Former Derg general calls for extermination and military command of Tigray

The latest Abiy Ahmed supporter to call for Tigray extermination is a former notorious Derg Regime general who calls for all Tigray leaders to be exterminated and the Tigray state to be put under strict military command.

Kassaye Chemeda, former general under the infamous dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam who ran Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 killed hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians leaving their bodies on the street for days then demanding their families pay for the bullet used to execute them in order to bury victims. Estimates of the total killed in the time referred to as the Red Terror estimate that more then 1.2 million civilians were killed. The killing occurred in multiple waves. Well known Ethiopian historian, René Lefort describes “that just knowing how to read” was enough to justify execution by the Derg Regime as an enemy to the state.

General Chemeda has been honored by many Ethiopia immigrants who were former sympathizers of the Derg Regime who left Ethiopia to come to the United States following their defeat by the Tigray Liberation Front and allies. Immigration from Ethiopia to the United States occurred mostly from 1975 to 1995. Many of the initial refugees where supporters of the monarchy which was overthrown and many of the later where often supporters of the Derg Regime who left Ethiopia because of fear of reprisal or imprisonment from Ethiopian Peoples Democratic Front which assumed power following the Derg defeat. As such it is not surprising that many Ethiopian immigrants to the USA support Abiy Ahmed who many see as reviving the Derg plan.

At a celebration of Derg war “heroes” held in the United States by former Derg supporter immigrants in 2009 General Chemeda and other veterans were celebrated to have attempted to defend Ethiopian integrity or unity. No remorse about the killing and terror was expressed. At the meeting the former General recounted happily how he had crushed Somalis.