ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — The former Ethiopian dictator Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam has met with Ethiopia's former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in Zimbabwe's capital Harare on Wednesday.

The surprise meeting between Hailemariam, who was Ethiopia's Prime Minister until he resigned in April 2018, and Mengistu has stunned many in Ethiopia who had a rare glimpse of Mengistu since he fled the country in 1991 as rebels, who now make up the ruling coalition, approached the capital, Addis Ababa.

A photo of the meeting between Mengistu and Hailemariam, who was in Zimbabwe as head of the African Union's election observers' mission, was widely shared on social media.

Mengistu was head of the military junta that overthrew the last Ethiopian emperor, Haileselassie, in 1974. He ruled the country in an iron grip for 17 years.