Aidan Hartley Aidan Hartley

Thirty years ago, I saw the rebels take Addis Ababa

I was the only foreign correspondent there, and it was the best day of my life

Rebel troops patrol the streets of Addis Ababa after overthrowing the Mengistu regime [Photo: Roger Hutchings / Alamy Stock Photo] 
issue 05 June 2021

Kenya

The evening before the assault on Addis Ababa, my guide Girmay and I ventured into a complex stuffed with bombs, bullets and missiles that must have been booby-trapped. A few minutes into taking photos, I heard detonations, and a bunker on the hill above us exploded. We dashed away as the rumbles and bangs behind us gathered in fury and then the earth burst in an eruption of fire, sending a mushroom cloud into the sky. As we ran, rockets and shells rained down on all sides, shrapnel and earth bursting in plumes. We took cover in a dry riverbed and I worked my way through a packet of cigarettes while the ground shook under the relentless explosions until dusk, when we raced madly across ploughed fields until we reached safety.

Fighting in the palace grounds was still going on as we made our way past a cage inhabited by a starving lion

I’m thinking about this now because it’s 30 years to the day since it happened.

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