Red Terror (Ethiopia)

Red Terror
Qey Shibir
Part of the Ethiopian Civil War
	Skull remains at "Red Terror" Martyrs' Memorial Museum in Addis Ababa
Native name	ቀይ ሽብር
Date	23 September 1976 – 22 March 1978
Location	Ethiopia
Type	Summary execution, systematic purge, mass murder, politicide, considered a genocide by the Ethiopian Federal Court
Cause	Assassination attempt of Mengistu Haile Mariam; Anti-government movement of rival political groups, primarily the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party and All-Ethiopia Socialist Movement;
Motive	Consolidation of Derg control over Ethiopia
Deaths	10,000–980,000
Trial	See Trials of the Derg members

The Ethiopian Red Terror, also known as the Qey Shibir (Amharic: ቀይ ሽብር, romanized: ḳäy shəbbər), was a violent political repression campaign of the Derg against other competing Marxist-Leninist groups in Ethiopia and present-day Eritrea from 1976 to 1978. The Qey Shibir was an attempt to consolidate Derg rule during the political instability after their overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974 and the subsequent Ethiopian Civil War. The Qey Shibir was based on the Red Terror of the Russian Civil War, and most visibly took place after Mengistu Haile Mariam became chairman of the Derg on 3 February 1977. It is estimated that 10,000 to 980,000 people were killed over the course of the Qey Shibir.

In 2007 and 2008, Mengistu was convicted in absentia by Ethiopia for his role in the Qey Shibir while leader of the Derg.