Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia

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Haile Selassie
Emperor of Ethiopia
Image:Selassie.jpg
Reign November 2, 1930 – September 12, 1974
Titles Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, King of Kings of Ethiopia and Elect of God
Born July 23, 1892
Ejersa Goro, Harar
Died August 27, 1975
Predecessor Zewditu
Successor De Jure Amha Selassie I (crowned in exile)

De Facto Aman Mikael Andom (as Chairman of the Derg and Head of State)

Consort Empress Menen
Issue HIH Romanework Haile Selassie
HIH Princess Tenagnework
HIM Asfaw Wossen
HIH Princess Tsehai
HIH Princess Zenebework
HIH Prince Makonnen
HIH Prince Sahle Selassie
Royal House House of Solomon
Father Ras Makonnen Woldemikael Gudessa
Mother Weyziro Yeshimebet Ali Abajifar

Haile Selassie I KG, GCB, GCMG, GCVO (Ge'ez: ኃይለ፡ ሥላሴ, "Power of the Trinity"; July 23, 1892 – August 27, 1975) was de jure Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974 and de facto from 1916 to 1936 and 1941 to 1974. He is also considered to be the religious symbol for God incarnate among the Rastafari movement, founded in Jamaica in the early 1930s. The Rastafari also call Haile Selassie HIM, Jah and Jah Rastafari.

Born Lij Tafari Makonnen (Ge'ez ልጅ፡ ተፈሪ፡ መኮንን; Amharic pronunciation lij teferī mekōnnin), his full title in office was "His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, King of Kings of Ethiopia and Elect of God" (Ge'ez ግርማዊ፡ ቀዳማዊ፡ አፄ፡ ኃይለ፡ ሥላሴ፡ ሞዓ፡ [sic] አንበሳ፡ ዘእምነገደ፡ ይሁዳ፡ ንጉሠ፡ ነገሥት፡ ዘኢትዮጵያ፡ ሰዩመ፡ እግዚአብሔር; girmāwī ḳadāmāwī 'aṣē ḫāylē śillāsē, mō'ā 'anbassā za'imnaggada yīhūda nigūsa nagast za'ītyōṗṗyā, siyūma 'igzī'a'bihēr). To Ethiopians he has been known by many names, including Janhoy, Talaqu Meri, Abba Tekel, amongst others.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Haile Selassie I was born Tafari Makonnen on July 23, 1892, in the village of Ejersa Goro, in the Harar province of Ethiopia, as Lij (literally "child", usually bestowed upon nobility). His father was Ras Makonnen Woldemikael Gudessa, the governor of Harar, and his mother was Weyziro (Lady) Yeshimebet Ali Abajifar. He inherited his imperial blood through his paternal grandmother, Princess Tenagnework Sahle Selassie, who was an aunt of Emperor Menelik II, and as such, claimed to be a direct descendant of Makeda, the queen of Sheba, and King Solomon of ancient Israel. Tafari became Dejazmach at the age of thirteen. Shortly thereafter, his father Ras Makonnen died at Kulibi. Although it seems that his father had wanted him to inherit his position of governor of Harar, Menelik found it imprudent to appoint such a young boy to such an important position. Tafari's older half-brother, Dejazmach Yilma Makonnen was made governor of Harar instead but died not long after taking office.

[edit] Governor of Harar

Tafari was given the titular governorship of Sellale, although he did not administer the district directly. In 1907, he was appointed governor over part of the province of Sidamo. It is alleged that during his late teens, Haile Selassie was married to Woizero Altayech, and from this union, his daughter Romanework Haile Selassie was born.[1][2] Following the death of his brother Yilma, Harar was granted to Menelik's loyal general, Dejazmach Balcha Saffo. However, Balcha Saffo's time in Harar was not successful, and so during the last illness of Menelik II, and the brief tenure in power of Empress Taitu Bitul, Tafari was made governor of Harar, and entered the city 11 April 1911. On 3 August of that year, he married Menen Asfaw of Ambassel, the niece of the heir to the throne, Lij Iyasu.

[edit] Regent

Although Tafari played only a minor role in the movement that deposed Iyasu on 27 September 1916, he was its ultimate beneficiary. The primary powers behind the move were the conservatives led by Fitawrari Habte Giorgis Dinagde, Menelik II's long time war minister. Tafari was included in order to get the progressive elements of the nobility behind the movement, as Iyasu was no longer regarded as the progressives' best hope for change. Iyasu's increasing flirtation with Islam, his disrespectful attitude to the nobles of his grandfather Menelik II, as well as his scandalous behavior in general, not only outraged the conservative power brokers of the Empire, but alienated the progressive elements as well. This led to the deposition of Iyasu on grounds of conversion to Islam, and the proclamation of Menelik II's daughter (Iyasu's aunt) as Empress Zewditu. Tafari was elevated to the rank of Ras and was made heir apparent. In the power arrangement that followed, Tafari accepted the role of Regent (Inderase) and became the de facto ruler of the Ethiopian Empire.

As regent, the new Crown Prince developed the policy of careful modernization initiated by Menelik II, securing Ethiopia's admission to the League of Nations in 1923, re-abolishing slavery in the empire in 1924 (it had already been declared illegal several times by all the emperors, beginning with Tewodros, but with little practical result). He engaged in a tour of Europe that same year, inspecting schools, hospitals, factories, and churches; this left such an impression on the future emperor that he devoted over forty pages of his autobiography to the details of his European journey. Also on this trip, while visiting the Armenian monastery in Jerusalem, the Crown Prince met 40 Armenian orphans (አርባ ልጆች Arba Lijoch, "forty children") who had escaped from the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Empire. They impressed him so much that he received permission from the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem to adopt and bring them to Ethiopia, where he arranged for them to receive musical instruction, and they formed the Imperial brass band. The 40 teenagers arrived in Addis Ababa on 6 September 1924, and along with their bandleader Kevork Nalbandian, became the first official orchestra of the nation. Nalbandian composed the music for the Imperial National Anthem, Marsh Teferi (words by Yoftahé Negusé), which was official in Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. [4]

[edit] King and Emperor

Image:HaileSelassieIthefirst.jpg
Haile Selassie I

Zewditu crowned him as negus ("king," in Amharic) in 1928, under pressure from the progressive party, following a failed attempt to remove him from power by the conservative elements. The crowning of Tafari was very controversial, as he occupied the same immediate territory as the Empress, rather than going off to one of the regional areas traditionally known as Kingdoms within the empire. Two monarchs, even with one being the vassal and the other the Emperor (in this case Empress), had never occupied the same location as their seat in Ethiopian history. Attempts to redress this "insult" to the dignity of the Empress' crown were made by conservatives including Balcha Saffo and others. The rebellion of Ras Gugsa Wele, husband of the Empress, was also in this spirit. He marched from his governorate at Gondar towards Addis Ababa but was defeated and killed at the Battle of Anchiem on 31 March 1930. News of Gugsa Wele's defeat and death had hardly spread through Addis Ababa, when the Empress died suddenly on 2 April 1930. Although it was long rumored that the Empress was poisoned upon the defeat of her husband, or alternately, that she collapsed upon hearing of his death and died herself, it has since been documented that the Empress had succumbed to an intense, flu-like fever and complications from diabetes.

Following Zewditu's sudden death, Tafari was made Emperor and proclaimed Neguse Negest ze-'Ityopp'ya ("King of Kings of Ethiopia"). He was crowned on 2 November as Emperor Haile Selassie I at Addis Ababa's Cathedral of St. George, in front of representatives from 12 countries. (Haile Selassie had been the baptismal name given at his christening as an infant meaning "Power of the Holy Trinity.") The representatives included Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (son of British King George V, and brother to Kings Edward VIII, and George VI), Marshal Franchet d'Esperey of France, and the Prince of Udine representing Italy. Evelyn Waugh was also present and wrote a contemporary report about the coronation and the events leading up to it (Remote People, 1931).

Upon his coronation as emperor and in keeping with the traditions of the Solomonic dynasty that had reigned in highland Ethiopia since 1297, Haile Selassie's throne name and title were joined to the imperial motto, so that all court documents and seals bore the inscription: "The Lion of the Tribe of Judah has conquered! Haile Selassie I, Elect of God King of Kings of Ethiopia." The use of this formula dates to the dynasty's Solomonic origins, as well as to the Christianized throne from the period of Ezana; all monarchs being required to trace their lineage back to Menelik I, who in the Ethiopian tradition was the offspring of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

Haile Selassie introduced Ethiopia's first written constitution on 16 July 1931, providing for an appointed, bicameral legislature. It was the first time that non-noble subjects had any role in official government policy. The constitution also limited the succession to the throne to the descendants of Haile Selassie, a detail that caused considerable unhappiness among other dynastic princes, such as the princes of Tigrai and even his loyal cousin Ras Kassa Hailu.

[edit] Children

By Menen Asfaw, Haile Selassie had six children: Princess Tenagnework, Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen, Princess Tsehai, Princess Zenebework, Prince Makonnen, and Prince Sahle Selassie.

Haile Selassie also had an older daughter, Princess Romanework Haile Selassie, who was born from an earlier union to Woizero Altayech. Little is known about his relationship with Altayech beyond that it occurred when Haile Selassie (then Tafari) was in his late teens. Haile Selassie never once mentioned any previous marriage, either in his Autobiography or in any other writings. Romanework Haile Selassie is listed among Haile Selassie's children in the official Imperial Family Tree published after his coronation[citation needed], and in every version since[citation needed]. She was granted the title of Princess and given the dignity of "Imperial Highness" upon Haile Selassie's coronation along with his other children, not something that would have been granted an illegitimate or adopted child.

[edit] War

Image:Haile Selassie LOC 8e00855.jpg
Selassie in 1942

Following the 1935 Italian invasion of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie made an attempt at fighting the invaders personally. He joined the northern front by setting up headquarters at Desse in Wollo province. He issued his famous mobilization order on 3 October 1935:

“ If you withhold from your country Ethiopia the death from cough or head-cold of which you would otherwise die, refusing to resist (in your district, in your patrimony, and in your home) our enemy who is coming from a distant country to attack us, and if you persist in not shedding your blood, you will be rebuked for it by your Creator and will be cursed by your offspring. Hence, without cooling your heart of accustomed valour, there emerges your decision to fight fiercely, mindful of your history that will last far into the future... If on your march you touch any property inside houses or cattle and crops outside, not even grass, straw, and dung excluded, it is like killing your brother who is dying with you... You, countryman, living at the various access routes, set up a market for the army at the places where it is camping and on the day your district-governor will indicate to you, lest the soldiers campaigning for Ethiopia's liberty should experience difficulty. You will not be charged excise duty, until the end of the campaign, for anything you are marketing at the military camps: I have granted you remission... After you have been ordered to go to war, but are then idly missing from the campaign, and when you are seized by the local chief or by an accuser, you will have punishment inflicted upon your inherited land, your property, and your body; to the accuser I shall grant a third of your property . . . . ”

On 19 October 1935 he gave more precise orders for his army to his Commander-in-Chief, Ras Kassa:

  1. When you set up tents, it is to be in caves and by trees and in a wood, if the place happens to be adjoining to these―and separated in the various platoons. Tents are to be set up at a distance of 30 cubits from each other.
  2. When an aeroplane is sighted, one should leave large open roads and wide meadows and march in valleys and trenches and by zigzag routes, along places which have trees and woods.
  3. When an aeroplane comes to drop bombs, it will not suit it to do so unless it comes down to about 100 metres; hence when it flies low for such action, one should fire a volley with a good and very long gun and then quickly disperse. When three or four bullets have hit it, the aeroplane is bound to fall down. But let only those fire who have been ordered to shoot with a weapon that has been selected for such firing, for if everyone shoots who possesses a gun, there is no advantage in this except to waste bullets and to disclose the men's whereabouts.
  4. Lest the aeroplane, when rising again, should detect the whereabouts of those who are dispersed, it is well to remain cautiously scattered as long as it is still fairly close. In time of war it suits the enemy to aim his guns at adorned shields, ornaments, silver and gold cloaks, silk shirts and all similar things. Whether one possesses a jacket or not, it is best to wear a narrow-sleeved shirt with faded colours. When we return, with God's help, you can wear your gold and silver decorations then. Now it is time to go and fight. We offer you all these words of advice in the hope that no great harm should befall you through lack of caution. At the same time, We are glad to assure you that in time of war We are ready to shed Our blood in your midst for the sake of Ethiopia's freedom..."[3]

The Italians had the advantage of much better and a larger number of modern weapons, including a large air force. The Italians also extensively used chemical warfare and bombed Red Cross tent hospitals, in violation of the Geneva Convention[4]. Following the defeat of the northern armies of Ras Seyoum Mengesha in Tigray, Haile Selassie made a stand against them himself at Maychew in southern Tigray. Haile Selassie's army was defeated and retreated in disarray and he found himself being attacked by rebellious Raya and Azebu tribesmen as well.

Haile Selassie made a solitary pilgrimage to the churches at Lalibela, at considerable risk of capture, before returning to his capital. After a stormy session of the council of state, it was agreed that because Addis Ababa could not be defended, the government would relocate to the southern town of Gore, and that in the interests of preserving the Imperial house, Menen Asfaw and the Imperial family should leave immediately by train for Djibouti and from there to Jerusalem. After further debate over whether Haile Selassie would also go to Gore or he should take his family into exile, it was agreed that Haile Selassie should leave Ethiopia with his family and present the case of Ethiopia to the League of Nations at Geneva. The decision was not unanimous and several participants angrily objected to the idea that an Ethiopian monarch should flee before an invading force. Some, like the progressive noble, Blatta Takele, an erstwhile ally of Haile Selassie, were to permanently hold a grudge against him for agreeing to leave the country. Haile Selassie appointed his cousin Ras Imru Haile Selassie as Prince Regent in his absence, departing with his family for Djibouti on 2 May 1936.

Marshal Pietro Badoglio led the Italian troops into Addis Ababa on May 5 and Mussolini declared King Victor Emanuel III Emperor of Ethiopia and Ethiopia an Italian province. On this occasion, Badoglio declared the first Viceroy of Ethiopia and made "Duke of Addis Ababa," returned to Rome and took with him Haile Selassie's throne as a "war trophy," converting it into his dog's couch. At Djibouti, Haile Selassie boarded a British ship bound for Palestine. The Imperial family disembarked at Haifa and then went on to Jerusalem, where Haile Selassie and his officials prepared for their presentation at Geneva.

Haile Selassie was the only head of state to address the General Assembly of the League of Nations. When he entered the hall, and the President of the Assembly announced "Sa Majesté Imperiale, l'Empereur d'Ethiopie," the large number of Italian journalists in the galleries erupted in loud shouts, whistles, and catcalls, stamping their feet and clapping their hands. As it turned out, they had earlier been issued whistles by the Italian foreign minister (and Mussolini's son-in-law) Count Galeazzo Ciano.[citation needed] Haile Selassie stood in quiet dignity.[citation needed]

Haile Selassie waited quietly for security to clear the Italian press out of the gallery before commencing his speech. Although fluent in French, the working language of the League, Haile Selassie chose to deliver his historic speech in his native Amharic. Haile Selassie asked the League to live up to its promise of collective security. He spoke eloquently of the need to protect weak nations against the strong. He detailed the death and destruction rained down upon his people by the use of Mussolini's chemical agents. He reminded the League that "God and History would remember . . . [their] judgment." He pleaded for help and asked "What answer am I to take back to my people?" [5]. His eloquent address moved all who heard it and turned him into an instant world celebrity. He became Time Magazine's "Man of the Year" and an icon for anti-Fascists around the world. He failed, however, in getting what he requested to help his people fight the invasion: the League agreed to only partial and ineffective sanctions on Italy and several members recognized the Italian conquest.

See also: Second Italo-Abyssinian War

[edit] Exile

Haile Selassie spent his five years of exile (1936–1941) mainly in Bath, United Kingdom, in Fairfield House, which he bought. After his return to Ethiopia, he donated it to the city of Bath as a residence for the aged, and it remains so to this day. There are numerous accounts of "Haile Selassie was my next-door neighbour" among people who were children in the Bath area during his residence, and he attended Holy Trinity Church in Malvern (with the same dedication as Trinity Cathedral back in Ethiopia). Haile Selassie also spent extended periods in Jerusalem.

During this period, Haile Selassie suffered several personal tragedies. His two sons-in-law, Ras Desta Damtew and Dejazmach Beyene Merid, were both executed by the Italians. His daughter Romanework Haile Selassie, along with her children, was taken in captivity to Italy, where she died in 1941. His grandson Lij Amha Desta died in Britain just before the restoration, and his daughter Tsehai died shortly after.

[edit] 1940s and 1950s

On 18 January 1941, during the East African Campaign, Haile Selassie crossed the border between the Sudan and Ethiopia near the village of Um Iddla. The standard of the Lion of Judah was raised again. Two days later, he and a force of Ethiopian patriots joined Gideon Force which was already in Ethiopia and preparing the way.[5]

Haile Selassie regained power in Ethiopia after Italy was defeated by a force of the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth of Nations, Free France, Free Belgium, and Ethiopian patriots. On 5 May 1941, Haile Selassie enterred Addis Ababa. He did this five years to the day after he was forced to flee his capital in 1936.

After World War II, Ethiopia became a charter member of the United Nations (UN). In 1951, a UN plebiscite voted 46 to 10 to have Eritrea (the former Italian colony) be federated with Ethiopia which was later stipulated on 2 December 1950 in resolution 390 (V). Eritrea would have its own parliament and administration and would be represented in what had been the Ethiopian parliament and was now the federal parliament.

In 1948, the Ogaden, a region disputed with Somalia, was granted to Ethiopia.

Despite his centralization policies that had been made before World War II, Haile Selassie still found himself unable to push for all the programs he wanted. In 1942, Haile Selassie attempted to institute a progressive tax scheme, but this failed due to opposition from the nobility, and only a flat tax was passed; in 1951, he agreed to reduce this as well. In addition, the land tax was generally passed by the land owners to the peasants. Despite his wishes, the tax burden remained primarily on the peasants.

Between 1948 and 1956, Haile Selassie took steps to establish the autocephaly of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. This was accomplished by obtaining permission from the native Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of All Africa Cyril VI in 1959, to appoint the patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, instead of the traditional system, where the head could only be appointed by the patriarch of Alexandria. The Ethiopian Church remained affiliated, however, with the Alexandrian Church. Haile Selassie also created enough new bishoprics so that Ethiopians could elect their own patriarch. In addition to this, he changed the Ethiopian church-state relationship by introducing taxation of church lands, and by taking away the privilege of clergy to be tried in their own courts for civil offenses.

In keeping with the principle of collective security, for which he was an outspoken proponent, he sent a contingent under General Mulugueta Bulli, known as the Kagnew Battalion, to take part in the UN Conflict in Korea. It was attached to the American 7th Infantry Division, and fought in a number of engagements including the Battle of Pork Chop Hill.[6]

During the celebrations of his Silver Jubilee in November 1955, Haile Selassie introduced a revised constitution, [6] whereby he retained effective power, while extending political participation to the people by allowing the lower house of parliament to become an elected body. Party politics were not provided for. Modern educational methods were more widely spread throughout the Empire, and the country embarked on a development scheme and plans for modernization, tempered by Ethiopian traditions, and within the framework of the ancient monarchical structure of the state.

Haile Selassie compromised when practical with the traditionalists in the nobility and church. He also tried to improve relations between the state and ethnic groups, and granted autonomy to Afar lands that were difficult to control. Still, his reforms to end feudalism were slow and weakened by the compromises he made with the entrenched aristocracy. This would be a key factor in the downfall of his regime.

His international fame and acceptance also grew. In 1954, he visited the then West Germany to become the first head of state to do so after the end of the second world war. Many elderly Germans still vividly remember and are inspired by this visit by an African king as it signalled their acceptance back to the world, as a peaceful nation. He donated blankets produced by the Debre Birhan Blanket Factory, in Ethiopia, to the then war torn Germany.

[edit] Later years

Image:Haile Selassie 1963.jpg
Selassie on a state visit to Washington, 1963

On December 13 1960, while Haile Selassie was on a state visit to Brazil, his Imperial Guard forces staged an unsuccessful coup attempt, briefly proclaiming Haile Selassie's eldest son Asfa Wossen as the new Emperor. The coup d'état was crushed by the regular Army and police forces. The coup attempt (although lacking wide popular support, denounced by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and crushed by the Army, Air and Police forces) gained support among students of the University and elements of the young educated technocrats in the country. It marked the beginning of an increased radicalization of Ethiopia's student population, and the University was in an almost constant state of protest against the regime for the next decade.[7]

After the coup, Haile Selassie attempted to increase reform, especially in the form of land grants to military and police officials, however there was little organization to this effort.

Following this, he continued to be a staunch ally of the West, while pursuing a firm policy of decolonisation in Africa, which was still largely under European colonial rule at this time. The United Nations conducted a lengthy inquiry regarding the status of Eritrea, with the superpowers each vying for a stake in the state's future. Britain, the last administrator at the time, put forth the suggestion to partition Eritrea between Sudan and Ethiopia, separating Christians and Muslims. It was instantly rejected by Eritrean political parties as well as the UN.[19]. The United States point of view was expressed by its then chief foreign policy advisor John Foster Dulles who said:

"From the point of view of justice, the opinions of the Eritrean people must receive consideration. Nevertheless, the strategic interests of the United States in the Red Sea Basin and considerations of security and world peace make it necessary that the country [Eritrea] has to be linked with our ally, Ethiopia," — John Foster Dulles, 1952.

A UN plebiscite voted 46 to 10 to have Eritrea be federated with Ethiopia which was later stipulated on December 2 of 1950 in resolution 390 (V). Eritrea would have its own parliament and administration and would be represented in what had been the Ethiopian parliament and was now the federal parliament.[20] In 1961 the 30-year Eritrean Struggle for Independence, began after years of peaceful student protests against Ethiopian violation of Eritrean democratic rights and autonomy had culminated in violent repression and Haile Selassie's dissolution of the federation in 1961 followed by shutting down the parliament and declaring Eritrea the 14th province of Ethiopia in 1962.

In 1963, Haile Selassie presided over the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity, with the new organisation setting up its headquarters in Addis Ababa. As more and more African states won their independence, he played a pivotal role as a Pan-Africanist, and along with Modibo Keïta of Mali, was successful in negotiating the Bamako Accords, which brought an end to a border conflict between Morocco and Algeria.

In 1966, Haile Selassie attempted to create a more modern, progressive tax that included registration of land that would significantly weaken the nobility. Even with alterations, this law led to a revolt in Gojam which was repressed although enforcement of the tax was abandoned. This encouraged other landowners to defy Haile Selassie, though on a lesser scale.

As in other countries, the increasingly radical student movement took hold in Haile Selassie University and high school campuses in the late 60s and early 70s, and student unrest became a regular feature of Ethiopian life. Marxism took root in large segments of the Ethiopian intelligentsia, particularly among those who had studied abroad and had been exposed to radical and left-wing sentiments that were becoming fashionable in other parts of the globe. Resistance by conservative elements at the Imperial Court and Parliament, in addition to within the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, made Haile Selassie's proposals of widespread land reform policies difficult to implement, and also damaged the standing of the government. This bred resentment among the peasant population. Efforts to weaken unions also hurt his image. As these issues began to pile up, Haile Selassie left much of domestic governance to his Prime Minister, Aklilu Habte Wold, and concentrated more on foreign affairs.

Outside of Ethiopia, however, Haile Selassie continued to enjoy enormous prestige and respect. As the longest serving Head of State then in power, Haile Selassie was usually given precedence over all other leaders at most international state events, such as the celebration of the 2500 years of the Persian Empire, the summits of the Non-aligned movement, and the state funerals of John F. Kennedy and Charles de Gaulle. His frequent travels around the world raised Ethiopia's international image.

[edit] Wollo Famine

Famine mostly in Wollo, northeastern Ethiopia, as well as in some parts of Tigray is estimated to have killed up to 200,000 Ethiopians between 1972-73.[8][9][10] Even though this region is famous for having recurrent crop failures with continuous food shortage and risk of starvation, the death of around 200,000 people in 1973 became one of the worst famines in African history. It led to the 1973 production of a BBC programme labeled “The Unknown Famine” by Jonathan Dimbleby, along with a team of ITV broadcasters.[11] It was dubbed the world’s first “television catastrophe” of a famine.[12] Some studies showed that the small food produced in the famine-stricken Wollo area was moved out, thus strengthening the argument of a government attempt to use food as a weapon against pro-rebel regions.[13] In addition to the exposure of the attempt by corrupt local officials to cover up the famine from the Imperial government, the media painting Haile Selassie's Ethiopia as a backwards social system (relative to the purported utopia of Marxist-Leninism) contributed to the popular uprising that led to its downfall and the rise of Mengistu Haile Mariam to power.[14]

[edit] Final years

A devastating drought in the Province of Wollo in 1972–73 that caused a large famine, which was covered up by the officials and correlated with Haile Selassie's 80th birthday with much pomp and ceremony, led to more dissent in the country. When a BBC documentary narrated by British journalist Jonathan Dimbleby exposed the existence and scope of the famine, the government was seriously undermined, and Haile Selassie once unassailable personal popularity fell. Simultaneously, economic hardship caused by high oil prices and widespread military mutinies in the country further weakened him. Enlisted men began to seize their senior officers and held them hostage, demanding higher pay, better living conditions, and investigation of alleged widespread corruption in the higher ranks of the military. The Derg, a committee of low-ranking military officers and enlisted men, set up to investigate the military's demands, took advantage of the government's disarray to depose Haile Selassie on 12 September 1974. General Aman Michael Andom served briefly as provisional head of state pending the return of the Crown Prince from abroad where he was receiving medical treatment. Haile Selassie was placed under house arrest briefly at the 4th Army Division in Addis Ababa, while most of his family were detained at the late Duke of Harrar's residence in the north of the capital. Haile Selassie was then moved to a house on the grounds of the old Imperial Palace where the new government set up its headquarters. Later, most of the Imperial family were imprisoned in the Central prison in Addis Ababa known as "Alem Bekagn", or "I am finished with the world." On 23 November, 1974, 61 former high officials of the Imperial government known as "the Sixty", were executed without trial.[15] The executed included Haile Selassie's grandson, Rear Admiral Iskinder Desta, two former Prime Ministers, Lij Endelkachew Makonnen, and Tsehafi Taezaz Aklilu Haptewold, former provisional Head of State, General Aman Michael Andom, and others.

[edit] Death

On 28 August 1975, the state media reported that the "ex-monarch" Haile Selassie had died on 27 August of "respiratory failure" following complications from a prostate operation.[16]

His doctor, Professor Asrat Woldeyes denied that complications had occurred and rejected the government version of his death. Some believe that he was suffocated in his sleep. One western correspondent in Ethiopia at the time commented not long afterwards, "While it is not known what actually happened, there are strong indications that no efforts were made to save him. It is unlikely that he was actually killed. Such rumors were bound to arise no matter what happened, given the atmosphere of suspicion and distrust prevailing in Addis Ababa at the time."[17]

After the fall of the Derg in 1991, witnesses came forward to reveal that Haile Selassie's remains had been buried beneath the floor of a palace lavatory. On 5 November 2000, Haile Selassie was given an Imperial funeral by the Ethiopian Orthodox church. The current post-communist government refused to give it the status of a state funeral. Although such prominent Rastafari figures such as Rita Marley and others participated in the grand funeral, most Rastafari rejected the event and refused to accept that the bones were the remains of Haile Selassie.

There remains some debate, particularly within the Rastafari movement, as to whether Haile Selassie actually died at this time.

[edit] The Rastafari Messiah

Image:1101301103 400.jpg
Cover of Time magazine, November 3, 1930

Today Haile Selassie is worshipped as the living God[18] incarnate among followers of the Rastafari movement, which emerged in Jamaica during the 1930s under the influence of Marcus Garvey's "Pan Africanism" movement, and as the Black Messiah who will lead the peoples of Africa and the African diaspora to freedom[19]. His official titles, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, King of Kings and Elect of God, and his traditional lineage from Solomon and Sheba[20], are seen by Rastafarians to be confirmation of the titles of the returned Messiah in the prophetic Book of Revelation in the New Testament: King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah and Root of David. Rastafari faith in the incarnate divinity of Haile Selassie[21] began after news reports of his coronation reached Jamaica,[22] particularly via the two Time magazine articles about the coronation the week before and the week after the event. Haile Selassie's own spiritual teachings permeate the philosophy of the movement.[22][23]

In 1961, the Jamaican government sent a delegation composed of both Rastafarian and non-Rastafarian leaders to Ethiopia to discuss the matter of repatriation, among other issues, with the Emperor. He reportedly told the Rastafarian delegation, which included Mortimer Planno, "Tell the Brethren to be not dismayed, I personally will give my assistance in the matter of repatriation" [24].

When Haile Selassie visited Jamaica on 21 April 1966, somewhere around one hundred thousand Rastafari from all over Jamaica descended on Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston[22], having heard that the man whom they considered to be God was coming to visit them. Spliffs were openly smoked[22], causing the fragrance of ganja to drift through the air[25]. When Haile Selassie arrived at the airport, he was unable to come down the mobile steps of the airplane, as the crowd rushed the tarmac. He then returned into the plane, disappearing for several more minutes. Finally Jamaican authorities were obliged to request Ras Mortimer Planno, a well-known Rasta leader, to climb the steps, enter the plane, and negotiate the Emperor's descent[26]. When Planno reemerged, he announced to the crowd: "The Emperor has instructed me to tell you to be calm. Step back and let the Emperor land"[27]. From then on the visit was a success[28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. This day, widely held by scholars to be a major turning point for the movement, is still commemorated by Rastafarians as Grounation Day, the anniversary of which is celebrated as the second holiest holiday after November 2, the Emperor's Coronation Day.

Defying expectations of the Jamaican authorities[36], Selassie never rebuked the Rastafari for their belief in him as the returned Jesus. Instead, he presented the movement's faithful elders with gold medallions – the only recipients of such an honour on this visit[37]. During PNP leader (later Jamaican Prime Minister) Michael Manley's visit to Ethiopia in October 1969, the Emperor allegedly still recalled his 1966 reception with amazement, and stated that he felt he had to be respectful of their beliefs[38]. This was the visit when Manley received as a present from the Emperor, the infamous "Rod of Correction" or "Rod of Joshua" that is thought to have greatly helped him to win the 1972 election in Jamaica.

Rita Marley, Bob Marley's wife, converted to the Rastafari faith after seeing Haile Selassie on his Jamaican trip. She claimed, in interviews and in her book No Woman, No Cry that she saw a stigmata print on the palm of Haile Selassie's hand (as he waved to the crowd) that resembled the envisioned markings on Christ's hands from being nailed to the cross—a claim that was not supported by other sources, but was used as evidence for her and other Rastafarians to suggest that Haile Selassie I was indeed their messiah.[39] She also converted Bob Marley, who then became internationally recognised, and as a result Rastafari became much better known throughout much of the world.[40]

[edit] Haile Selassie's attitude to the Rastafarians

Haile Selassie I was the titular head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and until his visit to Jamaica in 1966, he had never confirmed nor denied that he was divine.[41] During his visit he specifically declined to refute the Rastafari belief that he was God.[42][43] After his return to Ethiopia, he dispatched Archbishop Abuna Yesehaq Mandefro to the Caribbean to help draw Rastafarians and other West Indians to the Ethiopian church, and according to some sources, denied his divinity.[44][45][46][47] In 1948, Haile Selassie donated a piece of land at Shashamane, 250 km south of Addis Ababa, for the use of Blacks from the West Indies. Numerous Rastafari families settled there and there is a community there to this day.[48][49]

[edit] Honours

Many honours were bestowed upon Haile Selassie during his long life and reign, including the following:

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Source for Honours of Haile Selassie I:[7]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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[edit] References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ [2]
  3. ^ My Life and Ethiopia's Progress: Chapter 35
  4. ^ http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/5GKD8K
  5. ^ Barker, A. J., "The Rape of Ethiopia 1936, p. 156
  6. ^ As described at the Ethiopian Korean War Veterans website.
  7. ^ Bahru Zewde, A History of Modern Ethiopia, second edition (Oxford: James Currey, 2001), pp. 220–26.
  8. ^ an estimated 200,000 died due to famine in Wollo Province
  9. ^ around 200,000 Ethiopians said to be lost from Wollo famine
  10. ^ 1972-73 famine in Wollo and Tigray regions
  11. ^ the Unknown Famine in Ethiopia 1973
  12. ^ Jonathan Dimbleby and the hidden famine
  13. ^ systematic impoverishment of Wollo as a possibility
  14. ^ famine cover-up and policy failures helped rise of Mengistu
  15. ^ http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9113784/ETHIOPIA
  16. ^ Template:Cite news
  17. ^ Marina and David Ottaway, Ethiopia: Empire in Revolution (New York: Africana, 1978), p. 109 n. 22
  18. ^ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/rastafari/beliefs/beliefs_1.shtml Rastafarian beliefs
  19. ^ The African Diaspora, Ethiopianism, and Rastafari
  20. ^ Haile Selassie King of Kings, Conquering Lion of the tribe of Judah
  21. ^ Haile Selassie
  22. ↑ a b c d Dread, The Rastafarians of Jamaica, by Joseph Owens ISBN 0-435-98650-3
  23. ^ The Re-evolution of Rastafari
  24. ^ The Rastafarians by Leonard E. Barrett
  25. ^ The State Visit of Emperor Haile Selassie I
  26. ^ Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley by Timothy White p. 15, 210, 211.
  27. ^ Black Heretics, Black Prophets: Radical Political Intellectuals p. 189 by Anthony Bogues
  28. ^ The State Visit of Emperor Haile Selassie I
  29. ^ Catch a Fire: The Life of Bob Marley, Timothy White. p. 15, 210-11.
  30. ^ Before the Legend: The Rise of Bob Marley By Christopher John Farley, p. 145.
  31. ^ Black Heretics, Black Prophets: Radical Political Intellectuals By Anthony Bogues, p. 189.
  32. ^ This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music by Lloyd Bradley, p. 192-193.
  33. ^ Dubwise: Reasoning from the Reggae Underground, by Klive Walker, p. 221-222.
  34. ^ Rastafari: From Outcasts to Culture Bearers by Ennis Barrington Edmonds, p. 86.
  35. ^ Verbal Riddim: The Politics and Aesthetics of African-Caribbean Dub Poetry by Christian Habekost, p. 83.
  36. ^ [3] Reggae Routes: The Story of Jamaican Music] By Kevin O'Brien, p. 243.
  37. ^ "African Crossroads - Spiritual Kinsmen" Dr. Ikael Tafari, The Daily Nation, Dec. 24 2007
  38. ^ Life Is an Excellent Adventure, Jerry Funk, 2003, p. 149
  39. ^ No Woman, No Cry, Rita Marley, p. 43.
  40. ^ Bob Marley the Devoted Rastafarian!
  41. ^ Must God Remain Greek?: Afro Cultures and God-Talk by Robert E. Hood, p. 93 ISBN 0800624491
  42. ^ Reggae Routes: The Story of Jamaican Music By Kevin O'Brien, p. 243. ISBN 1566396298
  43. ^ "African Crossroads - Spiritual Kinsmen" The Daily Nation, 24 Dec. 2007
  44. ^ Ethiopians in D.C. Region Mourn Archbishop's Death. Washington Post, January 13, 2006.
  45. ^ Bob Marley Anniversary Spotlights Rasta Religion. National Geographic.
  46. ^ Haile Selassie I - God of the Black race. BBC.
  47. ^ Mirror, Mirror: Identity, Race and Protest in Jamaica, Rex Nettleford, William Collins and Sangster Ltd., Jamaica (1970)
  48. ^ Jamaican Rastafarian Development Community website
  49. ^ http://www.shashamane.org/history.htm

[edit] Further reading

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<tr><td colspan="1" style="text-align:center;width:100%;font-size:95%;">Selassie ·Nasser ·Nkrumah ·Ankrah ·Selassie ·Mobutu ·Boumédienne ·Ahidjo ·Kaunda ·Daddah ·Hassan II ·Gowon ·Barre ·Amin ·Ramgoolam ·Bongo ·Nimeiry ·Tolbert ·Senghor ·Stevens ·Moi ·Mengistu ·Nyerere ·Diouf ·Nguesso ·Kaunda ·Traoré ·Mubarak ·Museveni ·Babangida ·Diouf ·Mubarak ·Ben Ali ·Meles ·Biya ·Mugabe ·Compaoré ·Bouteflika ·Eyadéma ·Chiluba ·Mwanawasa ·Mbeki ·Chissano ·Obasanjo ·Nguesso ·Kufuor</td><td rowspan="1" style="vertical-align:middle; padding-left:7px; width:0%;">Image:Flag of the African Union.svg</td></tr>

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Chairpersons of the Organization of African Unity and the African Union (AU)

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