Derg was established in June 1974 as the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police and Territorial Army, by officers of the Ethiopian Army and Police led initially by chairman Mengistu Haile Mariam.
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14 Facts About Derg
2.
On 12 September 1974, the Derg overthrew the government of the Ethiopian Empire and Emperor Haile Selassie during nationwide mass protests, and three days later formally renamed itself the Provisional Military Administrative Council.
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3.
In March 1975 the Derg abolished the monarchy and established Ethiopia as a Marxist-Leninist state with itself as the vanguard party in a provisional government.
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4.
Derg first assembled at the Fourth Division headquarters, and elected Major Mengistu Haile Mariam as its chairman and Major Atnafu Abate as vice-chairman.
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5.
The Derg deposed and imprisoned the emperor on 12 September 1974.
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Police Haile Selassie Military Emperor Empire Ethiopia Somalia Soviet Union East Germany North Korea Africa Cuba6.
The Derg chose Lieutenant General Aman Andom, a popular military leader and a Sandhurst graduate, to be its chairman and acting head-of-state.
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7.
In 1987, he formally dissolved the Derg and established the country as the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia under a new constitution.
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8.
Many of the Derg members remained in key government posts and served as the members of the Central Committee and the Politburo of the Workers' Party of Ethiopia .
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9.
The Derg declared a policy of state atheism, a tenet of Marxism-Leninist ideology; this was opposed by the vast majority of the Ethiopian population.
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10.
Once the Derg had gained victory over these groups and successfully fought off an invasion from Somalia in 1977, it engaged in a brutal war against armed opponents within the country.
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11.
Under the Derg, Ethiopia became the Soviet bloc's closest ally in Africa and became one of the best-armed nation of the region as a result of massive military aid, chiefly from the Soviet Union, East Germany, Cuba and North Korea.
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12.
On 4 March 1975, the Derg announced a program of land reform, according to its main slogan of "Land to the Tiller, " which was unequivocally radical, even in Soviet and Chinese terms.
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13.
In October 1978, the Derg announced the National Revolutionary Development Campaign to mobilize human and material resources to transform the economy, which led to a ten-year plan to expand agricultural and industrial output, forecasting a 6.
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14.
The surviving members of the Derg, including Mengistu, remained in power as the leaders of the new civilian regime.
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