FACTORS THAT LED TO THE DOWNFALL OF MARIAM MENGISTU

 

  • Mengistu arrested, killed his opponents and those suspected of treason for example he killed Emperor Hilessellassie and buried him secretly in a pit latrine, he also killed Alnafu Bante his rival and a number of other people on firing squad. This aroused resentment and a number of people supported the struggle to overthrow him. NB. In Adis ababa stands a museum displaying Mengistu’s inhuman attrosties.

  • The ambitious character of men like Melesi Zenawi, who organized fellow Ethiopians under one umbrella with the sole aim of governing Ethiopia. He was eloquent, and with super organizational abilities. He challenged Mengistus government and called for his overthrow. All these combined Mengistu was over run.

  • The failure of the Dergue led by Mengistu to end the Eritrean Question made the army loose loyalty and turned to support Zenawi’s cause. The army was tired of fighting useless wars. This explains why Zenawi quickened the road to independence of Eritrea.

  • The continued famine and starvation in Ethiopia. It is estimated that about one million people died of starvation during Mengistu’s regime 1974 to 1991. The revenue collected was spent on military adventures in Somalia, Eritrea making the masses dissatisfied hence making his down fall was inevitable.

  • The Ogaden question was yet to cause problems to Mengistu. For long these people in Ogaden wanted to re-unite with their fellow Somalis which was denied by Haille se llassie and later Mengistu, they continued fighting and even supported guerrilla rebels against Mengistu.

  • The support offered by Sudan to the Amharas who had been dethroned by Dergue led by Mengistu made the counter coup inevitable for example General Jaffar Nimeiri supported the Ethiopia Democratic Union (EDU) there by slowly weakening Mengistu’s government.

  • Failure of Mengistu to turn Ethiopia into a civilian-democratic state forced a number of people like students, teachers to go on rampage demanding for the changes promised by the Dergue in 1974. Slowly but sure these strikes and demonstration grew into a formidable force against Mengistu’s government.

  • The grievances of the army were yet to cause problems to Mengistu. No much efforts were made to improve their standards consequently they supported any cause and Mengistu was over thrown.

  • The formation of different political parties in Ethiopia that were anti- Mengistu’s regime for example; The Ethiopian peoples revolutionary party (Eprp) later the all Ethiopian socialist movement popularly known as MELSON. These sensitized the masses of their rights and it explains why by the 1991 the coup was massively supported by all people from all works of life.

  • Unemployment in Ethiopia became rampant. A number of people lacked jobs and those who had were poorly paid. These planned to oust Mengistu in a view that sooner or later their conditions will improve.

  • Mengistu’s nationalization programme soon backfired for example a lot of funds were reserved for large scale capital intensive firms. This in effect benefited a few Ethiopians creating a large income gap that brought mixed feelings in the hearts of many Ethiopians, to end this Mengistu had to go.

  • The success of other revolutions else were in Africa against dictators convinced Ethiopian Nationalists that Mengistu will soon go for example 1966 coup against Nkrumah, 1965 coup against Ben Bella in Algeria, 1969 coup in Libya against king Idris, the Ethiopian revolution 1974 left a lot to be desired. It explains why the masses rose against Mengistu’s regime.

  • The weakness of OAU and UNO, these international organizations formed to keep peace and stability gave a free hand to Zenawi to oust Mengistu, they stopped at condemnation hence creating fertile ground for the revolution.

  • The abolition of a monarchy and declaring Ethiopia a public in March 1975 created a class of enemies to the new government. The monarchy which even survived the scramble and partition could not be watched being raped by Mengistu’s selfishness; this forced a number of royals to support the guerrillas against Mengistu.

All in all Mengistu had turned a dictator and most importantly failed to end the Ogden and Eritrean question that took a lot of the country’s resources. These and many others fostered a rebellion.

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