Captain Mogus Wolde Mikael (died 3 February 1977) was an Eritrean

military officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...

who was a member of the

Derg The Derg or Dergue (, ), officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the military junta that ruled Ethiopia, including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when they formally "Civil government, civilianized" the ...

, the

military junta A military junta () is a system of government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''Junta (governing body), junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the Junta (Peninsular War), national and local junta organized by t ...

that ruled Ethiopia. Following the Derg's assumption of power over Ethiopia in 1974, Mogus, who was a Major at the time, became the chairman of the Derg's Social and Economic Affairs Committee. A member of the faction opposed to Lieutenant Colonel

Mengistu Haile Mariam Mengistu Haile Mariam (, pronunciation: ; born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian former politician, revolutionary, and military officer who served as the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991. He was General Secretary of the Workers' Party o ...

, Mogus was appointed to chair a committee to reorganize the Derg. This committee proposed a new structure which included: a Congress which included all of the members of the Derg, to act as its legislature; a Standing Committee of 17 members, to act as its executive; a group of 40 members who act as a go-between, which Rene LaFort believes was "established, so it seems, to calm the fears of the other ranks in the Derg who had always been afraid of being edged out of power"; and a detailed enumeration of the powers of the two Vice-Chairmen of the Derg. After the adoption of this proposal, Captain Mogus became chairman of the Political Affairs Committee of the Derg, a key position; his ally, Captain

Almayahu Haile Captain Alemayehu Haile (died 3 February 1977) was a member of the Derg, the military junta that ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987. An Amhara, Alemayehu was a graduate of the Dina Police College in Addis Ababa and of Haile Selassie University (now ...

became Secretary-General, "a post with such ill-defined limits that it could confer vast powers.". If it was not clear by this point to Mengistu that he was being squeezed out of power, after a mass rally in Revolution Square in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

(better known by its older name, Meskel Square, which was later restored after Mengistu's fall), when General

Tafari Benti Brigadier General Tafari Benti (; 11 October 1921 – 3 February 1977) was an Ethiopian military officer and politician who served as head of state of Ethiopia from 1974 to 1977 in his role as second chairman of the Derg, the ruling military jun ...

gave a speech for reconciliation between the various revolutionary factions, he was flanked by Captains

and Mogus. "The absence of Mengistu and Atnafu eloquently testified to their violent disagreement" with the content of this speech. At a February 1977 meeting between Mengistu and his opponents, that included not only Mogus but chairman General

and a number of leading members of the Derg, military soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Asfaw rounded up and arrested him along with other Derg members suspected of conspiring with EPRP. They were summarily executed after a short while. Mengistu afterwards broadcast on Radio Ethiopia that Mogus and his dead compatriots had attempted a "fascist coup d'etat in the capital identical to what had taken place in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

", and labeling them "fifth columnists" of the

Ethiopian Democratic Union The Ethiopian Democratic Union (Amharic: የኢትዮጵያ ዴሞክራሲያዊ ህብረት) or EDU, also known as Teranafit (formerly a separate group based in Shire before it merged with the EDU), was one of the political parties that formed ...

and

Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP) (), informally known as Ihapa (), is the first modern political party in Ethiopia. Established in April 1972, it aimed to turn Ethiopia into a democratic republic. Both the EPRP and another pa ...

rebel groups.Ottaways, ''Empire in Revolution'', pp. 143f

Notes

1977 deaths Ethiopian politicians Deaths by firearm in Ethiopia Year of birth missing People of the Ethiopian Civil War Ethiopian military personnel {{Ethiopia-bio-stub