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Ethiopia People's Militia
Proclamation No. 71, issued by the Derg in 1975,
established the People's Militia to "safeguard the
revolution." The government intended to raise a
representative force on a regional basis to carry out police
duties, to protect collectivized property and crops, and to
enforce the decisions of peasant association tribunals.
However, the militia remained largely a rural organization,
despite the fact that Addis Ababa had directed urban
dwellers' associations (
kebeles
--see Glossary) and workers'
associations to "elect" constituents to serve in the
militia.
In May 1976, the government conscripted 30,000 to 40,000
peasants into the People's Militia from the predominantly
Amhara areas of Shewa, Welo, and Gojam. After only two weeks
of training, Addis Ababa dispatched the militia, armed with
World War II-vintage rifles, to Eritrea. There, the
militia's mission was to repel the "invading Arab infidel."
A month later, Eritrean guerrillas, carrying relatively
modern arms, decimated this force by launching a preemptive
attack on the Zela Anbesa militia camp. In the spring of
1977, Mengistu reconstituted the People's Militia as the socalled Red Army and authorized its expansion. He armed the
militia with modern weapons and ordered all conscripts to
undergo a twelve-week basic training and weapons
familiarization course at camps in Tatek, Shashemene, Awash,
Fiche, and Azezo. The government then deployed People's
Militia units to Eritrea and the Ogaden to serve with the
regular army. This decision proved to be disastrous because,
in fighting against Eritrean guerrillas in northern Ethiopia
and against the Somali National Army in the Ogaden, the
People's Militia suffered heavy casualties. On occasion,
antigovernment elements in the militia experienced bloody
confrontations with Ethiopian army regulars (see
Morale and
Discipline, this ch.). In addition, captured militiamen
often denounced the government's military strategy to
foreign journalists.
By 1980 the People's Militia numbered 150,000 troops
organized into ten divisions. Those assigned to Eritrea were
known as the Northern People's Divisions; those in the
Ogaden were known as the Eastern People's Divisions. Militia
units were usually equipped with AK-47 rifles and rocketpropelled grenade launchers, and most units possessed
mortars and antitank weapons. Cuban advisers provided
infantry and artillery training.
During the early and mid-1980s, the People's Militia
declined in importance, largely because of increased
pressure for equal pay and survivor benefits. The May 1983
enactment of the National Military Service Proclamation
required all able-bodied Ethiopian men aged eighteen to
thirty to undergo six months of military training followed
by two years of active duty. After their terms of active
duty ended, these men would be placed on reserve status
until age fifty. National military service negated the
necessity for the large-scale militia call-ups that had been
common in the late 1970s. Nevertheless, the government
continued training militia recruits, especially from
resettlement villages in frontier areas such as Asosa in
Welega (see
The Politics of Resettlement, ch. 4).
By 1991 the People's Militia numbered about 200,000 but no
longer had to contend with a serious threat in the Ogaden.
However, the deteriorating situation in Eritrea and Tigray
required that militia units support the regular army's
counterinsurgency operations. At the end of 1989, Addis
Ababa mobilized the militia to stop the advance of the
Tigray People's Liberation Front and the Ethiopian People's
Democratic Movement. These and several other groups had
joined forces and became known as the Ethiopian People's
Revolutionary Democratic Front.
Data as of 1991
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