Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE 1974 REVOLUTION & THE
EMPEROR'S FALL
By 1973 an increasingly powerful and radical military group had emerged. Known as the
Derg (Committee), they used the media with consummate skill to undermine the authority
of the emperor himself. They famously flashed striking footage of starvation from Jonathan
Dimbleby's well-known BBC TV report on the Wolo famine in between clips of sumptuous
palace banquets.
The result was an unprecedented wave of teacher, student and taxi strikes in Addis
Ababa. Even army mutinies began to be reported. At crisis point, the prime minister and his
cabinet resigned and a new one was appointed with the mandate to carry out far-reaching
constitutional reforms. But it was too late.
On 12 September 1974 Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed, unceremoniously bundled
into the back of a Volkswagen and driven away to prison. Ministers, nobles and close con-
fidants of the emperor were also arrested by the Derg. The absolute power of the emperor
and the divine right of rule of the century-old imperial dynasty were finished.
The Derg soon dissolved parliament and es-
tablished the Provisional Military Administrat-
ive Council (PMAC) to rule the country.
Emerging as the leader of the Derg was Col-
onel Mengistu Haile Mariam who rode the wave
of popular opposition to Selassie's regime, as
well as the Marxist-Leninist ideology of left-
wing students.
And what happened to the emperor? The official line at the time was that he died of 'res-
piratory failure' in August 1975 following complications from a prostate operation.
However, many people believe he was murdered by Mengistu himself. In 1992, after the
fall of the Derg, Selassie's bones were discovered buried under a concrete slab in the
grounds of the palace in Addis.
In the past, the causes of famine have had less to do
with environmental factors - Ethiopia has abundant
natural resources - and more to do with economic
mismanagement and inequitable and oppressive
governments.
