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I'm a military man, I did what I did only because my country had to be saved from tribalism and feudalism. If I failed, it was only because I was betrayed. The so-called genocide was nothing more than just a war in defence of the revolution and a system from which all have benefited.

— Mengistu Haile Mariam

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More quotes by Mengistu Haile Mariam

I am a revolutionary; my life is dedicated to freeing the people.

David A. Korn (1986)

If I had resigned on my own accord, to whom would I have transferred the reigns of power?

We fought them when they sought to dismember the nation. Is this why I should seek exoneration?

We thought that the proletariat would eventually run the world. But it is the Americans who have assumed that position... The American people have changed.

Ethiopia did not have the same problem [of corruption]. African leaders looked at us with envy.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Mengistu Haile Mariam (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.