Ethiopia re-buries victims of Mengistu regime’s
May 27, 2007 (ADDIS ABABA) — Tens of thousands of Ethiopians marched on Sunday to re-bury victims of the Mengistu regime’s “Red Terror” purge who were dumped in mass graves after being left on street corners as a warning to others.
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.
Retired Lt. Col. Berhaun Meshesha, 80, whose lost his five children between ages 12 and 18, recalled how Mengistu’s Revolutionary Guards stormed his house 30 years ago.
“They pulled my children who were still sleeping out of their beds and took them off barefoot. We were later told they were all killed,” tears coursing down his face.
“I am here today because I believe the remains of my children could be among those who we are being given a decent burial.”
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.
Thousands of grieving family members carrying photographs of the deceased joined Sunday’s procession to the site where a mausoleum that is going to be built will herald the victims as martyrs with a sign declaring: “Never Again in Ethiopia.”
Abebe Hailue, 75, who lost his only son in the Red Terror called on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, to extradite Mengistu so he can face justice.
“Ethiopia helped Mugabe in his struggle for independence. How can he pay us back by giving sanctuary to a man who massacred our young children, who had never committed any crime?” he asked.
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.
(Reuters)