33. On seizing power, the Derg installed a government that was socialist in name and military in style. Lt. Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam assumed power as Head of State and Derg Chairman, after having his two predecessors killed. Mengistu’s years in office were marked by a totalitarian-style government and the country’s massive militarisation. From 1977 through early 1978, thousands of suspected enemies of the Derg were tortured and/or killed in a purge called the “red terror.” Communism was officially adopted during the late 1970s and early 1980s, with the promulgation of a Soviet-style constitution, a Politburo, and the creation of the Workers’ Party of Ethiopia (WPE). 34. A conspiracy of a host of local and international factors precipitated the regime’s disintegration. The horrid spectacle of starving people in Welo and Tigray, amidst the pompous parades and celebrations of 1984-85, eroded local and international support for the regime.5 This was worsened by the regime’s failure to initiate dialogue with various armed groups, and war with Somalia. Political changes in the USSR and Eastern Europe compounded Mengistu’s problems. 35. The Derg’s collapse was hastened by the armed struggle of the masses, particularly in the northern regions of Tigray and Eritrea. In 1989, the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) merged with other opposition movements, some of which were ethnically based, to form the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). In May 1991, EPRDF forces advanced on Addis Ababa. Mengistu fled the country for asylum in Zimbabwe, where he still resides. The new regime of General Tesfaye Gebrekidan collapsed within a week (21-27 May 1991).6 36. Following the fall of the Derg regime in May 1991, the victorious rebel movements set about the task of forming a transitional government. On 1 June 1991, a provisional government was formed with Ato Melese Zenawi, Chairman of the EPRDF, as President. In July 1991, the EPRDF, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), and others, established the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE), made up of an 87-member Council of Representatives and guided by a national charter that functioned as a transitional constitution. In June 1992, the OLF withdrew from the government. In March 1993, members of the Southern Ethiopia Peoples’ Democratic Coalition left the government.7  5 Paul B. Henze (2007), Ethiopia in Mengistu’s Final Years: The Derg in Decline Vol. 1 (Shama Books, Addis Abeba). 6 Kinfe Abraham (1994), Ethiopia: From Bullets to the Ballot Box (RSP, Lawrenceville, NJ). 7 In May 1991, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF), led by Isaias Afwerki, assumed control of Eritrea and established a provisional government. This provisional government independently administered Eritrea until 23-25 April 1993, when Eritreans voted overwhelmingly for independence in a UN-monitored referendum. With Ethiopia’s consent, Eritrea was declared independent on 27 April 1993, and the United States recognized its independence on 28 April 1993.  - 50 -