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One of my aunts, Princess Ruth,

just recently passed away.

This suitcase was sent to me
by one of her good friends.

Oh, God.

I didn't want
to open it, because...

I thought it would
just be bad memories.

"Time: Man of the Year."

It says, "The King of Kings."

So, this is at the old palace,
and that's Granny.

Was this the palace?
- Yep.

Oh, what?

That's Mama Ruthie and Mommy.

This is Grandpa
on a state visit to England.

This is the last picture taken

before my family
was scattered everywhere

and our lives
went straight to hell.

There's me.
There's Jote.

There's Mommy.

I was born in Addis Ababa
in Ethiopia, in Africa.

All of us were.

This is a royal family tree,

and it's from a particular
Amhara royal line.

I know somewhere in here
that I exist.

Here's Grandpa, His Majesty.

We call him "Grandpa"
because we were taught to

when we were little,
but, really, the emperor

is my great-grandfather.

This is my mother
and all her sisters.

This whole group
were imprisoned by the Derg.

In the next part of the circle

is my siblings and my cousins.

They narrowly escaped.

We lost so many relatives,

but I was really young,

and I don't know
the whole story.

I don't know
what my mother went through.

I don't know
what they did to my dad.

There was
a public demonstration
in Addis Ababa tonight.

Opposition to the military
government is growing.

Students against the police,
police against their leaders.

Direct and secret military rule
is now in force here.

Mengistu was prepared

to declare war
on anyone who opposed him.

Political assassins
are slaughtered with impunity.

We did not come by violence.

It was a very popular
revolution.

Mengistu was absolutely ruthless.

Reports continue that
the new military regime

plans to execute
members of deposed emperor
Haile Selassie's family.

My uncle...
passed away.

He's probably
the tenth senior elder
in our family

to die in the last
couple of years.

And now I feel like
our side of the story

is just going to disappear.

It's just going to go
into the ether.

I'm scared to do this,

but now is the time.

I have to find out
what really happened.

Goodbye.

You're welcome.

We'll see you soon.

I know it's hard to believe,

but even after all these years,

my family
had never really talked
about what had happened.

There's one thing
I can say about our family

is we're terrible talkers,
all of us.

They just don't talk about it.

- It's like you're being weak.
- Yeah.

So, we were talking,
and Jote said,

for us, with all the things
that have happened,

was it worth it
being born who we are?

Absolutely not.

Not for me.
Why do you say that?

But we wouldn't have been
who we are

if we weren't born
the way we are.

But we'd be somebody else.

But we wouldn't have
all this trauma.

It's very tough.

I don't know
what the answer is, myself.

I really don't.

This is an emperor.

According to legend,
a direct descendant

of the Queen of Sheba
and King Solomon.

The ruler is Haile Selassie,
King of Kings,

Defender of the Christian Faith,

the Elect of God,
the Conquering Lion of Judah.

When he became
emperor in 1930,

he began to lift
Black Africa's oldest country,

ancient Abyssinia,
out of the Middle Ages.

He kept Ethiopia independent,
freed its slaves,

gave it its first
written constitution.

Emperor Haile Selassie

was a man who introduced
Ethiopia to the modern world.

His legacy internationally,
for instance,

making Ethiopia a member
of the League of Nations,

the United Nations.

The stature of the emperor,

on a global scale,
was incredible.

Your Majesty,
you're most welcome.

His role in Pan-Africanism
in the liberation struggle

and the choice of Ethiopia

as the seat
of the African Union,

all these
are legacies of the emperor.

So, this is from the suitcase.

Have you ever seen this, Nana?

This one? No, I haven't.

Oh, look.

Who are you dancing with?

That's the British ambassador.

Mm-hmm, and that was his wife.

Beautiful.

If there was a state visit,

one of us would be
assigned to whoever,

who came on the women's side,
and one on the men's side.

Those pictures of the queen

when she's seeing the horses
and stuff in Ethiopia,

she looks so relaxed,
big smile.

- She looked happy.
- Yeah,
she did, she got on very well.

Both of us had a movie camera.

Although I didn't take that well,

but the one of Queen Elizabeth

in the Blue Nile Falls,
that came out beautifully.

But I remember
His Majesty saying to me,

"I don't think
you're in a position
to be taking films.

You're supposed
to be in the picture."

So, I said, "No."

My mommy, I don't think
she wanted to be a princess.

She would happily have given up

the pomp and the circumstance.

She's very shy.

I think it was duty
more than choice.

New York Harbor
is bedecked to welcome

Emperor Haile Selassie
of Ethiopia

as he arrives aboard
the liner United States.

The emperor is accompanied
by his granddaughter,
Seble Desta,

and his youngest son,
Prince Sahle.

There was this huge tour.

It was just overwhelming.

We were thinking
we'd just go off shopping,

but, no,
no shopping at all for us.

Everywhere in New York,
they gave him such a welcome.

They were amazing.

Then he's whisked off
to Harlem

where a cheering crowd
welcomes the African ruler

on behalf
of 700,000 New Yorkers
of Afro-American descent.

Haile Selassie
was a very remarkable
individual.

He was, in many ways,
astonishingly far-sighted.

However, he was also
a feudal emperor.

You know, Holy of Holies,
Son of Solomon and Sheba.

During the emperor's period,

feudalism was still

the dominant economic system
in the country.

So, that fundamentally
unequal system

would eventually lead
to a crisis.

Per capita income in Ethiopia

is about $75 a year,

one of the lowest in the world.

Life expectancy, it's something
like 38 years for men,

was also the lowest
in the world.

Ethiopia was perhaps

the most backward economy
on Earth.

The economic problems
will be solved,

first, through things
like land reform,

and, second,
through political parties

have got to be permitted--

things like freedom of speech,
press, assembly.

If you were a young student,

you did not speak your mind
without running the risk

of being beaten up.

Dissent was not tolerated.

People were
imprisoned and detained
if they caused offense.

So, he was this curious mixture

between very grand figure
with a great vision

for his country,
and a despotic emperor.

We were so little,

and we didn't think
of my great-grandfather

as the emperor.

To us, he was just Grandpa.

We used to go every year
for our holidays.

I can't think of anywhere else

where Grandpa
would be that casual.

So, we'd spend time
on the beach,

and then we would get
to bury him on the beach.

Like, you know,
you-- the way you do
all the way up to the neck,

That, I remember.

That's me...

with my dad.

I'm going to my mommy.

I was really close to my dad.

Maybe because
there weren't boys
and I was a tomboy.

A lot of people will say,

"We love your father,
but we don't love your mother

or your mother's family."

And that upset me.

But I never heard
a negative thing about my dad.

Kassa's marriage
to the emperor's family,

it was by order of the emperor.

It was political.

He is the son
of Askale Jote.

Jote was the enemy
of Haile Selassie,

so what was the best way
to incorporate the country?

Marry, so the intermarriage
was Haile Selassie's
political strategy.

It worked.

Haile Selassie
was a genius at that.

Grandpa appointed my father
president of the university.

It was a very difficult time

to be president
of the university.

From 1965 onwards,
you know, every year,

there were
demonstrations, pickets,

you know, rallies, marches.

As the years progressed,

the student opposition
also escalated.

I joined the university
as an undergraduate in 1965.

At that time,
the president was
Dejazmach Kassa Wolde-mariam.

So, I knew him.

And of course
we gave him a hard time.

I met your father in 1966.

And at that time,

I was the president
of the student union,

and I had a lot of interaction
with your father.

What was most amazing about him

was that he really
took us serious,

as if we were equal,
his equals, really.

He was the president,
we were students,

and he gave us all the respect

that we really
didn't even expect, really.

And one thing
very unique about his reign was

no police
ever stepped in that campus.

When we look
back at it, of course,

the way he handled the students
was really quite extraordinary.

Many of us say in retrospect
that he was probably

the best president that
the university ever had.

After our National Congress,

we passed several resolutions.

And we asked President Kassa

to take us to the palace

to present this to the emperor.

And President Kassa

took us
in his own car, actually.

So the emperor
dismissed us as--

you know, "We have been
doing this all the time,

you are not telling us
anything new, go and study,"
he said.

It's a painful paradox.

The emperor knew
the importance of education.

He encouraged students

to go to the United States
and elsewhere,

and they became radicalized
in that process.

He didn't know what he was
heaping up for himself.

At that time,
I was also a student.

I was only 11,

but I was sent
far, far away from home.

This is starting
to look familiar now.

Unbelievable.

See?
The hockey field.

I never remember
seeing this scene.

That I remember.

My sister Jote and I were
in boarding school in the UK.

We went to the same school
that my mother and my aunts

had also gone to.

- It looks smaller, Jote.
- I know.

It's exactly the same.

- There's the cattle bridge.
- There's the cattle bridge.

- You're here.
- Oh, my goodness.

Wow.

For us,
Clarendon basically marked

the end of our old lives.

Clarendon is a dramatic building,

but this was not
a fancy school.

They hadn't moved on
too much from the war.

Yeah,
this is our classroom.

This was a school
where you had to eat everything

that was put on your plate,

and we still had,
you know, powdered eggs.

It's a very utilitarian,
missionary school.

I can't believe we're grown up,

and we're going through
the front door.

We never were allowed here,

just like we weren't allowed
on the staircase.

- Yeah, I remember
the staircase.
- Yeah.

Are we allowed up there?

Jote. No, no, no.

Jote, I'm going to kill you.

Come down.

Oh, my goodness.

Clarendon, it was so far away.

You were in Wales.

Look at the marble, Jote.

We were very sheltered.

You know,
and it was a huge shock,

because I went from having
my mom and my dad and my aunts

and my whole family around me
to nothing.

Clarendon School,
1948 till 1975.

- Look at that.
- Look at this.

Who is that?

- Miss Haughton!
- Oh, my God.

Headmistress, 1960s.
That was her.

- Yeah.
- Till 1978.

So the former
headmistress,

Miss Swain, had retired
and was living upstairs.

And she's the one
who remembered Mommy.

Miss Swain would have us up,

'cause she wanted to know
what was going on in Ethiopia.

And she would call Jote up.

Because I was the eldest,

she'd want to hear from me

what was happening in Ethiopia.

So, we'd look at the papers,
and she'd say,

"What's happened today?"
you know.

And I had to explain
Ethiopian politics to her,

which I had no clue.

During that fall,

there was more and more news
in the paper.

"...committee,
all indications were

that the army
was about to seize full power."

I just find just all of it,
just very overwhelming.

- Yeah.
- We didn't understand.

I know.

And it was just
like this perfect storm that...

didn't get--
they just didn't see

how hard it was coming,
I don't think.

No, I don't think they did.

Ethiopia's problems

are partly the result
of a terrible drought,

which has also afflicted
six other African countries.

Tens of thousands of people
have died.

After being
the university president

and a governor,

Grandpa appointed my father

to be the minister
of agriculture.

So he was right
in the middle of things.

My father
became minister of agriculture
as the famine was underway.

Very quickly, he realized

the government
wasn't able to respond

in a way that--

that really addressed
the scope of the crisis.

As minister of agriculture,

it was partly
his responsibility...

to make food available.

Kassa was going around
the world to get the support.

We know
about the irrigation scheme,
what would've happened

before the irrigation scheme's
put into practice?

Before the irrigation scheme,
you see,

we'd get a lot of rain
in June, July and August.

And then all the water
would run away, and
we'd have no means

of keeping any of it
for the dry season.

What we plan to do
through the irrigation scheme
is to retain

a little bit of the water,
so that we can use it
during the dry season.

We're delighted
you've been able to come to
visit us onBlue Peter today.

Thank you very much
for having me on the show.

- Ah, that's nice.
- Nice, yeah.

- Was that how
you remember his voice?
- No.

At all, I didn't remember
his voice, Ami.

I-- in my head, I thought
it would be like Mommy's.

In your opinion,
did His Majesty understand

the level of the famine,

or was he being kept...

separate from it?

You are
opening a Pandora's box.

It was kept undercover.

It took a BBC reporter

who exploded
this thing to the world.

And everybody woke up.

I had a friend
who was at university with me,

and said, "We've got
some Ethiopian students here

who say that their voices
are being suppressed,

and there's a terrible situation
of famine in the country."

And no one knew
anything about this.

This is the summer of 1973,
late summer of 1973.

And we went out,
and I found myself

in the midst
of a complete nightmare.

It's the most horrific thing

I've ever experienced
in my life.

Those people
who are in this shed here

are getting weaker every day.

Many of them can no longer
take food or drink.

All of them are bound to die.

In Ethiopia as a whole,

nearly two million people
are suffering.

The feudal government
of Emperor Haile Selassie
did little to stop the dying.

Each week since November,

the government's
Emergency Committee

has met to coordinate
the relief operation.

The ministries represented here
must take much of the blame

for the deaths
from starvation last year.

They had been warned.

The Ministry of Agriculture

reported six months in advance

that the spring of 1973
would bring famine to Ethiopia.

The government
suppressed the report.

The political tension
began to mount,

and a copy of our film was then
very cleverly manipulated

by what became the Derg.

They edited my film

to suggest that the emperor
knew what was going on.

They called it
The Hidden Hunger.

And it was
an extremely crude edit

with pictures of Haile Selassie
having a great time

driving around
in his Rolls Royce

intercut with images
of starving children.

I mean,
nothing could be more crass.

They ran that film
on the television

on a loop 24 hours at a time.

And I was appalled,
but there was nothing
you could do.

It's hard for me
to be objective about it.

I feel like
any criticism of Grandpa

would be a betrayal

to my mom and to my family.

What do you think
was happening with His Majesty?

Do you think he was
listening to your dad?

Or do you think he--

what is your opinion
on his position?

I really--
I don't want to talk about--

I don't know enough

to talk about what Grandpa knew.

I know Kassilu was allowed out.

I don't know.

I really don't know
what Grandpa knew.

May I take a break?

- Is this too much?
- It's a bit much.

But it's good to do it.

Can I take the furry thing off?

It's just been a long--
it's just been months
and months of like--

and it's like, "This is
your frigging punishment,

Yeshi Kassa,
for ignoring it for decades.

And decades, and decades."

- Hello.
- Hi, sweetie.

I wanted to talk to you
about the fact

that, you know--

- I hit a wall?
- Yeah.

You've unearthed stuff

that you have not wanted
to look at your entire life.

Yeah.

I know.

What's the worst thing
that you think could happen?

That I would
go to a dark place and
never come back.

When I went to therapy...

I was having
massive panic attacks.

I couldn't get on the train
and go to work.

Or I would get on the train
and I couldn't get off.

No, I'm not liking
my hand being held.

- Do you have
trouble sleeping at night?
- All the time.

I sleep with the light
and the TV on.

I don't like--
I don't like the dark.

There's monsters in there.

- Don't you want
to like ever stare them down?
- No.

- To get rid of them?
- No, they'll take me over,
Connie.

They will take me over.

They will. They will.

I don't believe
that you, you know,

confront them, and you're fine.

I believe
you shut the door on them.

So you're stuck with them.

No, they live
in another place.

With the door closed.

But the monsters,
they're still there.

- I feel like we covered this.
- All right.

'Cause we're not
supposed to do it twice.

It was so cold out there,

and we volunteered
to do the homeless count.

Do you have a place
you're going to tonight?

So, you're going to be
hanging out right out here?

- What's your name?
- Howard, they call me Howard.

Ethiopians want to help, you know.

If there's anybody
ever in distress,
they want to help.

...says peace.

So, that thing
is rich and poor,

that's what shows
you're an Ethiopian.

I'm just an office manager,

but I definitely learnt,

you know,
to whom much is given,
much is expected.

That, I learned from my parents
and my grandmas and Grandpa.

I don't know.

Mommy, do you think
this is important to do?

Do you think it's worthwhile?

Yeah, I think it's--

you know, time will pass,

and we'll forget
all the details,

and how it happened,
why it came about.

At least
they'll have something...

to remember, because
it's very easily forgotten

that the Communist government

were out to get the family.

The frustration
of the students was huge.

The farmers needed land,
and they didn't own land.

Even the strikes in Addis,

all of those
were clear indicators

there was a problem
within that society.

I think the whole family,
and not just Grandpa,

were not able to hear that.

September is when it happened.

There was a military revolt.

There was an emerging chaos

that led quite rapidly
after that

to the Derg taking over.

The Derg is a committee.

Representatives,
junior officers in most cases,

and Mengistu Haile Mariam,
he was a junior officer,

and he was chosen
to represent the army.

He rose
quite swiftly through
the ranks.

He was intelligent,
he was young,

quite good-looking
when I met him, handsome man.

And he, at first,
appeared to be someone

who just wanted to make
radical change.

He adopted a sort of crude form
of Marxism-Leninism.

It's hard to imagine
that somebody like Mengistu

would change Ethiopia forever.

Mommy,
would you mind telling me

what you remember
about September 12th?

There was definitely a--

That morning,
there was definitely

some kind of plan going on.

The palace was surrounded by...
by the army.

We were upstairs,

and I remember
His Majesty saying,

when he looked
out the window, he said,

"At least I've given
a lot to the country."

Then what comes, it comes.

Then the soldiers came in.

They went
to His Majesty's office,

and the person read this paper.

"We think the country
needs quite a new leader."

He was the emperor.

And he was the ruler
of Ethiopia

and it was his head

that the military
wanted on a plate.

They took His Majesty.

They brought, deliberately,

a little Volkswagen.

The small Volkswagen came.

They put him
in the back of the car

and took him.

So, were you there
when they took Grandpa away?

Yes, we-- he was just passing by

and the-- there were
so many people.

There was a lot of shouting

and they were
trying to get near him.

At first, the Derg,
they said sensible things.

They talked about land reform

and they talked about giving
the peasants a better life.

And I thought,
"Yeah, but this has got to be
given a chance."

Ethiopia's
revolution brought an end
to 3,000 years of feudalism

and ushered in an era
of military socialism.

Out of the political chaos
has emerged this obscure

38-year-old
American-trained army officer,

Lieutenant Colonel
Mengistu Haile Mariam.

Mengistu fought
his way to the top

and plans to use his new army

to maintain political control
of the cities.

We just didn't get it.

We did not get it.

We were in Clarendon,
and we wanted to go home.

We were headed
back to Ethiopia.

My dad called and said,

"Don't come home
because there were troubles."

I thought
my dad had overreacted.

And I couldn't contact him.

There was no radio,
there was no TV.

You couldn't call.

I was cut off
not only from my family,

I was cut off from my country.

I-- I didn't know
how to deal with it

and I-- I just shut down.

The whole world
was just gray and black.

I remember going down
to London.

This Ethiopian guy called Tak,
he knew I was upset.

He said to me, "I'm gonna
take you to a concert."

I'd never heard
reggae music before.

Never heard of
Bob Marley's name before, ever.

The first thing you see
is a huge backdrop.

And I'm like, "It's Grandpa."

I had no idea what was going on.

♪ Lively up yourself
And don't be no drag ♪

He has this whole chant
and response thing.

And the crowd know.

If he says, "Jah," they know
to scream "Rastafari."

And it's thousands of people.

So it was like,
"Oh, okay, Rastafari."

That was Grandpa's title

before he became emperor.

After the concert,

the guy who took me said,

"You know,
we're gonna go over,"

they've invited us
to their house.

And I was like,
"Sure, why not?"

We went in.

The whole place
is full of pot smoke.

They had massive dreads.

Oh, my goodness,
they were like, "His Majesty's
granddaughter.

Come and tell us
about your grandfather.

Did your grandfather eat?

Did you see him eat?

Do you know
your grandfather is God?"

And I was like,
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no."

I thought, they're wrong.

My grandfather is not God.

But Bob was the one
who showed me in the Bible

that there would be
a second coming

and that there would be
a Black Messiah.

Marcus Garvey said,

"The crowning
of a king in Africa

would mark
the day of deliverance

for Black people."

So, when Grandpa was crowned,

they worshipped him
as the Messiah.

Bob talked about
when Grandpa came to Jamaica.

I'd never known about that.

And they told me
it was a miracle.

They said
that it was the first time that

Rastas had even been able
to show their face.

And they made me understand

that it was religion
for the disenfranchised.

It symbolized independence
for Black people.

Ethiopia is the only African nation

that's never been conquered.

I mean, Wakanda is fictitious,

but the real Wakanda
is Ethiopia.

Bob was the first one
who even taught me

about Grandpa's speech
at the League of Nations

and how that predicted
World War II.

His Majesty, Haile Selassie.

Italy had
already invaded Ethiopia

before World War II.

And Grandpa wanted
the League of Nations,

which Ethiopia
was a member of,

to honor their pledge
of collective security.

So, his speech was prophetic,

because he said,
"It's us today,

and it will be you tomorrow."

And that's what happened.

You know,
Mommy wouldn't tell me,

or my grandmother
wouldn't tell me.

That was the first time
that I'd heard

all these amazing things
that my grandpa had done.

Bob Marley
took Yeshi home.

As a young girl,

Yeshi just found a champion...

of her homeland.

Ain't nobody was
really talking about Ethiopia

and carrying that banner
at that time.

Bob was actually given a ring

by the Crown Prince
Asfaw Wossen.

Yeshi and her friends,
they came and brought the ring.

And, well,
that blew Bob's mind.

That's all the endorsement
Bob Marley needed.

By the Crown Prince,

acknowledging him carrying
the Ethiopian banner.

No, I'm not just
a little Rasta man, now.

He is now endorsed!

I don't know
what I meant to Bob,

but I know what he meant to me.

And, um...

to me, you know, he was
the first love of my life.

He was a good person
and he took care of me.

He would always make sure
that he saw me...

Oh, my goodness,
he used to call me every day
and make sure that I was okay.

And, you know,
I think I was probably

looking for a father figure

and, um, it was terrible.

When he died was probably
one of the worst...

days of my life.

He was, um--

he was there for me
when I needed someone.

And, uh...

I was thankful that
he remembered good things

that-- that Grandpa had done

at a time when...

Ethiopians were busy
telling us that he was very bad.

Haile Selassie,
the deposed emperor,

is believed
to be alive under guard

in one of the many houses

in the sprawling
palace compound.

Just before sunset,
an armed convoy

took about
a dozen women members
of the royal family

from their palatial mansion

to a grim-looking
army camp a mile away.

I don't know why my mother
and the women were arrested.

I don't understand
why they ever thought
that they would be a threat.

I don't know why
my sisters had to go through
what they went through.

The most difficult
part for me

in that whole experience

in Ethiopia was when Mommy left.

We were sleeping,
early in the morning.

And I remember
her coming in and out,

and it was the morning
they'd come to take her.

And I think
she wanted to say something,
but she couldn't.

So I woke up, and she was gone.

And what
was I supposed to say to her?

I-- I tried to be a little bit
on the positive side.

I thought,
you know, I'll be back.

I-- I really did think
that I would be back.

Eventually,
when you got to, uh,

to the prison, we...

we were just so shocked,
we just could not believe it.

So, first,
they arrested Grandpa,

and then they arrested
everybody else?

- Yeah.
- That must
have been terrifying.

I also wanted
to ask you about the room

you were all in, because Mommy,

she doesn't want
to talk about it.

Life in that room,
that famous room...

about 11 by 14 feet.

- How many were we?
- We were 12 people.

We do everything in that room.

For 24 hours, you eat,

you drink there,
you sleep there.

The light was on.

This constant neon light,

all the time on you.

Day and night.

We couldn't even
take a shower.

We just washed with, you know--

There was no running water.

- No running water.
- At all.

There's a big barrel
of water, that's all.

The other thing is that
there was not enough windows.

Just one small grill
on one side.

So, during the hot weather
we had problem.

If it isn't the fleas,
it's the rats.

- Huge rats.
- How big?

Whoo, oh,
even the thought of it--

I'm the only one
that could deal with it.

- She's the only one--
- I became the rat catcher.

They were about this huge.

- Literally, big.
- Big black ones.

Nothing frightens them there.

I think the whole idea
is to psychologically
subjugate us, somehow.

I did try to commit suicide.

She broke the door down.

I took rat poison
and I drank it.

And I had locked the door,
so that nobody could come in.

After my suicide attempt,

they told me,
"This wasn't reality,

you know, that where--
it's the situation

that is making
all of us act that way."

My mother
and my aunts and my grandmother

had gone to school in England.

And they had
really good friends.

So there was this group
that realized what
was going on.

- Hello.
- Well, we found
your friends, Nana.

Oh, you found them?
- We did.

Well done.

So I'm off
like a prom dress, Nana.

It's very exciting.

- Last year, you gave me a big...
- Did I?

...packet of papers,
yes, you did.

Yes,
I do remember that.

All my sort of correspondence--

Yes, because this is

an entire history
of what happened.

- Yep.
- For many, many years.

Yep.

I remember the first time

that I heard the awful news

that my friends
had been put into prison.

And you never knew
quite how you could help.

Gradually, we got it
into the press

and-- and really getting
as many people as can

to write letters.

We have had a lovely Dutch lady.

She was called Miss Van De Loo

and she was
a missionary in Addis.

And we were able
to send money to her

and she would buy food,
because no food in prison.

Ethiopian prisons,

they're not like
American prisons.

Every single thing,
you have to provide.

You have to take food
for those prisoners every day.

When you go in,
the searches are brutal.

You have to taste test
the food,

because they don't want you
to take in poison

that the prisoner might want.

And then, when you got inside,

you're not allowed
to talk to the prisoners.

Hello, I'm Yeshi.

Yes, of course you are.

Somehow they--
they really knew

that there was this support
that was coming from England.

Oh, here we are,
letters from prison.

'Cause I remember
the little letters and saying,

"Please say 'thank you'
to so and so," and
we received--

And the packages that--
that used to go.

I remember one year,
making them an Easter cake.

And, um, I found a tin
that fitted it exactly.

And I sent a card, and I knew
that they looked at things

as they went into the prison,
so I stuck it

between the greaseproof paper.

I put two greaseproof papers
on the bottom.

So you had to
cut the cake to find it.

And-- and it all arrived
with the card.

And-- oh, that-- that's--

that's the first letter,
I think, out.

Oh, that came
out of the prison.

Oh, Mary, that's amazing.

"Jemma Swain, just a short note

from all eight Clarendonians.

- Made in our retreat."
- "In our retreat."

They hadn't lost
their sense of humor, then.

"We know that you are
praying for us.

Please continue,
as we have gained much strength

through the prayers
of many old Clarendonians.

Love, Sybil."

Did you know
what happened to my father...

- No.
- ...at the time?

'Cause I see Mommy--
I saw Mommy writing,

saying, "Please pray
for my husband,

'cause they don't know
where he is."

Yes, that's right.

Ladies and gentlemen,
we do hope that you have

a great, successful time
here in Ethiopia.

Here we go.

While the crisis was brewing,

my father
was out of the country

getting aid for the famine.

I'm really interested
in the decision that my father
made to go back.

You know,
and I think it's a decision
that haunts all of us, right?

But that decision
defines who he was.

We tried to persuade him
not to come, but he insisted.

As he was
minister of agriculture,

he went to the World Bank

to get money
to respond to the famine.

I think this is my dad's.

Yeah, it is.

I think
he worked so hard for it.

He thought he could
put all this together
and do something positive.

He returned about April or May.

He handed over all his missions
to a new prime minister.

And then he was offered
to stay.

- In the new government.
- Absolutely.

- I see.
- Yes.

And then he resigned.
He said, no.

- He declined the same position.
- I never knew that.

- Okay, dear.
- I didn't... Yaicob.

And then, by July,

all ministers and generals

were taken into prison.

- Mm-hmm.
- He was also called.

The last person.

When you say they were called,

he was the last person
to be called,

does that mean on the radio--

Yes, television and radio.

- Television and radio.
- Yes.

- So they would say--
- Announce.

"We want so and so--"

To come to this place
for questioning.

So, I took him to the prison

and then he gave himself up
to the Derg.

You know, I told him,
"Where are you going?

All your colleagues
are in prison,

and more-- more importantly,

nobody knows your fate."

He said he did not want
to leave his family alone.

This is one of the gates.

I-- I parked the car
inside the compound.

They came in and took him away.

That's the time when I left.

I should not have
taken him to prison.

That's where I admit fault.

Yaicob, nobody could imagine

what the Derg would do next.

In a weekend of bloodshed,

60 people representing
the top echelon

of Ethiopian leadership
were executed.

This is where
the executions took place.

The men had been told
that they were being moved

to more comfortable quarters.

They went willingly.

Then, they were executed
without trial.

With no trial,
in the middle of the night,

they killed
almost every single person

that had anything at all
to do with that government.

We were having a meeting
of the members of the Derg.

I was sitting in the back.

Mengistu said,
"If we don't kill today,

they are going to kill us,
so we have to take action."

You know what happened?

The entire--
the entire Derg applauded.

The applaud, the claps.

This is-- Derg is born today.

Derg is born today.
They just got mad.

This is how it started.

When he saw the mood--
the mood, Mengistu,

he said, "The procedure
is simply to raise your hands,

to count the name, after 50%,
for killing-- to kill."

Then, people were, you know,
sleepy and so on.

Atnafu, oh, gentlemen, please,

your hand, your hand, please.

He wake up.
It was completely madness.

I mean, they were laughing,

they were joking
with each other.

They are sending people
to gallows, to-- to be killed.

So, everything was crazy.

"Following a meeting
of its full membership,

the Derg has
unanimously decided

that revolutionary action
should be taken."

This, I've never seen.

Uncle, uncle, uncle, uncle.

My mother's
best friend's husband.

Great-uncle. Uncle.

The person who's not
on this list is my dad.

Around the anniversary
of the coup,

the next blow came.

Haile Selassie of Ethiopia,

the last absolute monarch
in the world

until he was deposed
a year ago,

died today in Addis Ababa,

a prisoner
in one of his own palaces.

He was 83 years old.

He died alone.

It kind of gets to you.
It really does.

Later on, we discovered
that he was murdered.

Yeah, he was murdered.

The guy, they used ether,
and suffocated him.

And then they just
dumped him in a toilet,

you know, in a drainage system.

It's just-- it's unbelievable.

And he used to be
an emperor, you know?

And...

I mean, an old man.

You don't kill somebody
like that, you know?

I'm reading about
the Russian imperial family.

What happened to their family,

I think,
has a lot of similarities

to what happened
with my family.

The way that
they were killed and--

similar because
they were isolated.

And I think they didn't know
what was going on.

I think, then,
you don't see the avalanche

when it's-- you know,
headed your way.

About Haile Selassie,

no doubt that he did something
good for this country.

There is no doubt about that.

He did not deserve to be killed
the way he was killed.

And don't misunderstand me,

I am not condoning the Derg,

but how many other people...

- Yes.
- ...could say

that Haile Selassie's regime
destroyed my family.

- Destroyed my... life.
- I understand.

I understand.

I understand,
and I'm getting to that place,

but, you know,
it's-- it's blood.

There are
so many pro-Derg books.

A lot of people think
it was better

during Mengistu's time
than during Grandpa's time.

100%.

This little girl was born
right when Derg went down,

so she-- and she said,
"We don't know anything."

She kept saying,
"We didn't know about
your mother.

We don't know about the Sixty.
We don't know anything."

Today it seems that they
willfully ignore what Derg did.

Back then,
it was shrouded in secrecy.

We knew my dad was in prison.

We knew that he hadn't been
killed with the big group.

We just didn't know
where he was.

I think Kassilu
would have felt terrible

that all the others were killed
and that he'd been spared.

He would have
felt guilty and sad
and just horrified.

So, do you remember the day

that they came
to take Kassilu away?

That was
for the first group?

Yes.

How were they killed?

- Shot-- machine gun.
- Machine guns.

And they dug a mass grave
and they put their bodies in.

And that is how they finished.

My father,
was he part of the group?

He was part of the second group.

That is five years after.

It was the Saturday.

Kassa was called,

and he went to the patriarch,

asking for his blessings
and then...

he went out.

So, that is the last time
that I saw him.

As they were
coming through the corridor...

from behind and then
strangled them like this,

and killed them.

Hi, come in.

That was a lot to take in.

You okay?

I just felt like
they couldn't even dig a...

burial place for them.

Like, really,
it was like, you know,

there you go, like a chicken
scratching the thing.

That was the extent
of their effort with people.

So-- even if
they tried to bury you.

And there really were
mass graves.

I totally forgot that.

Oh, my goodness.

This is a mass grave.

There was
this kind of mass grave, 725.

Most of them were dug out.

But we put some of them here,
human bones.

Look.

Some of them
have been identified

by investigation of dental,
the rest not identified.

- So, these we don't know who...
- No.

Like this.

You know, when we go
to where the Sixty are,

that's bad enough,
but there's only 60 of them

and there's, like,
hundreds here.

Never ever again, never forget.

We have to teach
the generations.

Repetition. Repetition.
Again and again.

- Yeah, because memory
forgets bad things, right?
- Yes, yeah.

Oh, my God,
they're so young.

Do you-- do you forgive
everything that happened?

I don't like it.

- Yeah, why-- in what way--
- It's hard to forgive.

Simply the people said,
"It's good, it's good."

Why?

And to Mengistu,
the revolution in Ethiopia,

now four years old,
has been haphazard and violent.

I was in England,
but my brother and my sisters,

they were stuck in Ethiopia
where Mengistu

was just slaughtering
everybody who opposed him.

I remember Bob asking me
at the time what was going on.

He wanted to help.

When the revolution
first happened

we were living
in Mommy and Kassilu's house.

There was really no family
at the house at that point.

Thankfully, my aunt,

my father's sister,
came to live with us.

So it was Kokeb, Amaha,

our cousin Menen, and myself.

It was dangerous
for us to be there

and dangerous to stay.

And my aunt realized
she had to protect us.

She knew it was getting bad,

so, she-- she got us a--
a nice family,

they were American family

and then we started living
with them in Addis.

Jodie and Denton Collins
were American missionaries

until the Derg
closed their mission.

They were teaching at the school
that my sisters were going to.

The principal
came up to me and said,

"The royal family, the women
have been put in prison,

and there's four children
who are with an aunt.

But she was afraid
for their safety.

So, she's looking for someone
to take care of the children

and I thought of you.

Would you be able
to take care of them?"

You know,
I was a little taken back,

because I hadn't met
anybody in the royal family.

But I said,
"Sure, we'll take care of them."

But the Derg itself became
very brutal and bloody.

Because of the ideological divisions
there were in the leadership,

the zealots amongst them
helped Mengistu and
his henchmen

and the result
was horrific killings, murder,

in order to cement the power
of what was called "Red Terror."

One day the army
got out of trucks

and machine-gunned
students in front of me.

Mrs. Collins,

when she would drive us
to school,

she would have us
lay down in the back seat
and she'd put a blanket over us.

The parents had to pay $250

for the bullet
that killed their kid

in order to take
their kid home and bury them.

It was terrible.

It was a really hard time.

Guilt...

innocence,
were completely irrelevant.

What mattered
is who you were with,

who you were against
in the perverted,

tormented mind of that regime.

It's alleged
that you killed 12,000 people

to gain power and retain power.

Is that true?

Of course, this is absurd.

I mean, in the first place,
it is not in my nature to kill

even an insect
or a small living thing,

let alone human beings.

Every day,
we wondered,

you know,
if we'd come home alive.

Then I started thinking,

we got to get
these kids out of here.

There's no way they're going
to arrest these kids.

I just had one
phone number in England,

and that was
Menen's brother, Michael.

I told him, "I have the kids.

They're gonna put them
in prison.

They might be killed.

I need to do something
right away."

The main thing
they needed was money.

They needed to pay
for a plane and for pilots

who would risk it
to fly into Ethiopian airspace

and go pick them up.

Now, I introduced Bob
to my family.

They're the ones
who asked him to help.

And Bob was excited.

He told me
that he could do this part.

And-- and he was
just so happy to do it.

We heard about
that the Collins

were planning our escape

the day before we left.

And I remember
we danced around the bedroom,

thinking, "It's really
going to be over."

And we knew that
it was a life-or-death thing

if people heard.

Mr. Collins told us
we can't pack anything.

And we can't say goodbye
to anyone, he told us.

At the last minute,
they ended up taking
my cousins.

So, there were
a total of ten of them.

Mr. Collins got scared at first,

to take, you know, ten kids.

But Mrs. Collins,
she said there was
no other way.

I had no idea
we were escaping at this time.

Nobody had told me anything.

Well, Denton had to rent a car
to get out of the city.

So, he rents
a Volkswagen Kombi bus

painted like a zebra.

I didn't think that
was low profile, but it worked.

Off he goes
to the outskirts of the city.

And we drove
a three-hour drive

to the place
where the plane was meeting us.

We knew something was wrong

because the planes didn't land
where they were supposed to.

But apparently we were
on the wrong side of the field.

We had to cross the marsh area
to the other field.

We ran through
the swamps to the planes.

Mud up to our-- our knees,

and I had to pull
my cousin, Menen, along,

because she was falling back.

Menen's shoes
got stuck and I said,

"Don't worry about that.
Let's keep moving.

Let's go, let's go."

We were trying to run
as fast as we could.

I remember
at that point being scared.

Most of them
got on one plane...

and then Mr. Collins, Ami and I
were in a different plane.

They swooped in at that time

at great risk to themselves
and got us out.

It was very, very scary
because...

we knew we were leaving...

our family behind.

And how do we know
we're going to see them again?

Marietta Van De Loo

somehow managed
to get into the prison.

I-- I don't know
how she did it.

All we heard
is sort of shouting
and screaming,

and then the door banged open

and that was Marietta.

And she was running with the--

the two soldiers
rushing after her.

And then
she just managed to say,
"They've escaped."

That they got
out of the country.

I think we were all crying
and laughing at the same time.

It was really
one of the good news that

we'd had in a very long time
in prison.

So then we made it
safely to California,

and we were living
with the Collins family.

But Ethiopia
became part of everyday news

because there was another
horrific famine happening.

There was famine
when Haile Selassie
was overthrown.

Now famine's returned.

Nine million are starving.

Come '84, '85,
celebrate the, by the Derg,

by Mengistu, ten years
of the revolution.

Invite everyone in from abroad,

put on a lavish feast,
big march-past,

everything to demonstrate that
the Derg was the way ahead.

There was absolutely
no excuse whatsoever

for the mass dying
that occurred.

It became a worse famine
than the 1973 famine.

The irony
of the whole situation
is that the Derg,

which used the 1973 famine

to discredit the emperor
and topple him,

actually committed
even greater crime in 1984

by ignoring the famine.

My Aunt Oniya was in London

while Jote and I
were in school.

And she really was the person

who coordinated
the London ladies.

By 1984,

my mom, my aunts,
my grandmother,

had been in jail for ten years.

I remember every year
the Derg would announce

that they would kill
the imperial women

on the anniversary
of the revolution.

It was terrifying.

The Clarendonian women
continued to help.

How are you, my dear?
Good to see you.

And then
some politicians got involved.

At that time,
the famine, you know,

was very, very bad
and we had to go and--

if we stopped the money,
it would have been horrendous.

We wanted
to make sure the money
was going to the poor people,

and sometimes Mengistu was just
directing it to his mates.

So, we asked the parliament
not to pay any more money

to Ethiopia
until the family were released.

Now, clearly,
that didn't happen immediately,

but it was a big stick.

The state council
of the People's Democratic
Republic of Ethiopia

had, on Saturday,
granted amnesty

to seven members
of the former royal family.

These 11 members
of Haile Selassie's
royal dynasty

have served a total
of 152 years

in Mengistu's jails.

You spent 14 years in prison.

Were you ever brought
before a court?

No.

- No, during--
- Uh, no.

No, during that time we were
never brought before a court.

And Mommy was always saying,
"Don't despair,"

because she was so brave, so...

then I think
we were able to, you know,

to face all the things
that we had together.

The day that you were released,

what did they tell you
in the morning?

They came in morning
and said, "Oh--"

She said, "You're always
saying, 'I'm going to tell you
bad news.'

I'm not telling you
bad news today.

Get dressed
and we're taking you."

You know, when we went out,
the prisoners must have realized
this is happening

and they were
all clapping and saying,

"Oh, these are going out.
Isn't it sweet of them?"

And they said,
"How are you going to go home?"

I said, "Mama, listen,
we're going to take a taxi."

"What?" she said.

I left when I was so young.

I came out of Ethiopia in '73,
so I was 11.

And then the next time
I saw her was 15 years later.

So, I was what, 26?

We were sorry
that we'd missed the--
the important years.

It's sad that
they'd had to go through that.

That they couldn't
have this normal childhood.

This is the so-called
"old girls network"

whose influence helped secure
the release of the princesses.

The flowers, a polite
thank-you to the Ethiopians.

It was
Amnesty International.

We got people to write letters,

and I do believe
that they helped enormously.

The world was watching
what this regime was doing.

Meeting up
together with Mommy
and all her friends

that had been separated
for so long,

but we always knew
we had that support from--

from the Clarendonians,
from our friends.

President Mengistu of Ethiopia

has resigned
and fled the country.

We didn't kill Haile Selassie.
That's not true.

I've heard that

I myself have
killed him personally.

I've heard that
I have killed him

and I buried him
in my office...

...which is entirely untrue.

Today the Mengistu regime
stands accused

of crimes against humanity.

For a moment,
it really looked like

the Ethiopian people were
going to hold Mengistu and Derg

accountable for everything they did.

How many people
were brought to trial?

Six thousand something.

Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam.

Did any of them
say, "We're guilty?"

I feel sorry,
but no one says guilty.

Even, even the-- after
they leave, they write a book.

They still deny it.

- Hello?
- Hi, my friend.

- It's Yesh.
- Hi.

I realized
after talking to people

that I needed to talk

to some Derg people.

Who should I talk to?

- From the books you've read.
- Yeah.

Because they're crazy,

so I just want to be careful
who I talk to.

Okay.

It's like I Googled
"how to interview
a hostile witness."

So, Mr. Dawit is the most senior
Ethiopian official to defect.

I'm keen to talk to you because

you were there
for so much of the time

- from the beginning.
- Yes.

You knew Mengistu a long time.

We were part of that government,
I was part of that government.

I feel bad, though,
I never felt that I was

responsible for anything.

But we feel bad that,
collectively, we feel really--

very-- we regret what happened.

When you were talking
about the Sixty in your book,

I never understood
why they killed Kassilu,

so I look
for any kind of reason.

I think it was
a personal decision by--

by Mengistu and nobody knows.

Even Derg members,
they don't know.

It could be
nobody knows except Mengistu,

but it would-- it would help

to be able
to answer some question.

I wish he were there

and you go there and ask him
these hard questions.

So many millions
of people want closure,

and most
of the answers are with him.

And it is sad
that he will be buried--

he will be buried
with all this truth.

In Africa yesterday,
the Ethiopian Supreme Court

convicted former Marxist ruler,
Mengistu Haile Mariam,

to death
for committing genocide
against his own people.

If anyone is a war criminal

and is a monstrous example
of what happens

when dictatorships take over

and acquire
virtually absolute powers
with the barrel of a gun,

he is that figure.

What was weird with the Derg

was they got life imprisonment.

But then after that,
they got clemency.

And then they--
they started releasing them.

So, now they're free
and, you know,

there's been instances where

people bump into them
at weddings.

The former prime minister

was in Zimbabwe
for some other meeting,

and I think it just
was a coincidence

that Mengistu
happened to be there,
and Haile Mariam thought

it would be a good idea
to have a photo op with him.

I just feel like they're all
trying to come home,

and I think that
what's given them the courage

to do that kind of stuff
is all the freed ones.

With Mengistu,
what I wanted to do was,

I don't want to speak to them,
I want to confront them.

What will the confrontation
do for you?

- What do you feel
like it will do for you?
- Closure.

He said to her,
"You're the only person who's
ever interviewed Mengistu."

And she said, "Yes, I am."

She asked him if she could
take a photo of him,
and he said, "No."

And then she asked him if
she could take a video of him,
and he said, "No."

And she must have secretly

taken this picture of him,

looking just, like, so beat.

You know, many people
were telling me that,

"How come you went
to see Mengistu?"

And it's like, "But he's part
of history, you know."

He's the one, he was there.

And Mengistu, you know,
he knows so many things.

But does he tell the truth?

That's another question.

That's another question.

Do you think you're going
to get to see him again?

- Yeah.
- Can I come with you?

Yeah, I mean,
it depends on him,

because if he say yes,
then it could be arranged.

So, that's what I really want,
I want to--

I want to go and I want
to be able to ask him.

- Let's call him.
- I can ask him.

- Can you call him? Call.
- I can.

- Let's do it.
- Let me call him.

- Call him.
- Okay.

Hello.

No. He said no.

He said no.

He said that, you know,
you can talk to me.

He has told me what he knows
and-- but not on the record.

He said-- he declined.

Sorry, Yeshi.

Is he trying to come home?

I asked him and he said, "Yeah,
I would like to come back."

Does he think he's guiltless,

he should be
allowed home and not--

All-- what he's saying
is that, all he's done

was for the revolution,
so, why do you think

he will think
that he should be punished?

I'm-- I'm not asking you to
send him messages or whatever,

but I promise you, Guenet,
we won't hurt him,

but I promise you,
I would be determined

to make every single day
of his life a living hell

if he comes to Ethiopia.

We are still living
a legacy of violence.

We are not able
to heal the wound

because there is no attempt

to amend for
the atrocities of the period.

Not many, I think
probably one or two,

but the rest who also
are complicit in the genocide,

who are not willing
to accept responsibility.

- Mm-hmm.
- Yeah.

You know,
they've set up that Truth
and Reconciliation Committee,

and I'm like, "How can there be
reconciliation without truth?"

They don't tell the truth.

How can we get to that point?

- How can we be reconciled?
- Yeah.

Now at least
there's some attempt

to acknowledge
what Grandpa did.

Of course, the irony
is the ceremony is held

in the same place that
the Sixty were found buried

and where Mommy,
my grandmother and my aunts

were held for so many years.

And as part of the AU Summit,
a statue has been unveiled

which seems to be getting
a lot of attention online,

more so even
than the summit itself, Andrew.

That's because
this statue commemorates

a former Ethiopian ruler who
sparked a lot of controversy,

both during his leadership
and after his death.

To see Grandpa's
statue unveiled was--

it was the end of a long road

that started for me
in 1973, 1974.

But you would have to be
entirely naive

if you didn't sit there
and think,

"Okay, a large percentage
of these people

hated my grandfather before."

Is the pendulum
going to swing back

and then they're going
to tell us, you know,

"You should have
all been killed?"

The monsters
are always outside the door.

My grandfather's contributions
were too many to name.

His shortcomings--
I do believe,

Grandpa got the ultimate power,

so he had
the ultimate responsibility.

The current generation,

they don't know what Mengistu
and what Derg did.

And if I can, in any way,

spotlight that,

I feel for sure

that I would have done

what my father
would have wanted me to do.

What I would like
for my country

is for her to have a government
that people aren't afraid of.

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Whoa ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Whoa ♪

♪ Addis Ababa ♪

♪ Addis Ababa ♪

♪ Ethiopia ♪

♪ Ethiopia ♪

♪ Addis Ababa ♪

♪ Addis Ababa ♪

♪ Ethiopia ♪