Mengistu Haile Mariam

Mengistu Haile Mariam (Amharic: መንግሥቱ ኃይለ ማርያም, pronunciation: [mənɡɨstu haɪlə marjam]; born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian communist revolutionary, military officer, and former statesman who served as the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991. He was General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia from 1984 to 1991, chairman of the Derg—the Marxist–Leninist military junta that ruled Ethiopia—from 1977 to 1987, and president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE) from 1987 to 1991.

The Derg seized power in the Ethiopian Revolution following the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974, marking the end of the Solomonic dynasty which had ruled Ethiopia since the 13th century. Mengistu purged his rivals within the Derg and made himself leader of Ethiopia, attempting to modernize the country's feudal economy through Marxist–Leninist–inspired policies such as nationalization and land redistribution. His consolidation of power in 1977–1978 is known as the Ethiopian Red Terror—a brutal crackdown on opposition groups and civilians following a failed assassination attempt by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP) in September 1976, after it had ignored the Derg's invitation to join the union of socialist parties. The death toll is unknown but is estimated at between 30,000 and 750,000 by the Ethiopian Red Terror Documentation and Research Center.

Internal rebellion, government repression, and economic mismanagement characterized Mengistu's presidency, the Red Terror period being a battle for dominance between the Derg, the EPRP, and their rival the All-Ethiopia Socialist Movement (MEISON), which had initially aligned itself with the Derg. While this internal conflict was being fought, Ethiopia was threatened by both the Somali invasion and the guerrilla campaign of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front, who demanded independence for Eritrea, then a province of Ethiopia. The Ogaden War of 1977–1978 with Somalia, fought over a disputed border region (Ogaden), was notable for the prominent role of Mengistu's Soviet and Cuban allies in securing an Ethiopian victory. The catastrophic famine of 1983–1985 is what brought his government the most international attention.