COLLEGE OF COMMON COURSE

DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT AND AGRICULTURAL

EXTENSION,

GROUP ASSIGNMENT QUESTIONS FOR THE COURSE HISTORY OF ETHIOPIA AND THE HORN

(Hist.1012)

Group name. I'd

Getachew workie................1200611

Aschalew birhanu................1200

Sinidu ..................1200

Hiwot bialfew. .......................1200

Abel kibret. ........................1200085

1. Why did the external force of Portuguese and ottoman turkey involve in the
domestic affairs of the horn of Africa in the sixteenth century?

After the voyages of Vasco da Gama, a powerful Portuguese Navy took control of

the Indian Ocean in the early 16th century. It threatened the coastal cities of
the Arabian Peninsula and India. The headquarters of the Portuguese was Goa, a
city

Competition for supremacy over the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean between
Portugal and the Ottoman. In fact, after the Ottoman domination in the Red Sea,
the Turco-Portuguese rivalry began. Selim entered into negotiations with Muzaffar
Shah II of Gujarat, (a sultanate in northwest India), about a possible joint strike
against the Portuguese in Goa. However Selim died in 1520.

In 1525, during the reign of Suleiman I (Selim's son), Selman Reis, a former

corsair, was appointed as the admiral of a small Ottoman fleet in the Red Sea
which was tasked with defending Ottoman coastal towns against Portuguese
attacks. In 1534, Suleiman annexed most of Iraq and by 1538 the Ottomans had
reached Basra on the Persian Gulf. The Ottoman Empire still faced the problem
of Portuguese controlled coasts. Most coastal towns on the Arabian Peninsula were
either Portuguese ports or Portuguese vassals.

Another reason for Turco-Portugal rivalry was economic. In the 15th century, the
main trade routes from the Far East to Europe, the so-called spice route, was via
the Red Sea and Egypt. But after Africa was circumnavigated the trade income was
decreasing. While the Ottoman Empire was a major sea power in
the Mediterranean, it was not possible to transfer the Ottoman Navy to the Red
Sea. So a new fleet was built in Suez and named the "Indian fleet". The apparent
reason of the expeditions in the Indian Ocean, nonetheless, was an invitation from
India.

This war took place upon the backdrop of the Ethiopian–Adal War. Ethiopia had
been invaded in 1529 by the Ottoman Empire and local allies. Portuguese help,
which was first requested by Emperor Dawit II in 1520, finally arrived
in Massawa during the reign of Emperor Galawdewos. The force was led
by Cristóvão da Gama (second son of Vasco da Gama) and included 400
musketeers, several breech-loading field guns, and a few Portuguese cavalrymen as
well as a number of artisans and other non-combatants.

The Ottoman-Portuguese conflicts (1538 to 1559) were a period of conflict during the Ottoman–
Portuguese confrontations and series of armed military.

The ambition of European powers also helped to hasten the Ottoman Empire's demise, explains
Eugene Rogan, director of the Middle East Centre at St. Antony's College, Oxford. Russia and
Austria both supported rebellious nationalists in the Balkans to further their own influence.

At its peak in the 1500s, the Ottoman Empire was one of the biggest military and
economic powers in the world, controlling an expanse that included not just its base in
Asia Minor but also much of southeastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
The empire controlled territory that stretched from the Danube to the Nile, with a
powerful military, lucrative commerce, and impressive achievements in fields ranging
from architecture to astronomy.

But it didn’t last. Though the Ottoman Empire persisted for 600 years, it succumbed to
what most historians describe as a long, slow decline, despite efforts to modernize.
Finally, after fighting on the side of Germany in  World War I and suffering defeat, the
empire was dismantled by treaty and came to an end in 1922, when the last Ottoman
Sultan, Mehmed VI, was deposed and left the capital of Constantinople (now  Istanbul)
in a British warship. From Ottoman empire’s remains arose the modern nation
of Turkey.

What caused the once awe-inspiring Ottoman Empire collapse? Historians aren’t in
complete agreement, but below are some factors.

It was too agrarian. 

While the industrial revolution swept through Europe in the 1700s and 1800s, the
Ottoman economy remained dependent upon farming. The empire lacked the factories
and mills to keep up with Great Britain, France and even Russia, according to Michael
A. Reynolds, an associate professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University.
As a result, the empire’s economic growth was weak, and what agricultural surplus it
generated went to pay loans to European creditors. When it came time to fight
in World War I, the Ottoman Empire didn’t have the industrial might to produce heavy
weaponry, munitions and iron and steel needed to build railroads to support the war
effort.

It wasn’t cohesive enough. 

At its apex, the Ottoman Empire included Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Hungary, Jordan,

Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Macedonia, Romania, Syria, parts of
Arabia and the north coast of Africa. Even if outside powers hadn’t eventually
undermined the empire, Reynolds doesn’t think that it could have remained intact and
evolved into a modern democratic nation. “The odds probably would have been
against it, because of the empire’s tremendous diversity in terms of ethnicity,
language, economics, and geography,” he says. “Homogenous societies democratize
more easily than heterogenous ones.”

The various peoples who were part of the empire grew more and more rebellious, and
by the 1870s, the empire had to allow Bulgaria and other countries to become
independent, and ceded more and more territory. After losing the losing the 1912-
1913 Balkan Wars to a coalition that included some of its former imperial possessions,
the empire was forced to give up its remaining European territory.

The Ottoman–Portuguese Conflicts (1586–1589) were armed military engagements which took

place between the Portuguese Empire and the Ottoman Empire along the coast of eastern Africa.
The conflict resulted from the expansion of the Portuguese Empire into territory controlled by
the Adal Sultanate.

The Ottoman–Portuguese Conflicts (1586–1589) were armed military engagements which took

place between the Portuguese Empire and the Ottoman Empire along the coast of eastern Africa.
The conflict resulted from the expansion of the Portuguese Empire into territory controlled by
the Adal Sultanate.

Expedition of Mir Ali Beg to East Africa, 1586[edit]

In January 1586, a Turkish privateer named Mir Ali Beg sailed from Mocha in Yemen to

the Horn of Africa, intending to disrupt Portuguese shipping in the region. He began informing
the Sultan that the naval forces of the Ottoman Empire in the Indian Ocean were unable to
protect against Portuguese expansion. Consequently, Sultan Murad III sent Mir Ali down with
two other ships that were tasked with defending the Swahili coast. Additionally, Mir Ali Beg
convinced the inhabitants of Mogadishu to rebel against the Portuguese, and thus was joined by a
few local vessels in support of his endeavors. The people of Barawa and Faza also declared their
allegiance to the Ottoman Empire and, in the end, Mir Ali Beg had about 15 vessels. At Pate, Mir
Ali Beg captured a Portuguese merchant carrack. At Lamu, Mir Ali Beg captured a small galley
belonging to Roque de BritoFalcão, while the king of Lamu delivered his city's Portuguese
refugees to the Turks. Mir Ali Beg also established a fort at Mombasa.

Setting sail back to Mocha, Mir Ali Beg captured another Portuguese carrack in Pate that had
just arrived from Chaul, promising their passengers their freedom in exchange for their cargo—a
promise which Mir Ali Beg did not keep, resulting in the passengers' enslavement.Mir Ali Beg
returned to Mocha with about 20 vessels and 100 Portuguese refugees, who were later ransomed.

2 explain the advantage and dis advantage of Oromo, argoba, afar and Somali
population movement?
 

5.5. Peoples and States in Eastern, Central, Southern and Western Regions

It is not possible in the space of a brief teaching module such as this to provide an
exhaustivedetail of societies and states in eastern, central, southern, and western parts of the
country inthe period covered by this unit. Thus, this section explores the history of some of the
states(as illustrations) in the period under consideration. Although there was no one criterion
usedto select the states, due regard has been given to balance the number of states selected
fromeach region mentioned above. The selection of states for discussion also considered
availability of sources and treatment in earlier sections.

5.5.1. Peoples and States in the East Somali

The Somali people have inhabited vast territory in the Horn. For long, the Somali
practiced pastoral economy and moved between places for centuries possibly in search of suffici
ent pasture.Ibn Said (1214-
86), an Arab geographer, noted that Merca town located in thesouthern Somali coast near
Shabele River was a capital that brought large number of Somalis together during the thirteenth
century. The songs celebrating King Yeshaq's (r. 1413-30) military success depicts that the
Somali lived close to the Christian Kingdom. Somali contingents also played important role in
the victories of the Sultanate of Adal against the Christian kingdom. Historically, a council
known as shir

Governed the society. The decision making process was highly democratic in which all-adult
male were allowed equal access and participation. These councils at sub-clan, clan and inter-clan
level provided a governing structure that acted as an enforcement of law and justice. The council
governed wide-ranging affairs including resource allocation, marriage, trade and crime. As a
component of shir , the guurti (a councilof elders) was the highest political council mandated
with resolving conflict and crisis.

Afar

The Afar predominantly have lived in northeastern Ethiopia and in northern Djibouti, although
some have also inhabited southern part of Eritrea. The Afar had an indigenous governance
system known as Makabanto, which has some elements of democracy. The Afar
people were first mentioned by Ibn Said. During the thirteenth century, they occupied thelowland
territory near Bab el-Mandeb.The land inhabited by the Afars was home for many historical
cities such as Maduna and Abasa. Following the collapse of the power of Sultanate of Adal in the
sixteenth century, theAfar established their sultanates like Awsa, Girrifo, Tadjourah, Rahaito and
Gobad. Awsa Sultanate succeeded the earlier Imamate of Awsa in the middle Awash. The latter
polity hadcome into existence in 1577, when Mohammed Jasa moved his capital from Harar to
Awsa.At some point after 1672, Awsa declined and temporarily ended in conjunction with
ImamUmar Din bin Adam's recorded ascension to the throne. The Sultanate was subsequently
re-established by Kedafo around 1734, and was thereafter ruled by his Mudaito Dynasty.
Primary symbol of the Sultan was silver baton. Awsa’s economy was mainly depended on Bati-
Ginda’e trade route. Later it became center of Islamic learning led by preachers like Tola
Hanfire.

Argoba

Early reference to the people of Argoba is insufficient. There are two versions on the originof the
people of Argoba. The first version holds that they descended from the followers of theProphet
Mohammed who came to the Horn of Africa and settled at Ifat. The second versionclaims that
the origin of the Argoba is not related with Muslim-Arab immigrants. That said,the Argoba were
one of the ancient peoples in the region that accepted Islam very early fromreligious leaders who
came from Arabia.

The Emirate of Harar

Harar is one of the earliest Muslim centers in the region of Ethiopia and the Horn. In the
sixteenth century, Harar became the capital of Walasma of Adal replacing Dakar until 1577when
it was shifted to Awsa due to the pressure from the Oromo. Imam Ahmed ibn Ibrahim used Harar
as a center from where he launched his campaigns into the Christian kingdom in1527. Later
during the reign of Emir Nur Mujahid, Harar became a walled city where the sultanate of the
Harari developed. In the mid seventeenth century, Emir Ali ibn Da’ud (r. 1647-62) in
cooperation with theOromo established a dynasty which was to rule for nearly two centuries and
a half. It was strengthened by Amirs like Abdul Shakur (1783-94). The Amir’s council, Majilis
engaged in supervising Mosque land, Waqf  and offering other assistance to the Amir.The
emirate grewin importance to be a steady center of Islamic culture and power. Its economic
power grew asit controlled trade routes from the Gulf of Aden ports of Zeila and Berbera. Its
authority was established over the surrounding Oromo and Somali through trade, inter-marriage,
and expansion of Islamic teachings. Egyptians were attracted by such a prominence that they
sentan expeditionary force in 1875 and controlled the emirate for nearly a decade. Although
itwas later restored, and ruled by Amir Abdulahi, as the last emir of the Sultanate for two years,
Emperor Menilek’s expansion to the region shortly followed in 1887.

3. Analyze the process of territorial expansion and the formation of modern

Ethiopian empire?

 The Formation of Modern Ethiopian State and its Contradictory Interpretations

 The Formation of Modern Ethiopian State Every federation is the result of its own unique
experience. It is indispensable for a federal system to reflect this historical and context if it is to
be successful Though Ethiopia has a long history of statehood, present-day Ethiopia is mainly
the result of the incorporation process of Emperor Menelik, who ruled from 1889 to 1913. As
Bahru notes “the creation of modern Ethiopia was started by Tewdoros, incorporated by
Yohanis, consolidated by Menelik and completed by Haile Sellassie” (Bahru, 1991).

The “reunification”, “expansion” or “colonization”, depending on interpretation, of Menelik

brought together different ethnic groups that had their own identity, culture, and language. With
the creation of a modern empire, we see the domination of Amharic culture over the newly
incorporated ethnic groups. In the eyes of Clapham, “the expansion was accompanied by an
assumption of Amhara supremacy and a policy of Amharisation” (Clapham, 1974).

Emperor Haile Sellassie (1916-30 as regent and 1930-74 as emperor) subsequently centralized
all power. The 1931 Constitution and the 1955 revised Constitution were important instruments
to reduce the power of regional lords and consolidate his personal rule. In the name of
“Ethiopian Unity”, there was an attempt to suppress all non-Amhara identities. Political
domination was aggravated by cultural domination and economic exploitation. To be within the
state structure, all non–Amhara people were expected to speak Amharic and adopt the culture
and religion of the ruling class (Abebe, 1994). This discriminatory policy resulted in an uneven
representation of various ethnic groups in central government. The condition for southern
Ethiopians was worse. Therefore, the formation of the modern Ethiopian empire is characterized
by political exclusion, economic exploitation, and cultural domination. Because of the
suppression of various ethnic groups, Ethiopia was called “the prison house of nations and
nationalities.”
Territorial evolution of Ethiopia

Beginning with the Kingdom of Aksum, Ethiopia's territory evolved significantly through

conquest of the lands surrounding it. Strong Aksumite trading partnerships with other world
powers gave prominence to its territorial expansion. In 330, Aksum besieged the Nubian city
of Meroe, marking the beginning of its great expansion. It finally declined after the rise of
Islamic dominion in South Arabia, and it ultimately collapsed in the 10th century.

The Zagwe dynasty emerged and ruled until 1270, when Amhara-Shewan Yekuno

Amlak revolted against the last king, Yetbarak, commencing the Solomonic dynasty-
led Ethiopian Empire. The empire reached its greatest extent under the emperors Amda Seyon
I and Zara Yaqob. In 1896, Emperor Menelik II’s conquest strongly consolidated Ethiopia’s
modern borders while eluding the 19th-century Scramble for Africa and Italian
colonialism. Eritrea was annexed by the Ethiopian imperial government under Emperor Haile
Selassie in 1952, culminating in the Eritrean War of Independence. Eritrea eventually seceded
by referendum during its seizure by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic
Front (EPRDF) in 1993.

Aksumite Empire

The Kingdom of Aksum, also known as the Kingdom of Axum or the Aksumite Empire, was

a kingdom centered in Northeast Africa and South Arabia from Classical antiquity to the Middle
Ages. Based primarily in what is now northern Ethiopia, and spanning modern-day Eritrea,
northern Djibouti, and eastern Sudan, it extended at its height into much of modern-day southern
Arabia during the reign of King Kaleb.

Axum served as the kingdom's capital for many centuries but relocated to Jarma in the 9th
century due to declining trade connections and recurring external invasions. Emerging from the
earlier Dʿmt civilization, the kingdom was likely founded in the early 1st century. Pre-Aksumite
culture developed in part due to a South Arabian influence, evident in the use of the Ancient
South Arabian script and the practice of Ancient Semitic religion. However, the Geʽez
script came into use by the 4th century, and as the kingdom became a major power on the trade
route between Rome and India, it entered the Greco-Roman cultural sphere and began to use
Greek as a lingua franca. It is through this that the Kingdom of Aksum adopted Christianity as
the state religion in the mid-4th century, under Ezana of Axum. Following their Christianization,
the Aksumites ceased construction of stelae.

The Kingdom of Aksum was considered one of the ancient world's four great powers of the 3rd
century by Persian prophet Mani, alongside Persia, Rome, and China. Beginning with the reign
of Endubis, Aksum minted its own coins, which have been excavated in locations as far
as Caesarea and southern India. The kingdom continued to expand throughout late antiquity,
conquering Meroe for a very short period of time, from which it inherited the Greek exonym
"Ethiopia". Aksumite dominance in the Red Sea culminated during the reign of Kaleb of Axum,
who, at the behest of the Byzantine Empire Justin I, invaded the Himyarite Kingdom in Yemen
in order to end the persecution of Christians perpetrated by the Jewish king Dhu Nuwas. With
the annexation of Himyar, the Kingdom of Aksum was at its largest territorial extent. However,
the territory was lost in the Aksumite–Persian wars.

The kingdom's slow decline had begun by the 7th century, at which point currency ceased to be
minted. The Persian (and later Muslim) presence in the Red Sea caused Aksum to suffer
economically, and the population of the city of Axum shrank. Alongside environmental and
internal factors, this has been suggested as the reason for its decline. Aksum's final three
centuries are considered a dark age, and through uncertain circumstances, the kingdom collapsed
around 960. Despite its position as one of the foremost empires of late antiquity, the Kingdom of
Aksum fell into obscurity as Ethiopia remained isolated throughout the middle Ages.

Zagwe dynasty

The Zagwe dynasty was an Agaw medieval dynasty that ruled the northern parts

of Ethiopia and Eritrea, after the historical name of the Lasta province. Centered at Roha (later
named Lalibela), it ruled large parts of the territory from approximately 900 to 1270 CE, when
the last Zagwe King Za-Ilmaknun was killed in battle by the forces of the Amhara King Yekuno
Amlak. The name of the dynasty is thought to derive from the ancient Ge'ez phrase Ze-Agaw,
meaning "of the Agaw", in reference to the Mara Tekle Haymanot, the founder of the
dynasty. Zagwe's best-known King was Gebre Mesqel Lalibela, who is credited with having
constructed the rock-hewn monolithic churches of Lalibela.
David Buxton has stated that the areas under the direct rule of the Zagwe kings apart from the
centre of power in Lasta "probably embraced the highlands of
modern Eritrea, Tigray, Waag and Bete Amhara and thence westwards towards Lake
Tana (Begemder)."[8] Unlike the practice of later rulers of Ethiopia, Taddesse Tamrat argues that
under the Zagwe dynasty the order of succession was that of brother succeeding brother as king,
based on the Agaw laws of inheritance.

Solomonic dynasty
The Solomonic dynasty, also known as the House of Solomon, was the ruling dynasty of
the Ethiopian Empire formed in the thirteenth century. Its members claim lineal descent from the
biblical King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Tradition asserts that the queen gave birth
to Menelik I after her Biblically described visit to Solomon in Jerusalem.[1] In 1270, the Zagwe
dynasty was overthrown by Yekuno Amlak, who claimed descent from Solomon and founded
the Solomonic era of Ethiopia. The dynasty lasted until 1974, ended by a coup d'état and the
deposition of Haile Selassie, who was a Solomonic prince through his grandmother.

4. Discuss About The Foreign Relation Of Ethiopia During The Dreg Regime
(1974-1991)?

Socialist Ethiopia (1974–91)

The Derg borrowed its ideology from competing Marxist parties, all of which arose from the
student movement. One of them, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party (EPRP), believed
so strongly in civilian rule that it undertook urban guerrilla war against the military rulers,
and anarchy ensued in the following years.

In February 1977 Mengistu (now a lieutenant colonel) survived a battle between his supporters
and those of rivals on the PMAC. Andom and several other members were killed, and Mengistu
seized complete power as chairman and head of state. A series of EPRP attacks against Derg
members and their supporters, known as the White Terror, was countered by Mengistu’s Red
Terror, a bloody campaign that crushed armed opponents among the EPRP and other groups, as
well as members of the civilian populace. As a result of the campaign, which continued into
1978, thousands of Ethiopia’s best-educated and idealistic young people were killed or exiled; in
all, as many as 100,000 people were killed, and thousands more were tortured or imprisoned.

Meanwhile, in May and June 1977, Somalia’s army advanced into the Ogaden.

The U.S.S.R. labeled Somalia the aggressor and diverted arms shipments to Ethiopia, where
Soviet and allied troops trained and armed a People’s Militia, provided fighting men, and
reequipped the army. Unable to entice the United States into resupplying its troops and faced
with renewed Ethiopian military vigor, Somalia withdrew in early 1978. Mengistu quickly
shifted troops to Eritrea, where by year’s end the Eritrean nationalists had been pushed back into
mountainous terrain around Nakʾfa.

Land reform and famine

Mengistu sought to transform Ethiopia into a command state led by a disciplined and loyal party

that would control all organs of authority. To this end a land-reform proclamation of 1975
transferred ownership of all land to the state and provided allotments of no more than 25 acres
(10 hectares) to individual peasants who farmed the land themselves. Extensive nationalization
of industry, banking, insurance, large-scale trade, and urban land and extra dwellings completed
the reforms and wiped out the economic base of the old ruling class. To implement the
reforms, adjudicate disputes, and administer local affairs, peasants’ associations were organized
in the countryside and precinct organizations (kebele) in the towns. In 1984 the Workers’ Party
of Ethiopia was formed, with Mengistu as secretary-general, and in 1987 a new parliament
inaugurated the People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, with Mengistu as president.

Despite initial expectations, farmers failed to generate the high yields expected from the land
reform, for there was little incentive for them to do so. Moreover, their plots were tiny, rendering
the legal limit of 25 acres irrelevant. Holdings varied according to the country’s different
regions, but overall probably averaged not much more than 3.7 acres (1.5 hectares). In order to
feed Ethiopia’s cities and the army, the government tried to force the peasants’ associations to
deliver grain at below-market prices, a measure that alienated the peasants and did nothing to
stimulate production. Meanwhile, drought intensified yearly from 1980, building to a climax in
1984, when the small rains were scanty and the main rains failed altogether. Famine ensued,
government controls limiting the mobility with which peasants had responded to previous
shortfalls. Ideological suspicions precluded the West from responding to alarms that the
Ethiopian government put forward in the spring of 1984 following the small rains, and its own
preoccupation with celebrating its 10th anniversary and founding the Workers’ Party led the
government to cover up the developing famine in the Fall of that same year. With one-sixth of
Ethiopia’s people at risk of starvation, Western countries made available enough surplus grain to
end the crisis by mid-1985. Donors were not so forthcoming for a mammoth population-
resettlement program that proposed to move people from the drought-prone and crowded north
to the west and south, where supposedly surplus lands were available. The Mengistu regime
handled the shift callously and did not have the necessary resources to provide proper housing,
tools, medical treatment, or food for the 600,000 farming families it moved. Resources were also
lacking for a related villagization program, which had the putative aim of concentrating scattered
populations into villages where they might receive modern services. As late as 1990 most
villages lacked the promised amenities, in part because of resource-draining civil strife in the
north.

Challenges to the regime

By 1985–86 the government was embattled throughout most of Eritrea and Tigray,
but Mengistu simply stepped up recruitment and asked the U.S.S.R. for more arms. In December
1987 the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) broke through the Ethiopian lines before
Nakʾfa and waged increasingly successful war with weapons captured from demoralized
government troops. In early 1988 the EPLF began to coordinate its attacks with the Tigray
People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which had long been fighting for the autonomy of Tigray and
for the reconstitution of Ethiopia on the basis of ethnically autonomous regions. The Soviets
refused to ship more arms, and in February 1989 a series of defeats and a worsening lack of
weaponry forced the government to evacuate Tigray. The TPLF then organized the
largely Amhara Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement. Together, these two groups formed
the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), and their forces easily
advanced into Gonder and Welo provinces. The following year the EPLF occupied Massawa;
this broke the Ethiopian stranglehold on supplies entering the country and demonstrated that the
government no longer ruled in Tigray and Eritrea. Shortly thereafter, when the TPLF cut the
Addis Ababa–Gonder road and put Gojam at risk, Mengistu announced the end of many of the
regime’s most unpopular socialist measures.The peasants immediately abandoned their
new villages for their old homesteads, dismantled cooperatives, and redistributed land
and capital goods. They ejected or ignored party and government functionaries, in
several cases killing recalcitrant administrators. The regime was thus weakened in the
countryside—not least in southern Ethiopia, where the long-dormant Oromo
Liberation Front (OLF) became active. By May 1991, with EPRDF forces
controlling Tigray, Welo, Gonder, Gojam, and about half of Shewa, it was obvious
that the army did not have sufficient morale, manpower, weapons, munitions, and
leadership to stop the rebels’ advance on Addis Ababa. Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe,
and on May 28 the EPRDF took power.

The Derg (also spelled Dergue; Amharic: ደርግ, lit. 'committee' or 'council'), officially

the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC),[4][5] was the military junta that
ruled Ethiopia, then including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when the military
leadership formally "civilianized" the administration but stayed in power until 1991. [6]
The Derg was established in June 1974 as the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces,
Police and Territorial Army, by officers of the Ethiopian Army and Police led initially by
chairman Mengistu Haile Mariam. On 12 September 1974, the
Derg overthrew the government of the Ethiopian Empire and Emperor Haile Selassie during
nationwide mass protests, and three days later formally renamed itself the Provisional Military
Administrative Council. In March 1975 the Derg abolished the monarchy and established
Ethiopia as a Marxist-Leninist state with itself as the vanguard party in a provisional
government. The abolition of feudalism, increased literacy, nationalization, and sweeping land
reform including the resettlement and villagization from the Ethiopian Highlands became
priorities. Mengistu became chairman in 1977, launching the Red Terror (Qey Shibir) political
repression campaign to eliminate political opponents, with tens of thousands imprisoned and
executed without trial.[7]

By the mid-1980s, Ethiopia was plagued by multiple issues, such as droughts, economic decline
and increasing reliance on foreign aid, recovering from the Ogaden War, and the 1983–1985
famine from which the Derg itself estimated more than a million deaths during its time in power.
[8] Conflicts between the Derg and various ethnic militias saw a gradual resurgence, particularly
the Ethiopian Civil War and the Eritrean War of Independence. Mengistu abolished the Derg in
1987 and formed the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia led by the Workers' Party of
Ethiopia, with a new government containing civilians but still dominated by members of the
Derg.[9]Formation and growth[edit]

High ranking Derg members: Mengistu Haile Mariam, Tafari Benti and Atnafu Abate

After the Ethiopian Revolution in February 1974, the first signal of any mass uprisings was the
actions of the soldiers of the 4th Brigade of the 4th Army Division in Nagelle in southern
Ethiopia.[10] They were mainly unhappy about the lack of food and water and then arrested their
brigade commander and other officers and kept them incarcerated. When the government sent
the commander of the ground forces, General Deresse Dubala, to negotiate with the rebels, they
held him and forced him to eat their food and drink their water. Similar mutinies took place at
the Ethiopian Air Force base at Bishoftu on 12 February, and at Second Division at Asmara on
25 February. It was these protests that gave rise to a general uprising of the armed forces.
[citation needed]
The Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police and Territorial Army, known as the
Derg, was officially announced on 28 June 1974 by a group of military officers. This was done
under the pretext of maintaining law and order, due to the powerlessness of the civilian
government following widespread mutiny in the armed forces of Ethiopia earlier that year. Its
members were not directly involved in those mutinies nor was this the first military committee
organized to support the administration of Prime Minister Endelkachew Makonnen. Alem Zewde
Tessema had established the armed forces coordinated committee on 23 March. Over the
following months, radicals in the Ethiopian military came to believe Makonnen was acting on
behalf of the hated feudal aristocracy. When a group of notables petitioned for the release of a
number of government ministers and officials who were under arrest for corruption and other
crimes, three days later the Derg was announced.[11] Advocacy manifesto of the Derg, published
in June 1978 The Derg, which originally consisted of soldiers at the capital, broadened its
membership by including representatives from the 40 units of the Ethiopian Army, Air
Force, Navy, Kebur Zabagna (Imperial Guard), Territorial Army and police: each unit was
expected to send three representatives, who were supposed to be privates, NCOs and junior
officers up to the rank of major. According to Bahru Zewde, "Senior officers were deemed too
compromised by close association to the regime."[12] The Derg was reported to have consisted
of 120 soldiers,[13] a statement which has gained wide acceptance due to the habitual
secretiveness of the Derg in its early years. But, Bahru Zewde notes that "in actual fact, their
number was less than 110",[12] and Aregawi Berhe mentions two different sources which record
109 persons as being members of the Derg.[14] No new members were ever admitted, and the
number decreased, especially in the first few years, as some members were expelled or killed.

One sketch in the Red Terror Martyrs' Museum showing military convoys of the Derg driving
into the gorge

The Derg first assembled at the Fourth Division headquarters,[15] and elected Major Mengistu
Haile Mariam as its chairman and Major Atnafu Abate as vice-chairman. Their stated mission
was to study and address the grievances of various military units, investigate abuses by senior
officers and staff and root out corruption in the military. In July, the Derg obtained key
concessions from emperor, Haile Selassie, which included the power to arrest not only military
officers but government officials at every level. Soon both former Prime Ministers Aklilu Habte-
Wold and Endelkachew Makonnen, along with most of their cabinets, most regional governors,
many senior military officers and officials of the Imperial court were imprisoned. In August,
after a proposed constitution creating a constitutional monarchy was presented to the emperor,
the Derg began a program of dismantling the imperial government to forestall further
developments in that direction. The Derg deposed and imprisoned the emperor on 12 September
1974.

On 15 September, the committee renamed itself the Provisional Military Administrative Council
(PMAC) and took full control of the government and all facilities within the government. The
Derg chose Lieutenant General Aman Andom, a popular military leader and
a Sandhurst graduate,[16] to be its chairman and acting head-of-state. This was pending the
return of Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen from medical treatment in Europe when he would assume
the throne as a constitutional monarch. However, General Aman Andom quarreled with the
radical elements in the Derg over the issue of a new military offensive in Eritrea and their
proposal to execute the high officials of Selassie's former government. After eliminating units
loyal to him—the Engineers, the Imperial Bodyguard and the Air Force—the Derg removed
General Aman from power and executed him on 23 November 1974, along with some of his
supporters and 60 officials of the previous Imperial government.[17]

Brigadier General Tafari Benti became the new Chairman of the Derg and the head of state, with
Mengistu and Atnafu Abate as his two vice-chairmen, both with promotions to the rank of
Lieutenant-Colonel. The monarchy was formally abolished in March 1975, and Marxism-
Leninism was proclaimed the new ideology of the state. Emperor Haile Selassie died under
mysterious circumstances on 27 August 1975 while his personal physician was absent. It is
commonly believed that Mengistu killed him, either by ordering it done or by his own hand
although the former is more possible.[18] Both Derg and Haile Selassie government relocated
numerous Amharas into southern Ethiopia, including present-day of the Oromia region, where
they served in government administration, courts, church and school, where Oromo texts were
eliminated and replaced by Amharic.[19] The Abyssinian elites perceived the Oromo identity
and languages as hindrances to Ethiopian national identity expansion.

After internal conflicts that resulted in the execution of General Tafari Benti and several of his
supporters in February 1977, and the execution of Colonel Atnafu Abate in November 1977,
Mengistu gained undisputed leadership of the Derg. In 1987, he formally dissolved the Derg and
established the country as the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) under a new
constitution.

Many of the Derg members remained in key government posts and also served as the members
of the Central Committee and the Politburo of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia (WPE). This
became Ethiopia's civilian version of the Eastern bloc communist parties. Mengistu became
Secretary-General of the WPE and President of the PDRE while remaining the Commander in
Chief of the Armed Forces.

Ethiopian Civil War[edit]

Main article: Ethiopian Civil War

Derg party badge, c. 1979.

Tiglachin Monument commemorating the victory of the Derg over Somalia in the Ogaden War

Opposition to the reign of the Derg was the main cause of the Ethiopian Civil War. This conflict
began as extralegal violence between 1975 and 1977, known as the Red Terror, when the Derg
struggled for authority, first with various opposition groups within the country, then with a
variety of groups jockeying for the role of vanguard party. Though human rights violations were
committed by all sides, the great majority of abuses against civilians as well as actions leading to
devastating famine were committed by the government.[21]

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which represents the Christian state church of Ethiopia for
centuries, was disestablished in 1974.[22] The Derg declared a policy of state atheism, a tenet
of Marxism-Leninist ideology; this was opposed by the vast majority of the Ethiopian
population.[23][24][25]

Once the Derg had gained victory over these groups and successfully fought off an
invasion from Somalia in 1977, it engaged in a brutal war against armed opponents within the
country. These grouped ranged from the conservative and pro-monarchy Ethiopian Democratic
Union to the far-leftist Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party. Other groups included Eritrean
People's Liberation Front (EPLF) guerrillas fighting for Eritrean independence, rebels based
in Tigray (which included the nascent Tigray People's Liberation Front) and other groups. Under
the Derg, Ethiopia became the Soviet bloc's closest ally in Africa and became one of the best-
armed nation of the region as a result of massive military aid, chiefly from the Soviet
Union, East Germany, Cuba and North Korea.

On 4 March 1975, the Derg announced a program of land reform, according to its main slogan of
"Land to the Tiller", which was unequivocally radical, even in Soviet and Chinese terms. It
nationalized all rural land, abolished tenancy and put peasants in charge of enforcing the whole
scheme.[26] Although Derg gained little respect during its rule, this reform resulted in a rare
show of support for the junta, as Marina and David Ottaway describe:

During a massive demonstration in Addis Ababa immediately following the

announcement, a group of students broke through police and army barriers,
climbed the wall and escarpment around Menelik Palace, and embraced Mengistu
as the hero of the reform.[27]

In addition, the Derg in 1975 nationalized most industries and private and somewhat secured
urban real-estate holdings.

Mismanagement, corruption and general opposition to the Derg's dictatorial and violent
communist rule, coupled with the draining effects of constant warfare with the separatist
guerrilla movements in Eritrea and Tigray, led to a drastic fall in general productivity of food
and cash crops. In October 1978, the Derg announced the National Revolutionary Development
Campaign to mobilize human and material resources to transform the economy, which led to a
ten-year plan (1984/85 - 1993/94) to expand agricultural and industrial output, forecasting a
6.5% growth in GDP and a 3.6% rise in per capita income. Instead, per capita income declined
considerably to 0.8% over this period.[28]

1983–85 famine[edit]

Main article: 1983–85 famine in Ethiopia

Famine scholar Alex de Waal observed that while the famine that struck the country in the mid-
1980s is usually ascribed to drought, closer investigation shows that widespread drought
occurred only some months after the famine was already underway.[29] Hundreds of thousands
fled economic misery, conscription and political repression and went to live in neighbouring
countries and all over the Western world, creating, for the first time, an Ethiopian diaspora.

Aid and controversy[edit]

See also: 1983–85 famine in Ethiopia § Effect on aid policy

The 1984–1985 Tigray famine brought the political situation in Ethiopia to the attention of the
world and inspired charitable drives in Western nations, notably by Oxfam and the Live
Aid concerts of July 1985. The money they raised was distributed among NGOs working in
Ethiopia. A controversy arose when it was found that some of these NGOs were under Derg
control or influence and that some Oxfam and Live Aid money had been used to fund
Derg's enforced resettlement programmes, under which they displaced millions of people and
killed between 50,000 and 100,000.[30] A BBC investigation reported that Tigray People's
Liberation Front rebels had used millions of dollars of aid money to buy arms; these accusations
were later fully retracted by the corporation.[31]

Dissolution and trials[edit]

Main articles: Fall of the Derg and Trials of the Derg members

Although the Derg government came to an end on 22 February 1987, three weeks after
a referendum approved the constitution for the PDRE, it was not until September that the new
government was fully in place and the Derg formally abolished.[32] The surviving members of
the Derg, including Mengistu, remained in power as the leaders of the new civilian regime.

The geopolitical situation became unfavourable for the communist government in the late 1980s,
with the Soviet Union retreating from the expansion of Communism under Mikhail
Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika. Socialist bloc countries drastically reduced their aid to
Ethiopia and were struggling to keep their own economies going. This resulted in even more
economic hardship, and the military gave way in the face of determined onslaughts by guerrilla
forces in the north. The Soviet Union stopped aiding the PDRE altogether in December 1990.
Together with the fall of Communism in the Eastern Bloc in the Revolutions of 1989, this itself
dealt a serious blow to the PDRE.

Towards the end of January 1991, a coalition of rebel forces, the Ethiopian People's
Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) captured Gondar (the ancient capital city), Bahir
Dar and Dessie. Meanwhile, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front had gained control of all of
Eritrea except for Asmara and Assab in the south. The Soviet Union, mired in its internal
turmoil, could no longer prop up the Derg.[33] In the words of the former US diplomat Paul B.
Henze, "As his doom became imminent, Mengistu alternated between vowing resistance to the
end and hinting that he might follow Emperor Tewodros II's example and commit
suicide."[34] His actions were frantic: he convened the Shengo, for an emergency session and
reorganized his cabinet, but as Henze concludes, "these shifts came too late to be
effective."[34] On 21 May, claiming that he was going to inspect troops at a base in southern
Ethiopia, Mengistu slipped out of the country into Kenya. From there, he flew along with his
immediate family to Zimbabwe, where he was granted asylum and where he still resides.[35]

Mengistu was sentenced to death in 2008 in absentia, charged with genocide, homicide, illegal
imprisonment and property seizures.[36] In 2009, Zimbabwe’s late former Information
Minister, Tichaona Jokonya, in an interview with Voice of America said Harare was not going to
extradite Mengistu.[37] In August 2018, Ethiopian former Prime Minister Hailemariam
Desalegn while heading an African Union election observer mission in Harare met with
Mengistu, and shared their photo on Facebook, which was quickly deleted as it proved so
controversial and generally unpopular. It is thought that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who had at
that time released thousands of political prisoners, had approved the visit possibly because some
opposition groups had used Mengistu's image to voice their disapproval of Abiy's policies.[38] In
May 2022, Zimbabwe's Foreign Affairs Minister Ambassador Frederick Shava gave a clear sign
that Harare would be prepared to extradite Mengistu in a reversal of Jokonya's policy.[37] Given
the turmoil in Ethiopia with the Tigray conflict, there have been no further apparent
developments.

Upon entering Addis Ababa, the EPRDF immediately disbanded the WPE and arrested almost all
of the prominent Derg officials shortly after. In December 2006, seventy-three officials of the
Derg were found guilty of genocide. Thirty-four people were in court, fourteen others had died
during the lengthy process, and twenty-five, including Mengistu, were tried in absentia.[39] The
trial ended 26 May 2008, and many of the officials were sentenced to death. In December 2010,
the Ethiopian government commuted the death sentence of 23 Derg officials. On 4 October 2011,
16 former Derg officials were freed after twenty years of incarceration. The Ethiopian
government paroled almost all of the Derg officials who had been imprisoned for 20 years. Other
Derg ex-officials managed to escape and organized rebel groups to overthrow Ethiopia's new
government. One of these groups is the Ethiopian Unity Patriots Front which waged an
insurgency in the Gambela Region from 1993 to 2012.[40][41][42]

At the conclusion of a trial lasting from 1994 to 2006, Mengistu was convicted of genocide, war
crimes and crimes against humanity and sentenced in absentia to death by an Ethiopian court for
his role in Ethiopia's Red Terror.[43][44][45][46] The Ethiopian legal definition is distinct from
the legal definition as outlined in the Genocide Convention by the United Nations and other
definitions in that it defines genocide as intent to wipe out political and not just ethnic groups. In
this respect, it closely resembles the definition of politicide outlined by Barbara Harff, who wrote
in 1992 that no Communist country or governing body had been convicted of genocide.[47) The
Derg army had significant role in the government and enforcing law since the establishment. By
1976, the Soviet and Derg relations strengthened with the Soviet aided the Derg military with
arms. Together with the Cuban soldiers, the military gained support against Somali Democratic
Republic during the Ogaden War. According to the United States State Department report in
May 1977, 50 Cuban advisors trained Ethiopian troops to combat, while another report in July
stated that 3,000 Cubans were in Ethiopia with one Eritrean Liberation Front officer there.[48]

By the fall of the Derg, the army of the Derg were only 45,000 troops which disintegrated shortly
afterwards.[

5 Elaborate the role of long distance trade in Ethiopia and the horn of Africa?

6 what were the contribution of Ethiopian patriots focusing on their achievement and
weakness?