SUMMARY

Forces of Harar garrison was a group that briefly fought the Ethiopian government in 1991. The group was originally part of the Derg’s (the military council ruling the country between 1974 and 1991) armed forces, but transformed into a non-state entity when the former was ousted from power by the rebel coalition EPRDF on 28 May 1991.

More specifically, Forces of Harar garrison had been part of the Derg’s First Revolutionary Army (FAR), stationed in the eastern town of Harar in then Hararghe province. When EPRDF took control of Addis Ababa, and thus became the country’s new government, FAR’s commanding officer initially announced its surrender. However, Harar was a stronghold for Derg loyalists, and there were rumblings in the ranks below him. When news spread of anti-EPRDF demonstrations in the capital, middle-ranking officers mutinied and killed their superiors. They subsequently vowed to fight against the new EPRDF government.

Since the subsequent short, but bloody armed conflict was played out in an Ethiopia in chaos, very little is known about the group as such; most media attention was focused on how the victorious EPRDF would treat the population in Addis Ababa, what the political process would look like, the ongoing famine in eastern Ethiopia and the fact that Eritrea had been given the green light to secede. Thus, the fighting between the Forces of Harar garrison and the EPRDF government on 2 June 1991 is hardly touched upon, apart from sources reporting between 600 and 800 fatalities, and stating that Harar had fallen to the government. Since it is not specified how many of those killed that were part of the Forces of Harar garrison, it is not even possible to give a low estimate of the number of troops the group included.