Genocide trial 12 years and counting

ADDIS ABABA - Victims of former ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam will have to wait a bit longer for justice after an Ethiopian judge last night postponed a verdict in his genocide trial.

The trial was delayed until next January despite having already taken 12 years.

Presiding judge Medhin Kiros said the court needed more time to assess the huge body of evidence in the case against Mengistu, who is accused of killing tens of thousands of people during a 17-year rule that ended in 1991.

Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe after being overthrown by a guerrilla army led by current Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Mengistu has lived there in lavish seclusion ever since.

His rule began with the toppling of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974 and included war, brutal purges and famine. In the so-called "Red Terror" campaign in 1977-78, suspected opponents were rounded up, executed by garrotting or shooting and their bodies thrown into the streets.

- REUTERS