Mengistu Haile Mariam and Eduard Miloslavić: Difference between pages

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'''Eduard Miloslavic''' (1884-1952) was a professor of [[pathology]], a descendant of [[Dubrovnik]] emigrants to the USA, born in [[Oakland, California]]. His father Luko came from [[Župa Dubrovačka]] (10 km from Dubrovnik) to Dubrovnik in 1878. In same year he married Vica Milkovic. A few years later they emigrated to [[USA]]. The entire family, Luko, Vica, Eduard and his brothers and sisters, returned to Dubrovnik in 1889.

Miloslavic studied medicine in [[Vienna]], where he became a professor of pathology. In 1920 an invitation came from [[Marquette University]] in Wisconsin, USA, to take the chair of pathology, [[bacteriology]] and [[forensic medicine]].

[[Image:Mengistu Haile Mariam.gif|thumb|150px|Mengistu Haile Mariam]]

'''Mengistu Haile Mariam''' (born [[1937]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | encyclopedia = MSN Encarta | title = Mengistu Haile Mariam | url = http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761565650/Mengistu_Haile_Mariam.html | accessdate = 2006-12-13}}{{cite encyclopedia | encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Britannica | title = Mengistu Haile Mariam | url = http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9052015/Mengistu-Haile-Mariam

| accessdate = 2006-12-13 | edition = Online | year = 2006}}{{cite news | title = Profile: Mengistu Haile Mariam | work = BBC News Online | language = English | date = December 12, 2006 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6171927.stm | accessdate = 2006-12-13}}.</ref>

<ref>Other accounts state [[May 21]] [[1941]][http://whp057.narod.ru/efiop.htm], [[May 27]], [[1941]][http://rulers.org/indexm3.html]</ref>) was the [[President of Ethiopia]] from [[1977]] to [[1991]]. During much of this period, the country was led by the Mengistu-allied [[Workers' Party of Ethiopia]]. In December 2006, he was convicted of [[genocide]] ''[[in absentia]]'' for his role in a domestic terror campaign known as [[Red Terror (Ethiopia)|the Red Terror]] (1977-1978).<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6171429.stm BBC, "Mengistu found guilty of genocide," 12 December 2006.]</ref>

In subsequent years "Doc Milo", as colleagues called him, inaugurated criminal pathology in the USA.

==Family history==

{{cite-section}}

On his mother's side, Mengistu is said to be a direct descendant of [[Zauditu of Ethiopia|Empress Zewditu]]'s maid and [[Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles|Dejazmach]] [[Kebede Tesemma]], an aristocrat known for his involvement in a series of court intrigues. Kebede was Zewditu's butler in the 1920s, and a confidante of the Regent, Ras Tafari Makonnen, later Emperor [[Haile Selassie]].

As an outstanding specialist he was also involved in investigations of crimes perpetrated by the [[Al Capone]] gang. He was one of the founders of the [[International Academy for Forensic Medicine]], member of many American and European scientific societies and academies, and also vice president of the [http://www.croatianfraternalunion.org/ Croatian Fraternal Union (CFU)] in the USA.

Kebede met Mengistu's grandmother, while she was an umbrella bearer to Zewditu. In defiance of court custom, he made her pregnant, and Mengistu's mother was born. Kebede's uncle prostrated himself before the queen and took the blame. Zewditu ordered Totit to leave the palace. The child was brought up at Kebede's home.

In 1932 he moved to Zagreb, where he was a full professor at the Faculty of medicine until 1944, when he moved again to the USA. He was lecturing also pastoral medicine at the Faculty of Theology in Zagreb, and was known as ardent adversary of abortion and euthanasia. In 1940 he was elected member of the prestigious "Medico-Legal Society" in London, in 1941 promoted the full member of the Tzarist Leopoldine Carolingue [[Academy of Natural Sciences]] in Germany, and doctor "honoris causa" at the University of Vienna, where he started his scientific career.

Zewditu died mysteriously in her palace on the same day her [[Gondar]]e husband, [[Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles|Ras]] [[Gugsa Wole]], was killed in battle. Swiss doctor, Aner was suspected of carrying out an [[assassination]]. It is uncertain whether or not Kebede knew of the doctor's mission.

It is important to note that after his initiative in 1941 the Faculty of Medicine in Sarajevo was founded in 1944 during the NDH regime.

Mengistu's grandmother was still alive when he seized power, and had become a nun of the [[Ethiopian Orthodox]] faith. On the special orders of her grandson, the [[nationalization]] of land did not apply to her. She continued to own the land near the [[Holotta Military School]] just 30 miles from [[Addis Ababa]], which Zewditu had granted her for services prior to her expulsion from the palace in [[1928]].

===Katyn wood===

Mengistu's father was a former slave who was bought by an aristocratic sub-provincial governor, the [[Shoa]]n landowner [[Afenegus Eshete Geda]]. Eshete encountered Mengistu's father, [[Haile Mariam]], while he was on a hunting expedition at the administrative district of [[Gimira]] and [[Maji]], (in Southern Ethiopia) then under the governorship of Dejazmach [[Taye Gulilat]].

In 1943 investigation of the killing of 12,000 Polish officers perpetrated by Soviets in the [[Katyn massacre|Katyn]] wood in 1940. One of the great tragedies of [[World War II|the Second World War]] was the killing of 12,000 Polish officers in the Katyn wood (Poland) in 1940. Also a [[mass grave]] with more than thousand Ukrainian peasants and workers in Vinica (Ukraine), killed in 1938, was found by Germans. The Soviets accused Germans for these horrible crimes, and vice versa. Among leading European experts from 12 countries in [[Anatomical pathology|pathological anatomy]], two Croatian specialists were invited by the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] to take part in the investigation in 1943: prof.dr. '''Eduard Miloslavic''' and prof.dr. Ljudevit Jurak. The result was that this cold-blooded mass killing was committed by the Soviets. Prof.dr. Miloslavic emigrated in time to the USA(St.Louis, Missouri), where he was working until his death, while prof. Jurak remained in Zagreb, and was imprisoned on the demand of the Russian NKVD by the Yugoslav communists in May 1945. It was offered to him that he would not be accused as a military criminal and that his life would be spared if he declared that his report for the Red Cross Comeetee had been signed under pressure. He refused to do so, fully aware of the consequence.

According to an article published in Vjesnik, December 27, 1992, due to his testimonies related to Katyn wood tragedy, Prof. Miloslavic was [[Capital punishment|sentenced to death]] in absence by the ex-Yugoslavia.

==Early life==

As a child, Mengistu endured derogatory comments about his [[Negroid]] features and dark color -- rooted in the [[Konso]] background on his father's side. As a result, he grew to distrust all light-colored Ethiopians with non-Negroid features. When he took power, and attended the meeting of [[Derg]] members at the 4th Division headquarters in Addis Ababa, Mengistu exclaimed with emotion:

<blockquote>In this country, some aristocratic families automatically categorize persons with dark skin, thick lips, and kinky hair as "Barias"... ([[Amharic]] for slave); let it be clear to everybody that I shall soon make these ignoramuses stoop and grind corn! </blockquote>

===Military service===

Mengistu was one of a committee of low ranking officers and enlisted soldiers known as the [[Derg]] who in [[1974]] overthrew Emperor [[Haile Selassie]]. Selassie's regime had lost public confidence following a [[BBC]]-produced documentary by [[Jonathan Dimbleby]] highlighting a famine in [[Wollo]] province. The Derg were able to undermine the imperial regime owing to the Emperor's advanced age, the failure of local officials to notify him of the situation, the demands of radical students for reform, and the economic stress caused by the 1973 [[OPEC]] oil [[embargo]].{{cn}}

Selassie died the following year. It has been rumoured that he was strangled on orders from Mengistu himself, though Mengistu has denied these reports.{{cn}} Although several groups were involved in the overthrow, the [[Derg]] succeeded to power.

==Leadership in Ethiopia==

Mengistu formally assumed power as head of state and Derg chairman in [[1977]], although he had wielded power behind the scenes long before.{{cn}} The transition of power resulted in the execution of two of Mengistu's predecessors as head of state. Under Mengistu, Ethiopia received aid from the [[Soviet Union]], other members of the [[Warsaw Pact]], and [[Cuba]].{{cn}}

===Red Terror===

From 1977 through early 1978, a rebellion against the new communist government ensued. In response to [[guerrilla]] attacks from the anti-Mengistu [[Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party]] (EPRP), Mengistu declared that the EPRP had begun a campaign of "[[White Terror]]." Anti-Mengistu forces, however, accused Mengistu's Workers Party of waging a campaign of "[[Ethiopian Civil War|Red Terror]]."

Mengistu's campaign against anti-government guerrillas was launched with a speech delivered in Revolution (formerly ''Maskal'' or "Holy Cross") Square in the heart of [[Addis Ababa]]. He included the [[Eritrea]]n secessionists ''Shabia'' or [[Eritrean People's Liberation Front]] (EPLF), ''Jebha'' or the [[Eritrean Liberation Front]] (ELF), the monarchist [[Ethiopian Democratic Union]] (EDU), the ''Woyane'' or [[Tigrayan People's Liberation Front]] (TPLF) and the [[Western Somali Liberation Front]] (WSLF) in this hunt along with the EPRP.

Mengistu gave counter-insurgency forces the authority to arrest, detain, and execute insurgents. From [[1977]]-[[1978|78]], counter-insurgency forces pursued countless suspected insurgents. Military gains made by the monarchist EDU in [[Begemder]] were rolled back when that party split just as it was on the verge of capturing the old capital of [[Gondar]]. The army of the Republic of [[Somalia]] stepped in to aid the WSLF in the [[Ogaden]] region, and was on the verge of capturing [[Harrar]] and [[Dire Dawa]], when Somalia's erstwhile allies, the Soviets and the Cubans, launched an unprecedented arms and personnel airlift to come to Ethiopia's rescue. The Derg regime turned back the Somali invasion, and made deep strides against the Eritrean secessionists and the TPLF as well. By the end of the seventies, Mengistu presided over the second largest army in all of sub-Saharan Africa, and a formidable airforce and navy as well.

During this period, tens of thousands of Mengistu's political opponents disappeared. Mengistu has subsequently been tried and convicted for [[genocide]] for his role in these disappearances.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6171429.stm "Mengistu found guilty of genocide], BBC News, 12 December 2006.</ref>

After out-maneuvering his rivals inside the Derg and his foes in the EPRP, Mengistu had a rift with the other major Marxist group that had originally supported him, the [[All-Ethiopia Socialist Movement]] (MEISON). He feared that its members had more loyalty to their party and to [[Marxist]] ideology than to the ruling Derg government and himself. By [[1978]], he had effectively eliminated all potential opposition from the EPRP and MEISON through three phases of purges; the first targeting the EPRP, the second targeting MEISON, and the third eliminating remnants of both groups. Meanwhile, he was still fighting against various opposition groups all around the nation. The ceaseless campaign in the north was brutal, and resulted in civilian casualties reaching into the thousands. For example, in the Tigrayan town of Hawzen, Ethiopian Air Force fighter jets in pursuit of insurgents dropped cluster bombs on the town's market, killing many.<ref>[http://www.sef-bonn.org/download/veranstaltungen/2000/2000_ws-transformation_rede_abraham_en.pdf Cluster bombs used on civilians in Tigray]</ref>

In 1984, Mengistu denied that famine was ravaging the north of the country. [[United Nations]] aid workers said Mengistu flew in planes filled with "loads of whisky" to celebrate the anniversary of his revolution. Meanwhile in Ethiopia, around one million more people died of starvation. <ref>[http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2006/05/22/ethiopias_mengistu_faces_genocide_trial_verdict/ One million people died in starvation kept secret]</ref> The killings continued throughout the decade and no one was spared from them as thousands of students, around 10,000 uneducated peasants and thousands of opposition group members (even inside Addis Ababa) were murdered until Mengistu's last days in Ethiopia.<ref>[http://www.sef-bonn.org/download/veranstaltungen/2000/2000_ws-transformation_rede_abraham_en.pdf Cluster bombs used on civilians in Tigray]</ref>

===Embracing Marxism===

In the 1970s, Mengistu embraced the philosophy of [[Marxism-Leninism]], which was increasingly popular throughout Africa and much of the [[Third World]] in the 1970s among many nationalists and revolutionaries. By the beginning of 1978, Mengistu was killing his own friends and comrades at will.<ref>[http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=20318 Mengistu's massacre of his own party members]</ref> Eighty of the 120 of his own original Party leaders were executed by his order. Mengistu justified their killing by saying,

<blockquote>"the revolution needed to be fed by the blood of traitors".<ref>[http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=20318 Mengistu quote]</ref> </blockquote>

By the end of 1978, the civil war was largely over, with Mengistu remaining in office. Mengistu, however, remained unpopular among large segments of the population and would find it increasingly difficult in the following years to deal with problems of widespread hunger. He had managed however to instil a culture of fear that kept him firmly in power.{{fact}}

In the early [[1980s]], under Mengistu's direction, Ethiopia adopted a constitution modelled after that of the Soviet Union and saw the establishment of the Marxist-Leninist [[Worker's Party of Ethiopia]] (WPE), now the country's ruling party. During the period, all foreign-owned companies were [[Nationalization|nationalized]] without compensation in an effort to redistribute the country's wealth.

On [[September 10]], [[1987]], Mengistu became a civilian president under a new constitution, and the country was renamed the [[People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia]].

===Famine and insurrections===

Mengistu's government was faced with enormous difficulties throughout the 1980s in the form of [[drought]]s, widespread [[famine]] (notably the [[1984 - 1985 famine in Ethiopia|Ethiopian famine]] of [[1984]] - [[1985]]) and insurrections, particularly in the northern regions of [[Tigray Province|Tigray]] and [[Eritrea]].

In [[1989]], the TPLF merged with other ethnically-based opposition movements to form the [[Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front]] (EPRDF). At that time, various anti-Mengistu forces and liberation fronts were forming from North, from North-west and from the [[Oromia]]-dominant south of the country. Meanwhile, in the United States, the [[Heritage Foundation]]'s Africa expert, [[Michael Johns (executive)|Michael Johns]], labeled Mengistu's government "one of this century's most repressive regimes" and urged the [[George H. W. Bush]] administration to support Ethiopia's resistance and seek regime change as official United States policy.<ref name="heritage-1989">{{cite news

| last = Johns

| first = Michael

| title = A U.S. Strategy to Foster Human Rights in Ethiopia

| work = Heritage Backgrounder No. 692

| publisher = The Heritage Foundation

| date = [[February 23]], [[1989]]

| url = http://www.heritage.org/research/MiddleEast/bg692.cfm

}}</ref>

===Fleeing to Zimbabwe===

In May 1991, EPRDF forces advanced on [[Addis Ababa]] and Mengistu was forced to flee the country with 50 family and Derg members. He was granted asylum in [[Zimbabwe]], as an official "guest" of [[Robert Mugabe]], the president of that country. He left behind almost the entire membership of the original Derg and the WPE leadership which was promptly arrested and put on trial upon the assumption of power by the EPRDF. Mengistu himself blames the collapse of his government on [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] for letting the [[Soviet Union]] collapse and hence cutting off its aid to Ethiopia.

Mengistu still resides in Zimbabwe, despite attempts by Ethiopia to [[extradite]] him to face trial by the current Ethiopian authorities.

==Trial and conviction for genocide==

The trial began in 1994 and ended in 2006. 106 Derg officials were accused of genocide, but only 36 of them were present in the court. Several former members of the Derg have been sentenced to death ''in absentia''. Mengistu was tried and convicted ''in absentia'' for genocide during the [[Red Terror (Ethiopia)|Red Terror]]. [[Robert Mugabe]], the president of [[Zimbabwe]], had previously refused to [[extradite]] Mengistu.

==References==

<references/>

==External links ==

*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/581098.stm "Mengistu defends Red Terror"], [[BBC News]], [[December 28]], [[1999]].

*[http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/asylum/ric/documentation/ETH00003b.htm "Timeline of "Red Terror"], U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 1989.

*[http://www.heritage.org/research/MiddleEast/bg692.cfm "A U.S. Strategy to Foster Human Rights in Ethiopia"], by Michael Johns, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder # 692, [[February 23]], [[1989]].

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|NAME=Mengistu Haile Mariam

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|DATE OF BIRTH=[[May 21]] [[1941]]

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|DATE OF DEATH=

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