Fall of the Derg

Overview

The fall of the Derg was a military campaign that resulted in the defeat of the ruling Marxist–Leninist military junta, the Derg, by the rebel coalition Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) on 28 May 1991 in Addis Ababa, ending the Ethiopian Civil War. The Derg in 1974 had taken power after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie and the Solomonic dynasty, an imperial dynasty of Ethiopia that began in 1270. The Derg suffered from insurgencies by different factions of separatist rebel groups since its early years, beginning with the Ethiopian Civil War. The 1983–1985 famine, the Red Terror, and resettlement and villagization made the Derg unpopular with the majority of Ethiopians tending to support insurgent groups like the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF).

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The EPRDF's capture of Addis Ababa on 28 May 1991 ended seventeen years of Derg rule and concluded the Ethiopian Civil War. The Derg had seized power in 1974 by deposing Emperor Haile Selassie and dismantling the Solomonic dynasty, which had governed Ethiopia since 1270. Its Marxist-Leninist military government faced sustained insurgency from its earliest years, and its standing was further eroded by the 1983–1985 famine, the campaign of political killings known as the Red Terror, and coercive resettlement and villagization programs. These policies drove broad popular support toward rebel movements including the TPLF and EPLF, undercutting the regime's capacity to sustain the war. The fall of Addis Ababa to the EPRDF marked the definitive military defeat of the junta and transferred state power to the rebel coalition, closing a civil conflict that had run the full length of Derg rule.