IN MEMORIAM OF THE VICTIMS OF GONDAR


Thou mighty Melaku Tefera
the devil's youngest brother
have mercy on my childtoday
I will not give birth next time.

The grief of mothers, the sorrow of fathers, the eulogies of brothers and sisters, and the plight of an entire community has been echoing in the compounds of numerous churches and mosques for three decades. So many brilliant youngsters with passionate hearts had perished. An entire community was emotionally, mentally and physically mutilated. Like many other Ethiopian cities, this happened in the late seventies in the vibrant city of Gondar.  Major Melaku Tefera was a member of the Military junta regime and the governor of Gondar.  He was feared as the very personification of devil. He had shattered many lives, ruined many families and wrecked many hopes at his whim with no mercy to anyone.

The following is the list of young men and women who were victims of madness, cruelty and insanity of Major Melaku. Many of the victims were killed as a result of summary execution, random shooting, torture, amputation, hanging and other cruel ways. Their bodies were sprinkled with lime and buried in mass graves.

We the family members and friends of the victims of the ‘Red Terror’ wish to honor our fallen brothers and sisters at the news of the verdict against Major Melaku. Our brothers and sisters though departed by the vile of the wicked are still our shining angels. We have glorified their death in the victory of good over evil. They did not perish in vain; neither was shamed by the coward flight of their fanatic mentors.

Even though Major Melaku’s death sentence will not bring back the dead; nor will it remove the scars of the wounds of the tortured, we would like to remember the fallen youngsters not with a bitter heart of retribution but with the memory of their ideals for a new era of freedom, hope, justice, equality and prosperity in Ethiopia.

Good bless their soul
 No

Few  among the many Victims of Melaku Tefera terror campaign during the early seventies in Gondar and surrounding Cities(Continued…)

 

Name

City/Occupation

 

S-Z

Salehe Abdela

Student, Azezo

 

Semahegne Alebachew

Azezo town

 

Shek Umer

Gonder town

 

Tamene Negash

Azezo town

 

Tesfahun Belaye

Azezo town

 

Tezera Alemu

Azezo town

 

Tigab Alebachew

Azezo town

 

Tigab Niguse

Gonder Kebele  1

 

Tilahun Negash

Azezo town

 

Tilahun Seid

Azezo town

 

W/t Alemeshet H.Mariam

Azezo town

 

W/t Amsale Azene

Azezo town

 

W/t Tagene Berhanu

Gonder

 

W/t Yezenath Tadesse

Azezo town

 

Wondemagene Gehaneh

Azezo town

 

Yonas Addisu

Gonder, Teacher

 

Yonas H. Mecheal

Gonder Kebele  1

 

Zekarias Abyeu

Student, Addis Zemen

 

Zewale Zegeye

Debark county Adm. Mutilated and draged to death

 

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