Atnafu Abate
አጥናፉ አባተ
The Derg's last independent leader
On 3 February 1977 he was outside the capital presenting a flag to a militia unit, which observers thought saved his life. Arrested at Derg headquarters on 11 November, he was shot the next day.
An Ethiopian officer of the founding generation of the Derg, the military committee that deposed the emperor in 1974. A major in the Fourth Division, he was elected its vice-chairman and became a lieutenant colonel after April 1975. In 1976 he directed the recruitment of tens of thousands of peasants for a militia bound for the Eritrean front, and was seen as symbolizing a conservative, nationalistic and religious outlook. He survived the 3 February 1977 shootout to become first vice-chairman, only to be executed on Mengistu's orders on 12 November 1977.
Career timeline
- 1974Helped organize the Derg; elected vice-chairman (Fourth Division representative)
- 1975Promoted to lieutenant colonel
- 1974–1977Deputy chairman of the Derg and second vice-chairman of the PMAC under Tafari Benti
- 1976Organizer of the peasants' militia (Operation Raza)
- 1977First vice-chairman of the Derg, February 1977