He was an “obscure” army officer
Born in 1937 in Walayitta, Ethiopia, Mengistu joined the army and graduated from military academy in 1966. He rose to the rank of major and in June 1974, he was made chairman of the Armed Forces Coordinating Committee (otherwise known as the Dergue), a committee of revolutionary soldiers, drawn from all regions of Ethiopia. As Reuters reported, Mengistu was an “obscure army officer” at the time of the 1974 revolution that ousted the emperor. Through power struggles, he made his way to the top in the military junta, emerging leader. He got rid of his rivals from within the Dergue and sent some sixty senior officials of the emperor’s government to the firing squad. Then his reign of terror began.
