Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam

1st President of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Date of Birth: 1937
Place of Birth: Walayitta, Ethiopia

Career: Graduated from the Oletta Academy, 1966; Sent for advanced military training in America, 1966-71; instrumental, though in a minor position, in the coup against Haile Selassie, 1974; took control of the Derg, 1977; Chairman of the Derg and Head of State of Ethiopia, 1977-1987; President of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, 1987-1991; regime overthrown by TPLF forces in 1991; has lived in lavish exile in Zimbabwe since fleeing Ethiopia in 1991; found guilty in absentia of genocide in 2006 and sentenced to life imprisonment, 2007, this sentence was changed to the death penalty after an appeal, 2008