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Notorious criminal Col. Tesfaye WoldeSelassie died

Posted on , Updated on by EthiopianReview.com

Col. Tesfaye Woldeselassie, the Derg regime’s security chief who is responsible for the torture and death of thousands of Ethiopians, has died in prison.

Suspicions have risen after the fall of the Derg regime that during his last years as Minister of National and Public Security, Col. Tesfaye had been secretly working for Woyanne, and that as the Woyanne forces entered Addis Ababa, he blocked several officials from escaping.

36 thoughts on “Notorious criminal Col. Tesfaye WoldeSelassie died”

  2. I have told you all last time on this website that Woyanne was getting critical information about the Derg’s plan and military movements ahead of time and it passed along all that information to their warring friends. This officer and Fisseha Desta were given a blank check by Mengistu(Just to woo people from Tigray) to place their kin and kits along many other close friends on important government positions close to security sensitive areas. That was how Woyanne was able to take many preemptive military offenses all along. It was not because all of a sudden this dung brain was such too intelligent. That is the main reason he is now letting them all free. Debela Dinsa and all that must be lucky that they have one or two Tigrayans among them. There has been a very reliable rumor that these two officers used to be allowed to spend nights with their family on many many occasions accompanied by security guards for all these years. Just look what Woyanne did to other opposing individuals since the 1990’s. Didn’t he keep Ato Asrat in jail until his last fews days on this good earth? Seye was bid farewell comfortably to Cambridge, Mass. Now the rest of those notorious officers should pray that Fisseha Desta will not die and if he does, then they will never see daylight. They will die in prison. This disgusts me to sickness. Shame on you all!!!

  3. to no. 2. Semmu Nigus

    What are you smoking brother? Are you suggesting that Tesfaye Woldesselassie is tigre?
    He is not but if he is so what ? Your type of attitude is the reason for the shit we are in. If you are making up this because you believe it will help strengthen the oppostion and if there are many like you we are in a deep hole. If you are believing this your self then, my advice to you is that you are paranoid to the point of confusion and illusion and you really need help. First of all learn the mess and power struggle with in the derg itself minus tribalism. These so called military revolutionaries were obsessed with revolution and non other than that. While EPRP, Meison and others were suffering from some type of tribalism, Derg was not and if you know about the military, they were free from tribalism. Do you know major Woldetensai who was part of the derg and a tigre by ethnic, he was governor of the tigre province and he killed so many tigres. Those military officers had the same vision. leutenant desta taddesse (tigre) killed unbelivable number of tigres. That was before people like you were bitten with the ethnicism mosquito. You really need to learn your history. A very notorious tigre officer in tigre province used to throw captured TPLF members from a platu and he used to tie them up and throw them cliaming that he will never waste bullet on woyane triators. I advice you to really dig and learn your history. Pleas do not take this personal but you will be better off if you do so.

  4. The dead is already gone and will be judged for whatever he did by the almighty GOD. Criminals are normally judged by a free and democratic court not by another criminal like Meles Zenawi who has a lot to answer for all the killings and lootings done so far in the past 20-30 years.

  5. simon what r u talking about, your comment is different than the news, r u blind or what, this news is talking about tesfaye woldesilase you are talking about teansea(mammo lela metawekiyaw lela0 mehayeme.

  6. COL TESFAYE WOLDESELASSIE WAS WORKING FOR SHABYA/WOYANE AS THE DOUBLE AGENT ,ALTHOUGH AS THE DERG SECURITY HEAD AS WELL -I WILL NOT BE SURPRISED IF TPLF DID BURIED HIM WITH HONORABLE PATRIOTIC CEREMONY.

  9. Col. Tesfaye and his friends have destroyed a generation, no question asked. I am not sure if he provided vital information for the current ruling group in their struggle. If he did, it must be out of desperation. Now he is dead, let us forget him, to me he was a dead man for long time.

  10. to simon,

    You are one of the stupid zenawi prostitute who are barking day in and day out about shabia while the tplf top criminal leaders zenawi/berket and others are servants of shabia, and the stupid tigrean tplf/zenwawi sympathyzers are nothing but echoing every single piece of propaganda and hate that comes out from the dirty mouth of zenawi like a moron Parrot who repeats everything, as a result the stupid & racist zenawi supporters are labeling everyone as shabia, derg, and so on while thier master mind criminal leader zenawi is working with former derg officials as well as tplf is committing more crimes against humanity even worse than derg, the only thing for ethiopians to deal with the stupid weyane caders is to make a coordinated struggle and to get rid of the weyane parasite group and bring them to justice and hung them in public for the crime that they committed.

  12. It is a crying shame so much evil is done in the name of common good for the mass. When are we really know the true intention of the people in power? It is true people of power have done some good but how are we going to weigh the good and the bad before we pass judgement? Or are we going to keep proscuting people who dared to sereve thier country? Let us give creidt when it is due and keep building on the positive things put in place, even by the people we don’t like.

  13. Can we please focus on our own problem. Who is Shabya in this case. Why are we caring or mentioning Shabya while we have a lot to do on our own problem. Please let us mind our own business the Shabiya has nothing to do with us. They are gone for good.

  15. #1 Weyaniw Simon ….Hahaha…. Z What the heck is Tesfaye woldeselassie’s death got to do with Shaebia or Tinsae for that matter?!….. Dedeb, balchut ras!!!
    Everything is blamed on shaebia. The derg used to call shaebia as ‘Gentay’ & your weyane used to be labelled as “shibir feTari” ( meaning terrorist) lol
    now shibir feTariw weyane calls everybodyelse terrorist. Hahahahaa !
    The trouble is that weyane is such a gegema that it is too too gegema to that it’s moves are so so predictable.

  18. If the stated allegations about the late Colonel is true, why was he not let go free after Weyane entered Addis Ababa? Why did they (the Woyane Junta) let him rotten dead in prison? Just curious!!

  20. Col. Tesfaye Woldeselassie ,is one of luckiest man in the World. He study in USA by CIA, In Israel by MOSSAD, In Russia by KGB. No one has got this chance.!!!

    For ETHIOPIAN REVOLUTION he is a!!!
    He know every thing beter Mengistu. He send him to Zembuabey.

  24. Semmu Nigusee,
    ‘reliable rumor’? How dull you are!! If something is at rumour level, it means that it caanot be reliable. Do not be as such super idiot. Also if you think that General Tesfaye Weldeselassie had a secrete relationship with Woyane, there is no logic that this due dies in prison.

  25. To # 1:

    I am afraid you can’t read but write, or may be someone is writing for you. In the news above there is nothing related to Tinsae and Shaebia. You are hallucinating like your chat-addicted woyane leader:)

  26. Security Minister Tesfaye Woldeselassie did everything he did to ensure the safety of the country . Eventhough he had the chance he didnot transfer a cent outside Ethiopia . Eventhough he had many family members inside and outside Ethiopia at the time he didnot use his authority to favor his family memebrs . He was very honest and dedicated to justice and fairness to all Ethiopians . If he had stashed some money outside Ethiopia like the Woyanes do now , he would have been able to recieve the necessary medications from his family members abroad right now and he would have prolonged his life . He stayed true to his beliefs till the end . May he Rest In peace !

  28. The parallel between the current Syrian situation and that of our own is just too remarkable to ignore. President Bashar al-Assad and brother, Maher al-Assad, head of Syrian Army’s elite Fourth Division and Republican Guard, who is responsible for much of the deaths and repressions, took the same path that their father, Hafez al-Assad, and uncle, Rifaat, took a generation ago when they massacred 10,000 in 1982, according to NYT article. Would Meles Zenawi naturally copy from the same play book and massacre and extend his grip for a worrisome time, or would he follow Mengistu’s route and head to fewer and fewer places left to him and other liable dictators like the Sudan. The playing cards of Gaddafi and Bashar al-Assad are not option for our prime minister, nor is he safer for foreseeable future like Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir, who is nonetheless is implicated for genocide. Learning from the fate of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, Asma al-Assad, the first lady of Syria, Meles al-Adwa, their families, friends and loyalists would gladly follow Mengistu’s foot steps.

  29. He got what he diserved!

    What I regret about the passing away of him or others is as follows:

    1. What was his role in the early stages of Derg/revolution?
    2. Did he play a big part in the killing of many in red terror?
    3. What exactly was his role in the failure of the 1989 coup?
    4. Did he kill Gen. Fanta Belay after he was caught alive following the failed coup and while he was in prisoned?
    5. Did he the right-hand man for Mengistu or played multi roles?
    6. Was he one of the double agents supplying key information to woyane and shabia leading upto their victory?
    7. Did he negoitiate a pardon with EPRDF in exchange for ensuring that non of the key Derg leaders (except Mengistu and those sheltered at Italian Embassy)would leave the capital/escape to other countries?
    8. What was the main crime he was accused of?

    The best source for this is he himself, followed by talented journalists who perform investigative journalism.

    Looks like we don’t have this neither in Ethiopia nor in the diasporah.

    Within a decade, will will not have authoritative documentation on all the key players and all major events that transpired during the derg era!

    Is it me only are there other people who think the same???

  30. Much ado about nothing and flogging dead horses as usual instead of concentrating on the relevant current issues in order to claim back our rights and dignities from a divisive mafia tyrants. ):

  32. When I read a book about Mengistu Haile Mariam, I came across a paragraph that mentions a full night meeting with Mengistu Haile Mariam in a Dire Dawa Hotel. Megistu came from 3rd Mechanized Division
    and the security chief came from Addis and that night they decided to take over the government of Addis Ababa with Mengistu. May be it is a subtle statement by Mengistu, after I went through the book, I concluded that Colonel Tesfaye Walde Sellassie was a double agent. That means, he was working in addition to the Ethiopian government for another powerful international spying agency. I do not know the origin of that spying agent but for sure he was a double dealer. Very dangerous man, who was almost exclusively responsible for the death of many young intellectuals from all over the empire.

    The issue is not his death; the issue is how shall we tackle the institutions and ramifying spying organizations he left behind as his legacy. That is the big issue we have to resolve in order to succeed in removing the dictatorial government of an ethnic minority from Tigray.
    The TPLF gangs from Tigray are using the powerful security machinery, built by Tesfay and improvised to kill and murder any body working for democracy and justice for our people. Tesfaye did not have a luxury of using security agents all over the USA. Now TPLF killing and infiltrating machine can reach and hit anywhere in the world. America and American cities are promenading grounds like as if they are walking on the back yard of St. George Cathedral in Special Third Security Branch located on Baley Zelek Road heading towards Fichee.
    The murderous Colonel left a bad legacy and bad memories for all of us. The man led groups of officers and killing machineries that swept the country for over 17 years. Hundreds and thousands of innocent men and women died. I cannot even imagine where to begin and where to end the history of modern atrocities since 1974 revolution. Mengistu Haile Mariam should go to court in Geneva. I do not have a clue why international organizations kept quiet. It is totally international double standard. Do we from the Ethiopian
    Empire deserve justice in an international court? That is why I am alleging Mengistu and Tesfaye have something big behind them giving them such invisible protections.

    May Our Savior bless the dead and the lost comrades and citizens. Terribly and awfully painful to remember.

    Geremew Isaatuu

  33. simpely we did’t trust you ato Elias just you are tayering your self
    to gat attention and money.
    first of all you are Eriterian why don,t strugel for your peopel that
    all eriterians are in open prison? instade you funded by hegdef(shabya)
    to defend the crime by covering border war and luck of democrasy in ethiopia
    you never talk to the eriterians the death of thouthends in prison in
    Eraero,nefasit, mesewae inside the continer.
    please mind your besiness live us alone
    we have so many web sites bulshet like your’s
    thanks

  35. To Tezibt and the likes!!

    If you are telling that a tigrayan Derg officer was killing Tigrayans in summary, you are either telling a story intentional or making an echo of what you herd from Woyanne cadres. I tell you this and you should listen to me carefully. If a tigrayan connected to the derg killed another tigrayan, it was not because those victims were TPLF members but rather members of another hostile group both the derg and TPLF such as EDU and EPRP. TPLF was talking to the Derg way back in 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979. They were hatching up schemes on how to clean up the countryside of all memebers and sympathisers of EDU and EPRP. Didn’t a tigryan derg officer murdered many yound people in Gondar and Gojjam who he thought were members of EPRP and EDU in the 70’s and early 80’s? He was killed in a suspecious accident and was later found to be a TPLF member. His body was later taken out of the cemetry designated for the ‘revolutionaries’ and thrown away by the Derg itself. Also wasn’t it a fact that Fissheha Desta and other derg members of Tigray origin given a blank check to place their kin and kits in key goverrment positions as long as they did not pose any opposition to Mengistu? Did I make this up? Did I? Don’t you start with me now. Don’t you ever do that. And don’t call me a name. That is not appropriate. I am not a people hater. I have cousins who are marrried to wonderful folks from Tigray. My wife is a tigrayan on her father’s side. My children speak equal amount of Tigrigna and Amharic. They were born here in the USA. Please do not mistake me for a hater. If you tell that to the people who know me you may not fare too well with them. As far as Fisseha Desta and other Tigrayan derg officers in jail now and their being a factor for other’s survival, please take classes called ‘Woyanne Bigotry 101, 245, 306 and 435’

  36. Hi
    I am happy they are building the railway but it means duplication and waste of capital and resources. It would be better for the people who are thinking to do that to save some resources but still continue connecting Makele with Djibouti.

    I think it is a better engineering design if they connect the old French built Rail Way starting from Awash just crossing the Awash river and veering north through Wallo and to the town of Mekele.
    Even I would imagine and would like to connect the town of Dessie to the intended construction.

    With the remaining capital and resources we could extend the rail way towards West or South. Because that makes so much sense. Here we go again the Tekeze Dam Syndrome is coming back. Not well studied and took so much money over four hundred millions of dollars. And the future prospects of the dam is very questionable and shaky because the rain and water sources in that area are not very dependable. Look at Lasta and Wallo. These regions where the main tributary of Tekeze come in and are very weak; they do not have enough rain falls. I am talking about the Bashelo River and others. If you see the Mana river that comes form the Gondar Highlands , it is also not very much dependable. Most probably if you think the snow peaks of the Semen Mountains, they are also dying. If you come to Tigray there are not very big rivers that flow toward Tekeze river. Most of them are very seasonal and even then only the Warihi water shade is the ones that might feed the Tekeze Dam if they are joing the river before the dam area.

    I am just giving you another example. To back up their weak planning they have also spent three hundred millions on wind turbines in the north. What is all this kind of Engineering and economic planning?
    Are you preparing Tigray to secede or are you sure the Tigray people want to go away by the malicious intentions of the few radicals? Or do we have all kinds of economic infrastructures that could make use of
    these power resources? I feel if Tekeze Dam continues to function it would be able to cover the northern part of the country if at all the peasants which are dominantly living in the countryside could afford to pay their electrical bills. Who affords to pay unless there will be increase of annul incomes. For now People in Tigray may not be earning a dollar a day. Create the income then build the services. Plant trees and rejuvenate the regional forestations and plant lives and then we may have a good water resources. For
    now the area is barren and cannot sustain water from the rain falls.

    Where is distribution market that uses the would be built rail way to bring materials to Mekele? I am not sure if you guys are looking into the reality on the ground. What is the buying power of the individuals in the province? Where are the big towns and cities that will handle and make use of the rail way? Where are your passengers that use the path from Djibouti to Makele? It beats me. Do not be excited; it is waste of money and just another economic regionalism. I wish that capital spent on improvising or building more schools and Medical Hospitals and health centers or given to poor people who could make use of it to start their own small business. Waste; waste of capital; waste or resources. Here comes another dreamy Hong Kong in Africa. I wish you good luck.

    We were told for the last four decades that on the rims of the northern parts there will be another Taiwan,
    We have not seen it becoming. Collaborate genuinely with the south that is where the market and the capital
    come from.

    What are you talking, Tesfaye had got murdered thousands of Tigrayans. Even if you read carefully the struggle that had been wedged by the people of Tigray; it was full of bloodsheds. That was fully crime committed by gangsters who collaborated and protected by Tesfaye, the then security chief of Mengistu. Every member of the TPLF organizations in the city was at risk.

    Did you forget the galancy of General Halefom who went into Makele and rescued so many prisoners from the security jaws of Mengistu Haile Mariam? You guys had so much fun after 1991 and are developing amnesia.
    Hi you are one of these Ethiopians whom I am ashamed of much because you support and defend criminals without any critical assessments.

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