the big difference was that MEISON supported the military government to achieve communism whereas EPRDF did not.[5][7]

In mid-1976, in response to government crackdowns to student members opposition, the EPRP began to assassinate senior Derg members and its client institution and was suspected for attempting a coup d'état against the government in July 1976.[8][9] 21 coup plotters were executed and the arrest of EPRP began in August.[1] On 23 September, the first of nine plotters was listed on attempted assassination of Mengistu Haile Mariam.[10] On 2 October, the EPRP assassinated Fikre Merid, a leading MEISON and government cadre.[11] In the next two months, ten senior government officials and 15 members of the secret service were killed and the public assassination continued through 1977.[12]

First wave

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The killing of people suspected to EPRP began in September 1976 where 21 people were executed on 21 October and the deaths of further 17 were announced on 18 November.[13] It was until the execution of General Tafari Benti by Mengistu in February 1977, culminating in the official declaration of the Red Terror and mass killings began then.[14] Mengistu labelled the EPRP's sporadic campaign of the assassination the "White Terror" and Lt Col Atnafu Abate promised "for every revolutionary killed, a thousand counter-revolutionaries executed".[15][16] The promise was not a genuine commitment in this manner after Atnafu organized "Defense of the Revolution Squads", distributing arms to Addis Ababa kebele members who were considered to be loyal. On 17 April 1977, Mengistu delivered a speech at Meskel Square that threatened the people against "enemies of the revolution" and smashed three bottles filled with blood-like liquid to signify the impending destruction of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism.[17]

On 26 February, 44 prisoners were taken outside Addis Ababa and executed.[18] On 2 March 1977, several people were executed by the government for distributing EPRP literature during a pro-government demonstration.[1] May Day became a popular revolutionary movement that supported EPRP plans to stage large rallies.[19] On the night of 29 April, the Defense Squads arrived in the capital and together with local kebele officials, began a massacre of suspected EPRP supporters.[20]

On 7–8 May, a daytime curfew was ordered and house-to-house searches were conducted with thousands being detained by Defense Squads and soldiers. On 17 May, the Secretary-General of Swedish Save the Children Fund stated that "one thousand children have been massacred in Addis Ababa and their bodies, lying in the streets, are ravaged by roving hyenas."[21][22] He also estimated that 100-500 young people —some of young as 12—were killed every night. On 4–5 June, about 400 students were killed. In total, 2500 were killed in the first phase of the terror.[2]

Second and third waves

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Initially, EPRF penetrated through Addis Ababa by the first phase, but retreated to a rural base in Tigray.[23] Haile Fida, the leader of MEISON and confidante and ideologue of Mengistu, was detained in August 1977.[24] After spending several months in prison, he disappeared whilst many MEISON cadres were arrested shortly afterwards.[25][12]

In October, the second phase of the terror began which caused an estimated 3,000–4,000 deaths.[14] The cause of the massacres largely fell to a civil war between MEISON and the remnants of the EPRP.[26] By the end of 1977, MEISON members had been thoroughly purged from the ranks of government and the higher offices of the kebeles.[16] However many remained at the lower level, especially in the provinces.

The third wave took place in December 1977 and February 1978 where 300 people were killed on the night of 16 December.[12] On 21 December, Defense Squads attacked a mosque with machine guns. By the end of the year, Amnesty International estimated that 30,000 political prisoners were held in central prisons and detention centers of the 291 kebeles of Addis Ababa. Perhaps 5,000 were killed in Addis Ababa in these months, and more in provincial towns.[4]

Campaign against the merchants

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Traders and shopkeepers significantly were victims of the massacre. By 1975, the grain traders were targeted by the Derg while a campaign against merchants—like other landlord counterparts—were not part of the Red Terror.[27]

As the political radical leaning of the Derg become clearer, merchants were blamed for causing famines of 1972–74 and seen as class enemies of the revolution. Many large merchants tended to join conservative parties like the Ethiopian Democratic Union (EDU), which was militarily active in Tigray and Gondar.[2]

In 1973, 90% of all marketed grain was sold through an estimated 20,000–30,000 grain merchants. A small minority of 25 dominated the supply to Addis Ababa, owning a storage capacity of 100,000 tonnes between them. The latter group was certainly able to overcome shortages in the city, though in 1973 their chief contribution to the famine was exporting grain from famine-stricken Wollo to more prosperous Addis Ababa, where food prices increased by 20% during the scarcity. The Special Penal Code of November 1974 also prohibited economic actions in the country, which constituted as an attack to the state itself. Article 27 drafted in a vague manner and the Special Court Martial did the same in draconian way, which completely prohibited any economic activities that were deemed "illegal".[2]

In provinces

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While most detentions and execution occurred in Addis Ababa, there were also several incidents of massacres throughout the country, especially in 1978. Cities such as Asmara, Gondar, Bahir Dar and Jimma endured severely.[1][2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Evil Days: 30 Years Of War And Famine In Ethiopia (PDF). Africa Watch. September 1991. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e "6. The Red Terror" (PDF). Evil Days: 30 Years Of War And Famine In Ethiopia. Africa Watch. September 1991. pp. 101–110. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  3. ^ Kebede, Messay (2006). "The Roots and Fallouts of Haile Selassie's Educational Policy" (PDF). University of Dayton. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  4. ^ a b de Waal, Alexander (1991). Evil Days: Thirty Years of War and Famine in Ethiopia. Human Rights Watch. p. 101. ISBN 978-1-56432-038-4.
  5. ^ a b Gilkes, Patrick (June 1982). "Building Ethiopia's Revolutionary Party". MERIP. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  6. ^ Seyoum, Ayenew Mammo (2021). "The Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Party (E.P.R.P.) - Formation, Structure and Program". World Research of Political Science Journal. 4 (2): 1–10. doi:10.18576/WRPSJ/040201 (inactive 1 November 2024). Retrieved 19 August 2022.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link)
  7. ^ Molyneux, Maxine & Halliday, Fred (15 June 1982). "Ethiopia's Revolution from Above". MERIP. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  8. ^ "Ethiopia - Socialist Ethiopia (1974–91)". Britannica.com. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  9. ^ Ethiopia: Ethnic Federalism and Its Discontents (PDF) (Report). International Crisis Group. 4 September 2009. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  10. ^ "27 More Dissidents Executed In Ethiopia". The New York Times. 19 November 1976. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  11. ^ Ottaway, Marina (1978). "Democracy and New Democracy: The Ideological Debate in the Ethiopian Revolution". African Studies Review. 21 (1): 19–31. doi:10.2307/523761. ISSN 0002-0206. JSTOR 523761. S2CID 143119991.
  12. ^ a b c de Waal, Alexander (1991). Evil Days: Thirty Years of War and Famine in Ethiopia. Human Rights Watch. p. 101. ISBN 978-1-56432-038-4.
  13. ^ World Peace Foundation (7 August 2015). "Ethiopia: Red Terror and Famine". Mass Atrocity Endings. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  14. ^ a b United States Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (28 December 1999). "Ethiopia: Background Information on the Mengistu Regime during the Red Terror". Refworld (UNHCR). Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  15. ^ "The Mengistu Regime and Its Impact". Ethopia. Library of Congress Country Studies. 1991. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  16. ^ a b "6. The Red Terror - The Urban Opposition". Evil Days: 30 Years Of War And Famine In Ethiopia. Africa Watch. September 1991. p. 102. Retrieved 19 August 2022 – via 1library.net.
  17. ^ Tiruneh, Andargachew (June 1990). The Ethiopian Revolution (1974 to 1984) (PDF) (Ph.D). London School of Economics. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  18. ^ Campbell, Ian (July 2017). "9. Roman Justice". The Addis Ababa Massacre: Italy's National Shame. Hurst. pp. 239–278. ISBN 978-1-84904-692-3. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  19. ^ Gupta, Vijay (1978). "The Ethiopian Revolution: Causes and Results". India Quarterly. 34 (2): 158–174. doi:10.1177/097492847803400203. ISSN 0974-9284. JSTOR 45071379. S2CID 150699038.
  20. ^ "6. The Red Terror - The Urban Opposition". Evil Days: 30 Years Of War And Famine In Ethiopia. Africa Watch. September 1991. p. 103. Retrieved 19 August 2022 – via 1library.net.
  21. ^ Horst, Ian Scott (2020). Like Ho Chi Minh! Like Che Guevara!: The Revolutionary Left in Ethiopia, 1969-1979. Paris: Foreign Languages Press. p. 336. ISBN 978-2-491182-27-4. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  22. ^ Barker, Bill (31 October 1981). "In defense of human rights". The Bowdoin Orient. p. 2.
  23. ^ Young, John (September 1994). Peasants and revolution in Ethiopia : Tigray 1975-1989 (PDF) (Ph.D.). Simon Fraser University. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  24. ^ Ottaway, Marina (1978). "Democracy and New Democracy: The Ideological Debate in the Ethiopian Revolution". African Studies Review. 21 (1): 19–31. doi:10.2307/523761. ISSN 0002-0206. JSTOR 523761. S2CID 143119991.
  25. ^ Wiebel, Jacob (2014). Revolutionary Terror Campaigns in Addis Ababa, 1976-1978 (Ph.D.). St Cross College, Oxford. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  26. ^ "The Red Terror in Ethiopia". 19 August 2022. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.882.4645.
  27. ^ Wells, Karen (1998). International and Domestic Sources of State Stability and Regime Collapse: Merchant Capital in Ethiopia, 1974-1995 (PDF) (PhD). London School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
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