Dr. Messay Kebede at the African Studies Association November meeting

For the 53 annual meeting of the African Studies Association on “AFRICAN DIASPORA AND DIASPORAS IN AFRICA”, Dr. Messay Kebede read "Ethics and War Strategy: The Case of the Derg’s Military Debacle in Ethiopia".

After 17 years of uninterrupted and increasingly widening guerrilla wars, the military defeat of the Derg was consumed when Mengistu Haile Mariam fled Ethiopia and the Tigrean People's Liberation Front (TPLF) marched into Addis Ababa in May 1991, while the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) captured Asmara. A TPLF dominated interim government was soon established whose landmark achievements are the recognition of the independence of Eritrea in May 1993 and the adoption and implementation of a system of ethnic federalism for the rest of the country. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the impact of ethical issues on the conduct of war and the choice of military strategies. As an illustration, it takes the case of the Eritrean insurgency and shows how the lack of ethical constraints on the part of the Ethiopian leadership led to ill-advised strategic goals and military operations.