Fifty years ago the Marxist-Leninist military junta known as the Derg took control of Ethiopia, toppling Emperor Haile Selassie and ending a monarchy that had governed the country for 700 years. RFI looks back at the revolution that reshaped Ethiopia and the brutal regime that followed.
On 12 September 1974, Ethiopia's Emperor Haile Selassie I was quietly deposed by the Armed Forces Coordinating Committee – the Derg – after several months of nationwide demonstrations and strikes.
A severe drought in the winter of 1973 had devastated the northern regions of Wollo and Tigray, causing widespread famine.
Dramatic images of the victims added to the growing economic difficulties and the stalemate in a society still bound by feudal structures. This fuelled discontent against the Ethiopian emperor, who had been in power for 44 years.
First crowned as regent in 1916 – alongside his aunt Empress Zaouditou – Ras Tafari took the throne of Abyssinia in 1930 under the name of Haile Selassie I.
As the 225th descendant of the dynasty of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, Negus of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie held great privilage and prestige for decades.
Faced with Mussolini
Haile Selassie was a symbol of Ethiopia’s independence, particularly during the invasion by Italian forces under dictator Benito Mussolini in 1935.
When he went into exile in Europe, Selassie gave a keynote speech at the League of Nations on 28 June, 1936, that left a lasting impression on the world stage.
On 5 May 1941 – after returning via Sudan – he triumphantly entered the capital, Addis Ababa, which had been liberated by Anglo-Indian brigades with the support of the Free French Forces.
Emperor of a country that had never been colonised, Haile Selassie symbolised the desire for independence throughout Africa.
Respected internationally, Haile Selassie was seen as a reformer in his early days, especially for his role in abolishing slavery.
He advocated for African unity and helped establish the Organisation of African Unity in 1963, securing its headquarters in Addis Ababa.
Despite these efforts, he met strong opposition from landowners and the clergy in a largely Christian country.
With no free press or political parties to provide outlets for dissent, frustrations grew, especially as the Eritrean Liberation Front began its calls for independence in 1961.
A state of emergency was declared in Eritrea in 1970, but it only deepened repression.
Revolt of young intellectuals
While living in splendour, Haile Selassie amassed a colossal fortune and lost touch with the growing unrest, particularly among Ethiopia’s young intellectuals.
The famine and its thousands of victims intensified anger at the regime. By February 1974, mass demonstrations were taking place across the country, followed by a wave of strikes.
Marxist-Leninist ideas spreading through universities strengthened the revolution, which claimed to be democratic, modern and in support of women’s rights.
However, the Derg deposed the emperor by 12 September of that year.
In a bid to avoid chaos, the military had Crown Prince Asfa Wossen proclaimed king – though he was abroad for medical treatment and never exercised power.
The abolished monarchy and Selassie's death
Writing for the French weekly L'Express in September 1974, journalist Christian d'Épenoux summed up Haile Selassie's downfall.
"A champion of the non-aligned, he had managed somehow to preserve the unity of his kingdom ... against the greed of his neighbours to the south and north, Sudan and Somalia, who were breathing down his neck," he wrote.
"But his prudence, once praised, had become a blemish. Old age and attrition had overcome the spirit of reform. Isolated, ill-advised, turning a blind eye to privilege and injustice, having amassed an incredible fortune of his own, the old Negus could no longer see his country crack.
"Drought, famine and the atrocious deaths of 100,000 of his subjects while he fed his molosses triggered the revolt that was to sweep him off his feet".
The Ethiopian monarchy was finally abolished in March 1975, when Haile Selassie was imprisoned in the basement of the imperial palace.
The world learned of his death on 27 August that same year – probably assassinated on the orders of the country's new strongman, Mengistu Haile Mariam.
The rise of Mengistu and the 'Red Terror'
The revolution, initially led by left-wing students, was soon taken over by the army.
The Derg established the Provisional Military Administrative Council on 15 September 1974, which brought clashes with the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party.
These struggles paved the way for Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam, who took over the junta in 1977.
Mengistu’s rise to power triggered a wave of repression known as the "Red Terror".
Tens of thousands were killed, though the full scale of the Derg’s crimes remains unknown. The regime ruled with brutal force until its overthrow in 1991.
To this day, 87-year-old Mengistu lives quietly in Zimbabwe despite being convicted of genocide and sentenced to death in absentia in 2008.
Zimbabwe continues to refuse his extradition, and in 2011, many Derg leaders saw their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
The legacy of authoritarian rule
The dictatorial violence of the Derg's communist rule – along with constant warfare against separatist movements in Eritrea and Tigray – led to the collapse of food and cash crop production in the country by the late 1970s and early 1980s.
A National Revolutionary Development Campaign, launched in 1984, aimed to transform Ethiopia's economy within 10 years. It failed.
The situation came to the world’s attention during the 1984-1985 famine in Tigray, which inspired the Live Aid charity concerts in 1985.
Since the fall of the Derg in 1991, many Ethiopians lament the failure of the country to reconcile with its past.
There has been no Truth and Reconciliation Commission, nor any real effort from Ethiopian leaders to help victims heal or receive financial reparation.
Fifty years after the revolution, the country still feels the effects of the Derg’s brutal rule as it continues to grapple with civil war and deep ethnic divisions.
