Mengistu Haile Mariam
In May 1986, Dinka was arrested and held as a political prisoner by the government of Mengistu Haile Mariam after he was recalled from his assignment as ambassador to Canada and the United States. He was released, along with eighty-seven other political prisoners, in 1989. His release took place just five days before peace talks were due to begin in Atlanta, officiated by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, between the Mengistu Haile Mariam regime and Eritrean rebels.