Car Castro

An exhibition of previously unseen photographs from Ethiopia between 1963 and 1982 is opening in London as the country marks its millennium celebrations.

It is the ordination of a patriarch – kissing the emperor’s hand – into Ethiopia’s Orthodox Church.

Queen

During this period there were very few people in Ethiopia who had access to or permission to use a camera.

In this picture from 1965, Desta records the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Addis Ababa.

Britain and Ethiopia were close allies. Six years after Haile Selassie came to power in 1930, he was forced to flee as Mussolini invaded Ethiopia. He took refuge in the UK.

Five years later, the emperor was restored to his throne after the defeat of the Italians by British and Commonwealth troops, aided by Ethiopian resistance.These female war veterans are pictured in Addis Ababa’s Menelik Square in 1973 at a ceremony to commemorate an early victory against the Italians.During the scramble for Africa, Italy first tried to colonise Ethiopia in 1896, but were defeated at The Battle of Adwa.

Coup

Desta was a largely self-taught photographer and he gleaned tips from visiting photographers and learnt how to process film from missionaries.

He survived the military coup in which Haile Selassie was overthrown.

This picture shows the emperor being led into a car by junior members of the revolutionary council, known as the Derg, in 1974.

Brother Castro

The emperor died in mysterious circumstances while in custody. His remains were later discovered under a palace toilet.

Desta continued to record government activity under the rule of military dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam.

Here he captures Ethiopia’s Marxist leader with Cuba’s President Fidel Castro riding in a procession through Addis Ababa’s streets.

Red Terror

It was said that with help from the Soviet Union and Cuba by the end of the 1970s Mengistu presided over the second largest army in sub-Saharan Africa.

Thousands of government opponents at that time died in what became known as the "Red Terror".

During his time as official photographer for the Derg, Desta hid his negatives.

He fled to the UK in 1982 – and later managed to save his unique historical archive of approximately 7,000 images.

Cold War

This picture, taken in 1978, shows demonstrators in the Ethiopian capital holding up anti-American placards.

Mengistu remained in power until 1991, when - weakened by the end of the Cold War – he was overthrown by a coalition of rebels.