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The Ethiopian ex-dictator Mengistu condemned to the prison with life for genocide Addis Ababa - the ex-dictator Ethiopian Marxist Mengistu Hailé Mariam, found guilty of genocide during “red Terror”, was condemned to the prison with life by contumacy Thursday by the federal high court of Ethiopia, brought back a journalist of AFP. “The Court decided to condemn the culprit number one to the prison with life”, declared judge Nur Mohamed in connection with Mengistu Hailé Mariam. Colonel Mengistu, which lives in exile in Zimbabwe since its mode was reversed in 1991, had been recognized guilty on December 12 by...

The world witnessed Stalin's Purge, Hitler's Holocaust, Mao's Cultural Revolution, Pol Pot's Forced Exodus, and Saddam's brutal mass killings. Africa is no stranger to atrocities to the likes of Idi Amin and Mobutu Sese Sekos. Here is another act of genocide carried out by former Ethiopian leader Mengistu Haile Mariam, who is a Communist leader of the Workers Party. Mengistu was part of the Derg, which was the military junta that came to power by overthrowing Haile Selassie in 1974. He ruled from 1977 to 1991. His first act was "Red Terror", in which he attacked anti-Communist guerillas. He detained,...

Ethiopia’s brutal Marxist dictator, known as the African Pol Pot, became the first fallen leader to be found guilty yesterday of genocide in his own country after a 12-year trial.Mengistu Haile Mariam, the former President, who fled to Zimbabwe in 1991, was accused along with top members of his military Government of killing thousands during his 17-year rule. The period was marked by vicious crackdowns on opponents, disastrous wars with neighbouring countries and rebel groups and devastating famines in which starvation was used to force peasants into submission. “Members of the Derg [Government] who are present in court today and...

The millions donated to Ethiopia in 1985 thanks to Live Aid were supposed to go towards relieving a natural disaster. In reality, donors became participants in a civil war. Many lives were saved, but even more may have been lost in Live Aid's unwitting support of a Stalinist-style resettlement project Isn't it better to do something rather than give in to despair or cynicism and do nothing? This is the reproachful question familiar to anyone who has criticised organisations that view themselves as dedicated to doing good in the world. To those UN agencies, relief organisations and development groups working...

Former President Carter accused President Bush of squandering the international goodwill that flowed to the United States in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. "After 9/11, America stood proud, wounded but determined and united," Carter said in a speech Monday night to the opening session of the Democratic National Convention. "But in just 34 months, we have watched with deep concern as all this goodwill has been squandered by a virtually unbroken series of mistakes and miscalculations." "Unilateral acts and demands have isolated the United States from the very nations we need to join us in...