[5] Colonel Alem Zewde fell from power at this time, losing control of his paratrooper battalion after its defeat in a battle with radicals on 22.

It was at this point that one of the delegates from the Third Division, Major Mengistu Haile Mariam, made a speech which won him the support of the members of the Derg.

LaFort observes that "above all he [Mengistu] seems to have been one of the very few to propose a coherent and energetic line of action in debates which were, to say the least, confused and long winded in a style which went down well with this assembly of NCOs and other ranks.

"[10] He directed the effort in May 1976 to recruit, arm and train tens of thousands of peasants who would serve as a militia to supplement the weary soldiers of the regular army fighting at the Eritrean front.

After a brief struggle when it appeared that Captain Sisay Hapte might gain control of the Derg—but was executed—at the beginning of December Atnafu was shunted out of direct competition for power by being made organizer of the militia.

"The execution of Atnafu," observes historian Bahru Zewde, "who more than anybody else symbolized the Derg from its early origins in February 1974, effectively marked the eclipse of that organization.

he advocated internal reconciliation: the ending of all terrors, 'White' and 'Red', extending the hand to both the EPRP and MEISON, external relations that were more balanced between the two great powers (he seems to have sounded out the United States about this during September) -- and pacifying the army by satisfying its main demands.