 | Remarkably small and frail for his famed ferocity, imprisoned Major Melaku Tefera almost always stood in the proud poise of a solider half his age, utterly expressionless—the picture perfect stoic— as he listened attentively to multitude of witnesses’ |
account of his dreaded years at the helm of Begemder and Simen, one of Ethiopia’s twelve provinces in the 70’s.
Hot-tempered and ambitious (but probably impeded by having graduated at the bottom of his class—34th out of 38, according to a recent book),Melaku was barely 25 years old when he stormed in to the near-anarchic regional capital, Gonder, as an administrator-extraordinaire allotted with unlimited power. Confronted by an urban youth that had almost rebelled against the state in its virtual entirety, and a well-armed rural based opposition, EDU, an outfit led by close relatives and senior officials of deposed Haile-Selassie, inexperienced Melaku was supremely under-qualified to be any regime’s point-man to stave off disaster in a critical province. But stave off disinter was exactly what he went on to do—surprising both his friends and critics.Read More
Hot-tempered and ambitious (but probably impeded by having graduated at the bottom of his class—34th out of 38, according to a recent book),Melaku was barely 25 years old when he stormed in to the near-anarchic regional capital, Gonder, as an administrator-extraordinaire allotted with unlimited power. Confronted by an urban youth that had almost rebelled against the state in its virtual entirety, and a well-armed rural based opposition, EDU, an outfit led by close relatives and senior officials of deposed Haile-Selassie, inexperienced Melaku was supremely under-qualified to be any regime’s point-man to stave off disaster in a critical province. But stave off disinter was exactly what he went on to do—surprising both his friends and critics.Read More
1 comment:
Eskinder,
Thank you for your thoughtful presentation. It always pays dividends to put emotions aside and find the devil in the details.
It is a fact that Tigray People’s Liberation Front (aka EPRDF) is guilty of GENOCIDE as documented numerous times. As an ethnically based organization, this was the case both before they seized power, and afterward as well. Aside from the comedy of TPLF trying Derg officials, this little venture of convicting the officials with “genocide” is a way of trying to paint a better picture of themselves, or at least to convince us that they are no worse than the Derg. This is a bit embarrassing.
Ironically, this is an indication of a rejection by Ethiopians of the idea that Derg was an ethnic based junta, as TPLFites continue to assert.
Thank you.
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