Mengistu Neway

Mengistu and his brother were members of a well-established noble lineage called Moja, an Shewan family clan which had supplied the Ethiopian government a number of soldiers and governors for a century, but at the time of the 1960 coup had fallen out of favor.

[4] With his classmates, under the leadership of the Swedish Captain Viking Tamm, headmaster of Olette, they attempted to hold the Pass of Tarmaber against the advancing Italians after the decisive Battle of Maychew (31 March 1936), but were forced to retreat to Addis Ababa.

[6] After Haile Mariam had been killed fighting the Italians at Gorfo, near Addis Ababa (November 1938), he made his way to Khartoum where he trained with his fellow cadets Asrate Medhin Kassa, Mered Mangesha, Aman Michael Andom and Mulugeta Bulli.

[7] After Emperor Haile Selassie returned to Ethiopia, Mengistu became a colonel in the Ethiopian army, and in April 1956 he was made commander of the Imperial Bodyguard, replacing General Mulugeta Bulli.

[9] With the support of the Police Commissioner Brigadier General Tsige Dibu and the Chief of Security Colonel Werqneh Gebeyehu, on the evening of 13 December 1960, the plotters managed to take hostage several ministers and other important figures present at Guenet Leul palace in Addis Ababa while the Emperor was out of the country.

However, the rest of the military and the Ethiopian Church rallied to support the Emperor, and by 19 December the coup was crushed, although 15 of the 21 notables taken hostage were killed, including Mulugeta Buli.

Among the important personages executed by the Mengistu's forces were Ras Abebe Aregai, the leading anti-fascist resistance leader against the Italian occupation; Ras Seyoum Mangasha Prince of Tigray, Abba Hanna Jimma, the Emperor's confessor, almoner, and administrator of his personal household; Dejazmatch Letyibelu, a prominent resistance leader during the Italian occupation and nobleman with close ties to the Emperor; Lidj Lema Wolde Gabriel, Mayor of Addis Abeba at the time and several others.