Mengistu Haile Mariam was born on 21 May 1937 in Wolaita during the Italian occupation. Mengistu was the son of a former Konso slave who worked for an aristocratic Shewan landowner Afenegus Eshete Geda, who encountered Mengistu's father, Haile Mariam Wolde Ayana, while he was on a hunting expedition in the Konso district, then under the governorship of Dejazmatch Taye Gulilat. After the Italians invaded Ethiopia, they abolished slavery, freeing Haile Mariam. The Italians then recruited Haile Mariam as an Askari soldier and sent him to Jimma. Here, Mengistu's mother who was also former servant of Konso origin met Haile Mariam and the two got married. The marriage resulted with the birth of Mengistu's elder sister, and then Mengistu himself.Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 290 n. 13. In Mengistu's last interview, he mentioned that he knew Kebede Tesemma, but denied a blood relationship."Mengistu Haile Mariam: The Profile of a Dictator" , reprinted from the February 1994 Ethiopian Review (accessed 30 July 2009)
