Derg

The Derg, short for Derg (Amharic for "committee"), was a military junta that ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991 after the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie. It began as the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), a collective of senior army officers who seized power following the Ethiopian Revolution in 1974. In 1977 the PMAC evolved into the Derg as the dominant ruling body, with Mengistu Haile Mariam emerging as its leading figure and later serving as head of state.

Under the Derg, the imperial government was dismantled and the regime pursued socialist-leaning reforms. The state nationalized land and large sections of the economy, ended feudal privileges, and attempted centralized planning. The Derg eventually established a one-party state under the Ethiopian Workers' Party, later reorganized into the state structure of the People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in 1987. The government suppressed dissent through censorship, political purges, and mass arrests.

The period was marked by extensive violence and human rights abuses, most notably the Red Terror of the late 1970s, which targeted perceived opponents and led to thousands of deaths and displacements. The Derg also faced sustained armed opposition from multiple groups, including socialist and anti-communist factions, as well as regional and ethnic movements. It fought the Eritrean independence movement—culminating in Eritrean independence in 1991—and engaged in the Ogaden War with Somalia in 1977–78.

Internationally, the Derg aligned with the Soviet Union and its allies during the Cold War, receiving military and economic support, while relations with the United States fluctuated over human rights concerns.

The regime collapsed in 1991 after the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front captured Addis Ababa. Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe, where he remained in exile as the country transitioned to a new political order, leaving a legacy of political repression, famine, and lasting impact on Ethiopian politics and society.

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