Anonymous
Posted on 2019-01-08 19:18:51 Score: 0 (vote Up/Down)    (Report as spam)
Mengistu is still alive in Zimbabwe, and these are some of the things he said in a 2001 interview (From Talk of the Devil: Encounters with Seven Dictators).

On South Africa:

>Ungrateful bastards. I helped and financed the ANC when South Africa was still in the grip of apartheid. I was on their side when they needed me. Now that I need them, they say they can't help. Before I left Harare, they assured me there would be no problems, since I was travelling for humanitarian and health reasons. Yet they were ready to hand me over to Ethiopia… And to think that the men now controlling the government in Pretoria are my ex-comrades in arms, friends, colleagues.

On Mandela:

>When he was in prison I admired him for his moral strength. Of his period in power I can see few results. Apartheid no longer exists, at least to all appearances, but no one understands what the new government in South Africa is doing.

On Mugabe:

>He has helped in every war of liberation across the continent.

On the Red Terror:

>I'm a military man, I did what I did only because my country had to be saved from tribalism and feudalism. If I failed, it was only because I was betrayed. The so-called genocide was nothing more than a just war in defence of the revolution and a system from which all have benefited.

>I survived nine assassination attempts. The country was in chaos. One social group whose ties with the past were especially strong was attacking the workers who wanted progress. Millions of people came to the capital demanding, 'Either you defend us or you give us arms so that we can defend ourselves.' It was a battle. All I did was fight it.'

On Brezhnev:

>…So I went to Moscow, to Leonid Brezhnev. I still have a clear memory of the first time he embraced me at the Kremlin.' …

>I explained the situation, and he replied, 'Colonel, with the exception of the atomic bomb, my country is disposed to give you everything you think you need.' And that's how it was. The USSR helped us materially, not only with words. From that moment Brezhnev was like a father to me. We met another twelve times, always in the Soviet Union. Each time, before telling him about our problems, I would say, 'Comrade Leonid, I am your son, I owe you everything.' And I truly felt that Brezhnev was like a father.' …

On Gorbachev:

>I knew [Gorbachev] when he was a young member of the Party's Central Committee,' says Mengistu. 'Even before he entered the Politburo. He seemed a nice enough person, honest, devoted to the cause of Socialism. He was warm and friendly towards me. Then, once he got into power, he began to talk about perestroika and glasnost. Eventually I called him from Addis Ababa to arrange an appointment. I needed to know what as going on. I went to Moscow to ask him what those two slogans meant. They were slogans that I didn't understand and, if you ask me, nor did the Soviet people. I said, 'Comrade Gorbachev, let's be honest with each other. If there is a change of direction, tell me, so that we can also adjust our direction. Your strength is our strength, your weakness our weakness.'

<Comrade Mengistu, don't worry. I shall not shift one millimetre from Marxism-Leninism. I am proud of our Socialist achievements and I always will be.'

>Years later, when the rebels were advancing on Addis Ababa, I telephoned him to ask for help. And he said,

<Stand firm. We will support you. They may criticise you, but you have done enough for Ethiopia to go down in history as a great statesman. You have deserved your place in history for having eliminated the archaic monarchical system, for having modernised a medieval nation.

>Hypocrite! To think they gave him the Nobel Peace Prize! He sent arms to my enemies and flattered me with words. After this last conversation I never phoned him again. I knew he was lying. A very difficult time was starting: we no longer knew who were our friends and who our enemies.

>… 'Gorbachev and Reagan were involved in a conspiracy against progress. Gorbachev betrayed the whole world, not just [me]. He destroyed his own country and the entire international Socialist movement, both Communist and nationalist. He came to power saying he wanted to fight the corruption endemic in the old Communist Party of the Soviet Union, but he didn't really want to improve the system in order to save it. He came to dismantle it.'

On Kim Il Sung and Fidel Castro

>I've met many foreign leaders. But the men I most admire and respect are the North Korean leader Kim Il Sung and Cuba's Fidel Castro. They have been very generous. Fidel is deeply patriotic, a true revolutionary and very honest. I don't think the world knows him well. Fidel is very human. Very human. And he has worked miracles in his little island of Cuba, given its lack of resources. I have the greatest respect for him. As for North Korea, it's a wonderful country, it's almost incredible to think what they've done in such a short time. Despite the gloomy image that he had in the international press, Kim Il Sung was the liveliest of men; when we went cruising together on his personal yacht he drank, smoked and told jokes. He was a real friend of Ethiopia and gave me a power station, shipyards and military advisers, asking nothing in return.

On Somalia:

>Yes, Somalia was my enemy, but today I'm sorry for the people of Somalia. They allowed themselves to be divided into enemy tribes. Even my country has been hijacked by a minority. It has been divided into tribes. Like the whole of Africa, it is regressing, moving backwards into the past.

>Ah, Siad! I knew him well, very well indeed. For a long time he was my worst enemy.

>… I tried to make peace with Siad Barre, Together we could have done so much for our respective peoples, but he too was betrayed.

On Albania:

>I have never been pro-Albania, but I admired their resolute and disciplined philosophy. We have all been betrayed. All of us have been betrayed.

When asked if he has any regrets:

>Yes, I built up one of the most powerful armies in Africa, I built up one of the best-organised political parties in the whole world, I defended the territorial integrity of my country like a mother protecting her young, yet it all came to nothing.

On Bourgeois "Democracy":

>Look at Ethiopia today. They say they have introduced the multi-party system, but what they have really done is bring back tribalism. Everyone stands by his own tribe or his own religion, not by party. The same as in the Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, the Congo, Kenya. Everywhere. The world will see wars in Africa such as have never been seen before. Terrible tribal wars.

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