Abyotawit Seded (Amharic: አብዮታዊ ሰደድ, 'Revolutionary Flame', 'Seded' for short) was a communist organization in Ethiopia, formed in 1976 by a group of officers of the Derg military junta who had attended political trainings in the Soviet Union from 1975 and onwards.
[3] Through the launching of Seded, Mengistu hoped to be able to challenge the influence of the All-Ethiopian Socialist Movement (Meison) in the urban dwellers' associations (kebeles).
[8] Seded would function as the key instrument of the Derg to gain control over the Provisional Office for Mass Organizational Affairs (POMOA).
Malerid and Waz League, on the other hand, supported the entry of Seded as a counterweight to Meison and Ichat.
[1][9] By 1977, thousands of Ethiopian military personnel had passed through training courses in the Soviet Union, East Germany, Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia.
[17] After the elimination of Meison and Ichat, Seded was the largest political organization in the pro-Derg coalition.