…I read on the statue outside the “Red Terror” Martyrs’ Memorial Monument museum in Meskel Square, Addis Ababa, when I visited recently.
The motto reflects Ethiopia’s determination never again to allow the terror that flourished under the Derg military junta in 1977-8 to be repeated. Under Mengistu Haile Mariam, who still lives in exile in Zimbabwe, a wave of seemingly indiscriminate torture and death was unleashed – claiming up to 500,000 lives, including those of over 1000 children.
Corpses lay rotting in the streets of the capital; women were repeatedly and systematically raped; and groups of people were immolated in churches.
The House of Terror in Budapest, where I previously worked as British Ambassador, is an excellent and moving record of the terror unleashed under the Communist regime in post-War Hungary.
But the Red Terror Museum in Addis Ababa is an even more stark and brutal testament to man’s inhumanity to man. Do visit if you come to Ethiopia, but expect to be shocked. If your timing is good, you may be shown around by the Director, himself a victim of torture under the Derg.
The museum is a salutary reminder of the importance of tolerance. It is badly in need of written material on the use of terror and genocide for the library: if you can help, please get in touch with the museum.