Berhane Meskel Reda

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Berhane Meskel Reda
ብርሃነ ምስቀል ረዳ
Picture of Berhane Meskel Reda
Bornc. 1943[1]
Tigray Province, Ethiopian Empire
Died(1979-07-12)July 12, 1979
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (presumed)[1]
Cause of deathGunshot wounds
Other namesBerhané-Meskel Redda; Birhanemeskel Reda
OccupationsStudent leader; revolutionary; political organizer
OrganizationEthiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP)
Known forCo-founding and serving as first Secretary-General of the EPRP (1972)
SpouseTadelech Hailemikael

Berhane Meskel Reda (Tigrinya: ብርሃነ ምስቀል ረዳ, romanized: Bərhane Məsqäl Räda); also spelled Berhané-Meskel Redda or Birhanemeskel Reda; died 12 July 1979) was an Ethiopian student leader and revolutionary, best known as a founding figure and the first secretary-general of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP), originally established as the Ethiopian People's Liberation Organization (EPLO) in 1972.[2][3] A prominent activist from the Ethiopian student movement, he was arrested during the period of political repression known as the Red Terror and executed by the military government on 12 July 1979.[4]

Early life and student activism

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Berhane Meskel Reda was born around September 1943 in Tigray Region, northern Ethiopia.[5] Contemporary accounts identify him as Tigrayan by origin and note that he grew up in a rural setting before moving to Addis Ababa for his education.[6]

These same sources identify Berhane as emerging from the radicalizing Ethiopian student milieu of the late 1960s and early 1970s, in which debates on land reform, socialism and national questions reshaped campus politics and diaspora unions.[7] Contemporary histories and movement memoirs consistently place him among the student leaders who moved from campus organizing into clandestine party formation.[8]

He became active in the Ethiopian Student Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, a period marked by radical debates on land reform, socialism, and national questions. Within them, Berhane emerged as one of the prominent figures linking campus activism with clandestine political organization.[9] Historians emphasize that his background in both provincial Ethiopia and the capital gave him an ability to mediate between grassroots concerns and the ideological debates of the student left.[10]

Role in the EPLO/EPRP

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EPLO (soon renamed EPRP) was founded by exiled Ethiopian students in April 1972 in West Berlin. At this first congress, a central committee and politburo were elected, with Berhane Meskel Reda chosen as the organization's first secretary-general.[2][3] Subsequent scholarship on Ethiopian political elites describes the 1972 founding as occurring largely through Berhane's efforts, as the student movement's organizational center of gravity shifted from unions to party structures.[11]

Internal debates and split

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During 1974–1977, strategic disagreements intensified within the EPRP over urban guerrilla warfare versus other forms of struggle. Academic readings of contemporaneous memoirs note that Berhane, together with fellow central committee member Getachew Maru, opposed the escalation of urban armed actions, a stance that contributed to factional conflicts inside the party.[12] Studies of insurgent politics in northern Ethiopia also place Berhane at inter-organizational talks in early 1975, reflecting his prominence in the EPRP's leadership at the time.[13]

Arrest and execution

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In the context of the Derg's Red Terror (1976–1978), which targeted rival leftist groups and perceived opponents, Berhane was detained and later executed. Multiple sources record his execution on 12 July 1979.[4] Academic literature on the Red Terror discusses the prosecution of EPRP leaders during this period and identifies Berhane among prominent figures eliminated by the regime's security apparatus.[14]

Legacy

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Histories of the Ethiopian student movement and of the revolutionary decade frequently reference Berhane's role in the transition from student activism to party politics and in early debates about strategy on the revolutionary left.[15] Scholarly works on the Red Terror and civil war era often treat his career as emblematic of the generational arc from campus radicalism to clandestine organization and repression.[16]

Memoir literature and literary-journal excerpts identify Tadelech Hailemikael as Berhane's spouse; she later published a prison memoir recounting her activities with the EPRP and the impact of her husband's death.[17]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Hailemikael, Tadelech (2021). "From Who is the Judge?". Asymptote. Asymptote Journal. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  2. ^ a b Tareke, Gebru (2009). The Ethiopian Revolution: War in the Horn of Africa. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 87.
  3. ^ a b Tadesse, Kiflu (1998). The Generation, Part II: Ethiopia, Transformation and Conflict — The History of the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party. Lanham: University Press of America. pp. 101–102.
  4. ^ a b "Ethiopia (1942–present)". Political Science DADM Project. University of Central Arkansas. Retrieved 31 August 2025.
  5. ^ Hailemikael, Tadelech (2021). "From Who is the Judge?". Asymptote. Retrieved 31 August 2025. Berhane died two months before his thirty-sixth birthday.
  6. ^ Berhe, Aregawi (2008). A Political History of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (1975–1991): Revolt, Ideology and Mobilisation in Ethiopia (PDF) (Thesis). Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. pp. 92–93.
  7. ^ Zewde, Bahru (2014). The Quest for Socialist Utopia: The Ethiopian Student Movement c. 1960–1974. Woodbridge: James Currey. pp. 13–26, 229–251..
  8. ^ Guidi, Pierre (2020). "Autobiographies and the writing of women's history: the example of Hiwot Teffera's Tower in the Sky". Annales d'Éthiopie. 33: 217–231. doi:10.3406/ethio.2020.1697.
  9. ^ Zewde, Bahru (2014). The Quest for Socialist Utopia: The Ethiopian Student Movement c. 1960–1974. Woodbridge: James Currey. pp. 229–251.
  10. ^ Balsvik, Randi Rønning (1985). Haile Sellassie's Students: The Intellectual and Social Background to Revolution, 1952–1977. Michigan State University Press. pp. 241–245.
  11. ^ "Ethiopian Elites Trained in the USSR and Socialist Countries". Cahiers d'études africaines (226): 289–310. 2012.
  12. ^ Guidi, Pierre (2020). "Autobiographies and the writing of women's history: the example of Hiwot Teffera's Tower in the Sky". Annales d'Éthiopie. 33: 223–228. doi:10.3406/ethio.2020.1697.
  13. ^ Berhe, Aregawi (2008). A Political History of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (1975–1991): Revolt, Ideology and Mobilisation in Ethiopia (PDF) (Thesis). Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. pp. 96–98.
  14. ^ Toggia, P. (2012). "The revolutionary endgame of political power: the genealogy of "red terror" in Ethiopia". African Identities. 10 (3): 265–279. doi:10.1080/14725843.2012.715455.
  15. ^ Zewde, Bahru (2014). The Quest for Socialist Utopia: The Ethiopian Student Movement c. 1960–1974. James Currey. pp. 229–251.
  16. ^ Tareke, Gebru (2009). The Ethiopian Revolution: War in the Horn of Africa. Yale University Press. pp. 85–90.
  17. ^ Hailemikael, Tadelech (2021). "From Who is the Judge?". Asymptote. Retrieved 31 August 2025.

Further reading

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  • Balsvik, Randi Rønning (1985). Haile Sellassie's Students: The Intellectual and Social Background to Revolution, 1952–1977. Michigan State University Press.
  • Teffera, Hiwot (2012). Tower in the Sky. Addis Ababa University Press.
  • Zewde, Bahru (2014). The Quest for Socialist Utopia: The Ethiopian Student Movement c. 1960–1974. James Currey.
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