The
Derg,
Common Derg or
Dergue (
Ge'ez: ደርግ, meaning "committee" or "council") is the short name of the
Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army that ruled
Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987. It took power following the ousting of Emperor
Haile Selassie I. Soon after it was established, the committee was formally renamed the
Provisional Military Administrative Council, but continued to be known popularly as "the Derg". In 1975, it embraced
communism as an ideology; it remained in power until 1987. Between 1975 and 1987, the Derg executed and imprisoned tens of thousands of its opponents without trial.