The 28th of May 1991 is a hotly debated day in Ethiopia’s history. A day in which a rag tag Rebel group seized control over the last colonial state in Africa. Mengistu Haie Meriam and officials from the Communist Derg Regime where whisked off in a private jet to Zimbabwe, as insurgents surrounded the capital but the story doesn’t start there.
Prior to the collapse of the Derg in 1991 there was an intense yet low level proxy war being waged in the Horn Africa between two states. The Republic of Somalia and the imperial nation of Ethiopia. Both camps arming, training and funding Rebel groups to topple one another. The Derg regime in Ethiopia backing Clan based rebel groups in Somalia, while the Kacaan (Revolutionary) Government of Somalia propped up various armed ethnic groups in Ethiopia.
Experts that where monitoring the situation at the time compared it to a Vietnam style chess game. Two foes that wanted to destroy one another but used proxies to do there dirty work. It was less risker than a full scale conflict but was still considered war.
Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Eritrean People Liberation Front (EPLF) where some of the many Rebel groups and armed factions based in Mogadishu, Somalia and nurtured under the wings of former President Mohamed Siad Barre. This is when a peasant from the Northern Ethiopian enclave of Mekeele (Meles Zenawi) and a Red Sea native (Isias Afwerki) rose to prominence.
EPLF and TPLF where Headquartered in Mogadishu for the most part of the 70’s and the entire 80’s. Both groups travelled abroad on Somali diplomatic passports and where granted training camps throughout the Somali Republic, with unlimited access to government funds.
During the duration of that period both Rebel groups where able to wage a relentless onslaught against the Derg. Armed clashes and guerrilla warfare plagued the country. Urban battles and trench style combat demoralized and ultimately sparked mass defections within the army. The days leading up to the defeat of the Derg where spectacular yet carried so much uncertainty. Ethiopian troops have lost control of large swaths of territory in the country. Most notably the territory adjacent to the Red Sea (Modern day Eritrea) and the Rebel held Tigray region. Along with large pockets of territory in occupied Western Somalia (Ogaden).
When the 28th of May hit. Nobody knew what to expect. Rebel forces stormed the capital as the last flight out of Addis Ababa that day whisked Mengistu and company to safety. The 28th of May is a bitter sweet day in the eyes of those that waged a struggle against Abyssinian imperialism as the Amhara where ousted from power putting an end to centuries of subjugation.
Unfortunately this victory was short lived, in particular for the Somalis, who where the back bone of Mengistu’s ousting and ending Amhara rule. Sure Eritrea gained its much deserved independence but what awaited Somalis was like nothing before. The peasant from Mekeele (Meles Zenawi) who seized power in Addis Ababa after being sheltered for well over a decade in Mogadishu bit the hand that fed him and unleashed systematic genocide and war crimes in occupied Western Somalia (Ogaden) for the next 21 years up until his death.
It got to a point in which Meles even leveled Mogadishu to the ground, while fighting America’s War on Terror. The 28th of May remains a heated topic among the warring ethnic groups in the Horn of Africa, filled with joy, anger and anguish. A day that wiil remain controversial for many decades to come.
Written by Mohamed Abdulkaadir
