ETHIOPIA: Ethiopia reburies victims of Mengistu's "Red Terror" purge

Record ID: 456307

  • Title: ETHIOPIA: Ethiopia reburies victims of Mengistu's "Red Terror" purge
  • Date: 5th June 2007
  • Summary: POLICE BAND VARIOUS OF FUNERAL CORTEGE PHOTOGRAPHS OF VICTIMS/WOMAN HOLDING PHOTOS WOMAN, A RELATIVE, CRYING BANNERS DENOUNCING MENGISTU'S "RED TERROR" VARIOUS OF FUNERAL CORTEGE GOING THROUGH STREETS CROWD OF MOURNERS ARRIVING AT MESKEL SQUARE PHOTOGRAPHS OF VICTIMS EXHUMED REMAINS OF VICTIMS IN COFFIN BEING CARRIED ON PLATFORM AND LAID ALONGSIDE OTHER COFFINS VIEW OF 27 COFFINS COVERED WITH A FLAG AND FLOWERS CROWD WOMAN, RELATIVE, HOLDING PHOTO AND CRYING CROWD INCLUDING MAYOR OF ADDIS ABABA, BERHANE DERESA, OBSERVING A MINUTE OF SILENCE MAN LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (Amharic) BERHANE DERESA, MAYOR OF ADDIS ABABA, SAYING: "Today we remember those killed in the "Red Terror" by the Dergue Regime; 100,000 Ethiopian youth and intellectuals." ADISU LEGESE, ETHIOPIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, LAYING A WREATH NEAR COFFINS COFFINS RETIRED LIEUTENANT COLONEL BERHAUN MESHESHA, WHO LOST FIVE CHILDREN, LAYING A WREATH COFFINS WITH TRUMPETS PLAYING
  • Embargoed: 20th June 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ethiopia
  • Country: Ethiopia
  • Topics: History,Obituaries
  • Reuters ID: LVAETX6Z7Y714AJRQSNU55VNQIR1
  • Story Text: Tens of thousands of Ethiopians marched on Sunday (May 27) to rebury victims of the Mengistu regime's "Red Terror" purge who were dumped in mass graves.
    The remains were exhumed from mass graves on the outskirts of the capital. The bodies were dumped there after they were gathered from street corners where they had been thrown as warning to others who dared to oppose Mengistu.
    The crowds joined a funeral cortege of 27 caskets carried by black-draped vehicles and a military band playing sombre songs, as it rolled down the main avenues of the capital Addis Ababa to the city's main Meskel Square. Church bells tolled and the city observed a minute's silence to remember the victims of a slaughter carried out on the orders of Marxist ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1977-78 in which as many as 100,000 of his potential opponents were murdered.
    Thousands of grieving family members carrying photographs of the deceased joined Sunday's procession to the site where a mausoleum will be built to herald the victims as martyrs with a sign declaring: "Never Again in Ethiopia."
    "Today we remember those killed in the "Red Terror" by the Dergue Regime; 100,000 Ethiopian youth and intellectuals," said Berhane Meshesha, the Mayor of Addis Ababa during a speech he gave at the site. Other high-level government official laid wreaths for the victims.
    One notable figure was Retired Lt. Col. Berhaun Meshesha, 80, whose lost his five children between ages 12 and 18, after Mengistu's Revolutionary Guards stormed his house 30 years ago.
    Mengistu lives in luxurious exile in a wealthy neighbourhood under the protection of Mugabe's government in Zimbabwe, where he fled in 1991 after guerrillas led by current Prime Minister Meles Zenawi overthrew his 17-year regime.
    After a 12-year trial, a court in January sentenced Mengistu in absentia to life in prison for genocide during his rule, but Zimbabwe said it had no plans to extradite him.
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