Editing Mengistu Haile Mariam (section)

==Removal from power; asylum in Zimbabwe==
By 1990, the [[Soviet Union]] had all but ended its support for Mengistu's regime. In May 1991, the [[Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front]] (EPRDF) forces advanced on Addis Ababa from all sides, and Mengistu fled the country with 50 family and Derg members. He was granted asylum in [[Zimbabwe]] as an official guest of Zimbabwean President [[Robert Mugabe]]. Although Mugabe has since been [[2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état|removed from power in 2017]], no new extradition requests have been submitted.

Mengistu left behind almost the entire membership of the original Derg and the WPE leadership. The regime only survived without him for another week before the EPRDF streamed into the capital, precluding the previous leadership's escape. Almost all were promptly arrested and put on trial upon the assumption of power by the EPRDF. Mengistu has claimed that the takeover of his country resulted from the policies of [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], who in his view allowed the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the termination of its aid to Ethiopia.

An assassination attempt against Mengistu occurred on 4 November 1995, while he was out walking with his wife, Wubanchi Bishaw, near his home in the [[Gunhill]] suburb of [[Harare]]. While Mengistu was unharmed, his alleged attacker, Solomon Haile Ghebre Michael, an Eritrean, was shot and arrested by Mengistu's bodyguards.<ref name=assass>[https://www.proquest.com/docview/198711549 "Report: Mengistu Survives Assassination Attempt"], ''Ethiopian Review'', Vol. 5, Issue 12 (31 December 1995), p. 14 (accessed 15 August 2009)</ref> He was later tried for this assassination attempt, pleading not guilty in a Zimbabwean court on 8 July 1996.<ref>''[[The Washington Times]]'', 11 July 1996, page A10.</ref> The Eritrean Ambassador to South Africa, Tsegaye Tesfa Tsion, flew to Harare to attend the trial.<ref name=assass/> The attacker was sentenced to ten years in prison, while his accomplice Abraham Goletom Joseph, who had been arrested in a police raid, was sentenced to five years. They said that they had been tortured under Mengistu, and on appeal, their sentences were reduced to two years each due to "mitigatory circumstances".<ref name=Brains>{{cite news |date=20 February 2006 |title=Mengistu 'brains behind Zim clean-up' |url=http://mg.co.za/article/2006-02-20-mengistu-brains-behind-zim-cleanup |work=[[Mail & Guardian]] |access-date=2018-02-18}}</ref> The Ethiopian ambassador to Zimbabwe, Fantahun Haile Michael, said his government was not involved in the assassination attempt, and that he heard about the incident from the media.<ref name=assass/>

{{As of|2018}}, Mengistu still resided in Zimbabwe,<ref name="Mengistu_2018_Zimb" /> despite the Ethiopian government's desire that he be extradited. He is said to live in luxurious circumstances, and it is claimed that he advised Mugabe on security matters; according to Zimbabwean intelligence sources, he proposed the idea of clearing slums, which was implemented as [[Operation Murambatsvina]] in 2005, and chaired meetings at which the operation was planned.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ethiopia's Mengistu brains behind Zimbabwe cleanup campaign |work=[[Sudan Tribune]] |url=http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article14179 |date=21 February 2006 |access-date=24 March 2014 |archive-date=30 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630084805/http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article14179 }}</ref><ref name=Brains /> However, the State Security Minister [[Didymus Mutasa]] strongly denied that Mengistu was involved in Operation Murambatsvina.<ref name=Brains/>

In 2018, the former prime minister of Ethiopia [[Hailemariam Desalegn]] published a photo of himself meeting with Mengistu. He withdrew the photo after criticism.<ref name="Mengistu_2018_Zimb" />

In May 2022, Zimbabwe suggested it might extradite Mengistu Haile Mariam to Ethiopia.<ref>{{cite web |title= 
le zimbabwe pourrait envisager d'extrader le dictateur éthiopien mengistu|url= https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20220524-le-zimbabwe-pourrait-envisager-d-extrader-le-dictateur-%C3%A9thiopien-mengistu |publisher= Radio France International|access-date=5 December 2024 |date=25 May 2022}}</ref>