Mengistu in lavish but reclusive Zimbabwe exile

Sun May 21, 2006
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) - Former Ethiopian strongman Mengistu Haile Mariam lives a lavish but reclusive life in exile in Zimbabwe, condemned to the "luxury of the bunker" amid continued fears over his safety, diplomats say.
The former Marxist ruler rarely appears in public, but when he does he carries a pistol.
Ethiopia's Supreme Court, which has been trying him in absentia, is due to deliver its verdict on Tuesday on charges he killed tens of thousands of people during his 17-year rule which began with the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974.
But in Zimbabwe, which offered him exile 15 years ago, Mengistu is treated as an honoured guest by President Robert Mugabe's government which holds him up as one of the champions of the country's 1970s liberation war.
Officially, Mengistu and his family stay in a government villa in Harare's plush Gunhill district, behind a high security wall guarded round the clock by a crack army and police unit.
But foreign diplomatic sources believe the former Ethiopian ruler moves around in a number of "safe state houses," and has his own properties, including some farms.
"He is living a very, very comfortable life, a luxurious life. But the security kind of makes it the luxury of a bunker," one Western diplomat said about his lifestyle.
Little is known about Mengistu's life behind the wall, including how many people live with him, how he spends his time, who his friends are and whether he gets visitors such as Mugabe.
Zimbabwean authorities routinely refuse to discuss their Ethiopian guest, and have largely shielded him from the media with a thoroughness that sometimes triggers security harassment of journalists pursuing him.
FAILED ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
Security around Mengistu was increased in the mid-1990s after two Eritreans tried but failed to assassinate him after ambushing him near his Gunhill villa on an afternoon stroll.
In the handful of interviews he has given Zimbabwean media since his arrival in Harare May 1991, Mengistu said he had no regrets about his rule and that he tried his best for Ethiopia.
Mengistu said he kept up with politics in his home country and spent most of his time reading and watching television.
The few times Mengistu has ventured out to Zimbabwe shopping malls, those who are able to recognise him say he invariably wears military boots and a hat pulled tight over his eyes.
The former colonel, branded by this opponents as the Butcher of Addis, is always surrounded by guards, the witnesses say.
Mengistu's mysterious life in Zimbabwe has produced other rumours, including that he regularly visits a military gym where he exercises and sometimes acts as a tutor.
As Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis deepens, some local private newspapers have reported Mengistu was worried over the future and has considered relocating to North Korea if Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party loses power.
Early this year, Mugabe's government denied suggestions Mengistu has been involved in some of Mugabe's unpopular policy moves, including the controversial demolition of slums a year ago which left thousands of people homeless.
They said the demolitions were mainly aimed at destroying Zimbabwe's opposition urban stronghold and were modelled on Mengistu's own bloody crackdown on Ethiopian opponents during his tenure.
Reuters South Africa