1991 — Mengistu Flees Ethiopia

In the early hours of May 21, 1991, President Mengistu Haile Mariam fled Addis Ababa as rebel forces closed in on the capital. His departure ended the Ethiopian Civil War and seventeen years of Derg rule, closing a long and fearful chapter that had reshaped every part of Ethiopian life over nearly two decades.

His Red Terror and the war and famine of his regime killed an estimated 1.4 million people. A week later the rebels entered the capital unopposed. Mengistu, convicted of genocide in absentia, never faced his judges. A ruler who had governed by terror left in darkness, and judgment followed him only on paper.