MENGISTU HAILE MARIAM

Former dictator Mengistu back in Zimbabwe; says the present Ethiopian rulers are a bunch of a minority from the "Tigray tribe": Interview with Veronic Edwards

1999

Written: December 8, 1999
Published: December 9, 1999
Source: BBC Network Africa, December 8, 1999, printed in Press Digest (Addis Ababa), Vol. VI, No. 49, 9 December 1999, pp. 4-5
Digitalisation: Vishnu Bachani
Proof-reading: Vishnu Bachani
HTML: Vishnu Bachani

The former Ethiopian dictator Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam is now back in his exile home in Zimbabwe, after receiving medical treatment in South Africa. Reports say that Ethiopian authorities had asked the South African government to extradite the former head of state to Ethiopia to face charges of genocide. Veronic Edwards has been speaking to Mengistu Haile Mariam on the line to Harare. She first asked him what his medical condition was.

Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam: I was a little bit ill. Actually in my stomach. My colleagues in the two countries have arranged the tour for me. I went there. There were examinations by different experts. And I found that I have an ulcer. They call it peptic ulcer, which is a little bit serious unless you get a treatment at the proper time. So I got some treatment. I found what my problem is. So I came back.

Veronic Edwards: Is it true that you fled South Africa because you are worried that you are going to be extradited to your former country to stand trial there?

Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam: No! No! This thing has been exaggerated a lot. In the first place, the present government of South Africa are my comrade-in-arms, and friends and colleagues. There is no such kind of tendency in that country towards me. In fact, there was some kind of pressure from my political opponents to do so. The answer that the South African government has given to the Addis Ababa government is: "There is no crime in the history of mankind as Apartheid."

Veronic Edwards: Were you afraid for your life while you were in the hospital?

Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam: No! I was well secured. The place was well arranged. In fact, I was not only getting treatment but I was also relaxing. Everything has been exaggerated. There was no such kind of pressure at all.

Veronic Edwards: Are you glad now to be back in Zimbabwe?

Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam: Of course, Zimbabwe is my second home. Everybody must be glad to be back home.

Veronic Edwards: The last time I spoke with you, you had said you will not go to Ethiopia to stand trial. Even if you were dead, you would not want your dead body to go back to Ethiopia. Have you changed your mind now? Do you think after all these years, you have given it thought and you think it is better for you to go and stand trial and defend yourself?

Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam: No. I didn't change my position. I do not really believe that there is a government in Addis that represents the Ethiopian people. They are just a bunch of minority national Tigray tribe that came by arms. They are not a popularly elected government. We didn't come by war. We ran a popular revolution. We were invited by the entire nation, not by gun. In the second place, I do not believe that they are in a position to judge me. Instead, if history came to our side, they are the ones to be in a court.

Editor's footnotes:

[1] Given that the original scan is available, minor typos have been corrected without using [sic].