Isaias Afwerki Compared to Former Ethiopian Dictator

In a stark and revealing assessment, American writer and security analyst Paul B. Henze, who served in the Carter administration as deputy to National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski, drew a compelling comparison between Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki and former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. In his 2007 book Ethiopia in Mengistu’s Final Years: Until the Last Bullet, Henze wrote that Afwerki exhibited characteristics strikingly similar to Mengistu, who is infamous for leading a brutal regime responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians and political opponents during Ethiopia’s Red Terror. Henze observed, “Isaias impressed me as remarkably similar in temperament and attitudes to Mengistu. He has many of the same mannerisms, a rather bulldoggish seriousness, a defensiveness behind a facade of feigned reasonableness that is not really convincing. One senses a stubborn, fundamentally authoritarian personality.” The remark offers a rare insight from a U.S. official familiar with the inner workings of both the Horn of Africa and the U.S. foreign policy establishment during a pivotal time. It sheds light on the enduring perception of President Isaias as an autocratic figure, a reputation reinforced by his decades-long rule and widespread reports of repression in Eritrea. Isaias Afwerki has ruled Eritrea since its independence in 1993, with no national elections held since. His government has faced international criticism for human rights abuses, forced conscription, lack of press freedom, and political imprisonment. Henze’s comparison underscores the concerns many observers and analysts have voiced over the years about authoritarianism and stagnation in Eritrea, drawing historical parallels with one of the region’s darkest political chapters.