Mengistu Haile Mariam's Red Terror

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This time period is mired in mutinies and betrayals on many levels within the Ethiopian government. The elderly Emperor Selassie was taken hostage in 1975 and eventually strangled in his own bed. Shortly after the emperor was “arrested”, sixty senior most members of the emperor’s entourage were murdered. The leader of the Derg group that took him hostage and shot the entourage members, emerges as the one in control, high ranking Lt. Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam and was successful in his campaign called “Red terror”. Mengistu remained in control until 1991 subjecting Ethiopia to a brutal Marxist regime, and throughout his domination thousands of political rivals were murdered. All the while Mengistu received a massive amount of support for

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