2025/08/31 by Kidane, Samuel
#Agame #Red Terror #civil war
paper · doi:10.71624/1wr4ft88
This paper discusses the history of ʾAdigrat, a principal urban center in ʾAgame, during the Derg regime (1974-1989). Drawing primarily on archival sources, I assess the social upheavals caused by the transition from imperial rule to a military regime. Amid this transition, the town faced political instability, urban violence under the Red Terror, economic hardships, intermittent wars, and shifts in governance. The civil war in the province profoundly affected its development, turning it into a fortified location for prolonged military confrontations in northern Ethiopia and adversely affecting its growth. It was also overwhelmed by a torrent of migrants from the nearby rural areas displaced by the civil war in the region. The pernicious impacts of these factors were evident, destabilizing urban life and causing the town to become preoccupied with tasks that did not contribute to its spatial growth or socioeconomic development. In this paper, I argue that the transition to military rule downsized the urban life of the town; hampered its efforts to adapt to the evolving sociopolitical order, ultimately leading its residents to resiliently embark on a long journey of community participation-driven adaptation practices in response to the Derg’s rule while reacting collectively to the socio-economic pressures of the civil war until 1989.