Unsubstantiated accounts allege that Mengistu Haile Mariam's mother was the illegitimate daughter of Dejazmatch Kebede Tessema, a high ranking nobleman and Crown Councilor to Emperor Haile Selassie, and himself suspected of being the illegitimate son of Emperor Menelik II.

These rumors of Mengistu being the grandson of Dejazmatch Kebede are widely believed, but have never been confirmed by either Mengistu himself or by the late nobleman's family.

Mengistu himself is alleged to have murdered opponents by garroting or shooting them, saying that he was leading by example.

Although a professed admirer of Geldof's generosity and concern, Fox News Channel television host Bill O ' Reilly has been critical of the Live Aid producer's oversight of the money raised for starving Ethiopian people, claiming ( in June 2005 ) that much of the funds were siphoned off by Mengistu Haile Mariam and his army.

It is rumored that Mengistu smothered the Emperor using a pillow case, but Mengistu has denied these rumors.

Mengistu has claimed that the takeover of his country resulted from the policies of Mikhail Gorbachev, who in his view allowed the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the termination of its aid to Ethiopia.

The Derg, the new Ethiopian government, was a Marxist military junta led by strongman Mengistu Haile Mariam.

There were strikes and demonstrations in Addis Ababa in 1974 ; and in February of that year, Haile Selassie ’ s government was replaced by the Derg, a military junta led by Mengistu Hailemariam ; but the Council was still Amhara-dominated, with only 25 non-Amhara members out of 125.

Mengistu Haile Mariam (, pronounced ; born 21 May 1937 ) is an Ethiopian politician who was the most prominent officer of the Derg, the Communist military junta that governed Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987, and President of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia from 1987 to 1991.

When he took power, and attended the meeting of Derg members at the Fourth Division headquarters in Addis Ababa, Mengistu exclaimed with emotion:

Between July and September 1974, Mengistu became the most influential member of the shadowy Derg, but preferred to act through more public members like his former mentor, general Aman Andom, and later Tafari Benti.

Mengistu did not emerge as the leader of the Derg until after the 3 February 1977 shootout, in which Tafari Banti was killed.

The vice chairman of the Derg, Atnafu Abate, although with some support at this time, clashed with Mengistu over the issue of how to handle the war in Eritrea and lost leading to his execution with 40 other officers, clearing the way for Mengistu to become the complete master of the situation.

In May 1991, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front ( EPRDF ) forces advanced on Addis Ababa from all sides, and Mengistu fled the country with 50 family and Derg members.

Mengistu left behind almost the entire membership of the original Derg and the WPE leadership, precluding their escape ; in fact, one officer was caught twice while trying to escape from Addis Ababa.

Four years later, the pro-American Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown in a 1974 coup by the Derg, a radical group of Ethiopian army officers led by the pro-Soviet Mengistu Haile Mariam, who built up relations with the Cubans and Soviets.

The TPLF had been from its modest beginnings in the early 1970s, had been a protégé and close ally of the Eritrean People ’ s Liberation Front ( EPLF ) and in 1988 a secret agreement between the two had decided that, once the Derg regime led by Mengistu Haile Mariam had been overthrown, the TPLF would assume power in Addis Ababa and accept a referendum on independence in Eritrea.

Tesfaye was a student at Holetta Military Academy, where he met Mengistu Haile Mariam ; according to Gebru Tareke, along with Legesse Asfaw and Gebreyes Wolde Hana Tesfaye was part of Mengistu's inner circle, his " pals Mengistu knew more intimately in less pressing times, men who played and drank with him and stood by him during the bloody factional days of the Derg.

With Atnafu Abate, he managed to avoid the infamous Derg meeting of 3 February 1977, where a number of Derg leaders, including chairman Lieutenant General Tafari Benti, were killed in an ambush orchestrated by Mengistu Haile Mariam ; the Ottaways assume that he " had apparently sided with Mengistu.

During a general assembly of the Derg two days later, Mengistu Haile Mariam demanded that 5, 000 men be dispatched to Eritrea and six imprisoned Imperial officials be executed ; Aman Andom refused, resigned his official posts and retired to his house where he secretly sent appeals to his supporters, especially those in the Third Division.

Mengistu Haile Mariam served as interim president until the Derg appointed Tafari Bente to the position.

This meeting ended with the deaths of not only Tafari and the two captains, but four other Derg members who had been opposed to Mengistu-Lieutenant Colonel Asrat Desta, Lieutenant Colonel Heruy Haile Selassie, Captain Tefera Denke, and Corporal Haile Belay-as well as one Derg member who supported Mengistu, Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Asfaw, and a civilian Senay Likke.

" A number of Derg members, including Mengistu, had met that morning to discuss a document which described the " class peace " Tafari Bente had publicly endorsed, and after hours of arguing, it was clear that there was a deadlock on the issue.

Mengistu then asked that Tafari attend the meeting, and met the Chairman of the Derg outside who told Mengistu that there was nothing to discuss ; tempers flared, a soldier belonging to the anti-Mengistu faction started shooting, and Mengistu's bodyguards opened fire, killing Tafari instantly and fatally wounding Senay Likke ; Mengistu then took the 12. 7 machine gun from the armed car outside the meeting room and sprayed the corridor and entrance to the meeting room, slaughtering the others.

In response, the then leader of Ethiopia Mengistu Haile Mariam ordered Massawa bombed from the air, resulting in considerable damage.

Following these victories, Johns and the Heritage Foundation urged further expanding the Reagan Doctrine to Ethiopia, where they argued that the Ethiopian famine was a product of the military and agricultural policies of Ethiopia's Soviet-supported Mengistu Haile Mariam government.

But Mengistu managed to intercept these appeals.

Thus, when the brothers Mengistu Neway and Germame, supported by the Imperial Bodyguard and the government security force, seized control of the capital on 13 December 1960, these three men and Ras Abebe were taken hostage.

After internal conflicts, that resulted in the deaths of General Tafari Benti and several of his supporters by November 1977, and the later elimination and execution of Colonel Atnafu Abate, Mengistu gained undisputed leadership of the Derg.

Fidel Castro was a friend of the Marxist-Leninist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, whose regime killed hundreds of thousands during the Ethiopian Red Terror of the late 1970s and who was later convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Castro backed Mengistu Haile Mariam even when the latter had a war with the Somalian Marxist-Leninist dictator Siad Barre.

The fall of the Siad Barre and Mengistu governments in Somalia and Ethiopia, respectively, in 1991, caused Djibouti to face national security threats due to the instability in the neighboring states and a massive influx of refugees estimated at 100, 000 from Somalia and Ethiopia.

At the end of the 1980s the Soviet Union informed Mengistu that it would not be renewing its defense and cooperation agreement.

The United States played a facilitative role in the peace talks in Washington during the months leading up to the May 1991 fall of the Mengistu regime.

In mid-May, Mengistu resigned as head of the Ethiopian Government and went into exile in Zimbabwe, leaving a caretaker government in Addis Ababa.

Following the collapse of the Mengistu government, Eritrean independence began drawing influential interest and support from the United States.

Although some EPLF cadres at one time espoused a Marxist ideology, Soviet support for Mengistu had cooled their ardor.

In May 1991, a coalition of rebel forces under the name Ethiopian people liberation front ( EPRDF ) defeated the government of Mengistu regime.

The Eritrean People's Liberation Front ( EPLF ), an ally in the fight against the Mengistu regime, assumed control of Eritrea and established a provisional government.

Together with Fidel Castro and other Communist leaders, Gaddafi supported Soviet protege Haile Mariam Mengistu, the military ruler of Ethiopia, who was later convicted for a genocide that killed thousands.

* 1991 – Mengistu Haile Mariam, president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, flees Ethiopia, effectively bringing the Ethiopian Civil War to an end.

* 1974-Military coup in Ethiopia led to the overthrown of Haile Selassie by the communist junta led by General Aman Andom and Mengistu Haile Mariam, ending one of the world's longest lasting monarchies in history.

** Mengistu Haile Mariam, president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, flees Ethiopia, effectively bringing the Ethiopian Civil War to an end.

* May 16 – Ethiopia Coup Attempt: Senior military officers staged a coup attempt in Ethiopia hours after President Mengistu Haile Mariam left on a visit to East Germany.

In 1993, Wolde was arrested on the accusation that he participated in a Red Terror execution during the regime of the dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam.

Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe in 1991 at the conclusion of the Ethiopian Civil War, and remains there despite an Ethiopian court verdict finding him guilty in absentia of genocide.