By Alemayehu G. Mariam
History has two sides. A right and a wrong side. Barack Obama is on the right side of history. He is on the right side of history because he was elected rightfully by the American people and became president in a peaceful constitutional transfer of power. But his on the right side of history for many other reasons: He has chosen to lead the American people on the right moral principles: “Hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord,” reconciliation and new ideas over “petty grievances, false promises, recriminations and wornout dogmas that have strangled American politics for so long”; and he has resolved to “set aside childish things and reaffirm America’s enduring spirit.” Barack has chosen the right path to lead Americans as ONE PEOPLE with a common history, common dreams and common destiny so that they can weather “the gathering clouds and raging storms” of two major wars, international terrorism, a badly weakened economy and declining social services at home.
You know Barack is on the right side of history, when the American people — black, white, red, yellow, brown, Christians, Moslems, Jews, Hindus, young and old, men and women — look up to his leadership and cry a river of tears of joy, and travel thousands of miles just to see him take the solemn oath of office as prescribed by the supreme law of the land. You know Barack is on the right side of history when the whole world wishes him well as he captains the American ship of state from the turbulent seas of international strife and military confrontation to the safe harbors of American founding ideals of democracy, freedom and human rights. Barack is right on point when he made the historic declaration to the world that he rejects “as false the choice between our safety and our ideals” and that “the rule of law and the rights of man” are the basis for any free society. Barack is right and on the right side of history because he believes right makes might, and tells the whole world in no uncertain terms that “America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.” Barack is the right man, at the right time and on the right side of history!
The Wrong Side of History and the Cowardice of Fear
All dictators are on the wrong side of history because they “cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent.” They are on wrong side of history because they have no legitimacy: They seize power by force and without the consent of the people, cling to power by brutal repression, stealing elections and suppressing democratic opposition. They fill their prisons with hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens, snatch opposition leaders from the streets, make a travesty of democracy by stage managing a rubberstamp parliament, debase justice by prostituting the judicial system, criminalize freedom of speech and of the press, impose their rule by brute force, fear and terror, sow hatred and discord among the people by setting one tribe against another, village against hamlet, city against town, community against the commonwealth for the sole purpose of clinging to power. Those dictators who watch with depraved indifference the destruction of one-quarter of their population by famine, war, pestilence and economic privation and take sadistic pleasure in their suffering are on the wrong side of history.
Those who have sanctified and consecrated corruption, graft, bribery, racketeering, fraud, extortion and malfeasance in office are on the wrong side of history. Those sycophants who throw lavish parties in the world’s capitals for the glorification of dictators at the cost of millions of dollars a year on liquor and exotic caviar while their people are dying by the thousands for lack of food, water and simple medicines are on the wrong side of history. When the faces of the people are etched with tear tracks of sorrow from years of suffering witnessing their children die and those who survive live without a future, you know their oppressors are on the wrong side of history. When your ship of state is pirated by criminal thugs and its crew and passengers forced headlong into the raging storms of ethnic hatred, the gathering clouds of famine and the mighty tide of war, you know those who are on the wrong side of history are on the cusp of receiving the verdict of history. Those who sneer at international law and public opinion, give away a nation’s territory in a secret transaction, hammer the people with a clenched fist and infect them with a lingering sickness of fear and despair, you know it is just a matter of time before the judgment of history falls upon them and they are swept into its dustbin.
The Promise of America, The Promise of Ethiopia
We are on the right side of history! Barack said the promise of America was made by “men and women who struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life.” He said, “America is bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions.” He said, “We must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.” Ethiopia was also built our forefathers and foremothers who struggled and sacrificed so that we might live free and better. They shed their blood for centuries to keep our country free from colonial rule; secured our culture and civilization in religion, literature, music and art; maintained our unity and identity as a people and sowed religious and ethnic harmony among them; looked beyond our borders to promote African unity and solidarity; made Ethiopia the center of continental African affairs; pled the cause of international law and justice before the League of Nations and made Ethiopia a founding member of the United Nations. Like America, Ethiopia was hewn from the granite of sacrifices made by ordinary men and women. We must also pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking Ethiopia.
The United States of America and a United Ethiopia
Barack said, “There is not a liberal America and a conservative America. There is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America. There’s the United States of America.” He also said, “We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth.” Ethiopia is no different. There is no Oromo, Amhara, Tigray, Gurage, … Anuak Ethiopia. There is only ONE ETHIOPIAN NATION, indivisible under God. Ethiopia belongs to all its people. Its history is shaped by all its people, and its culture and traditions reflect longstanding ties of family, kinship and ancestry. The destiny of Ethiopians and Ethiopia is not shaped by petty and small-minded dictators but by the courage and sacrifices of its people. That is why Ethiopia and Ethiopians are on the right side of history.
Long Journey on the Right Side of History
The journey on the right side of history is long and difficult. It is a journey that begins in the hearts and minds of every Ethiopian. It is a journey that take us out of the darkness of ethnic hatred into the sunshine of humanity; from insensitivity and indifference to the suffering of each other to compassion and sympathy to our common humanity; and from ignorance and blind faith to knowledge and enlightenment. It is also a journey that requires a lot of hard work. Barack counseled the American people that they need to “lay a new foundation” and “build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.” Ethiopians face a much greater challenge because they have to build bridges of tolerance and good will across ethnic divides; they have to build roads, highways and freeways to every part of the country to plant and grow the seeds of democracy; they have to cultivate gardens of personal liberties so that every individual can unleash his/her creative and intellectual powers; build hallowed cathedrals for justice and equality; and along every street and bridge erect monuments to the rule of law.
The Question for Us, The Answer for Them
The questions we should ask of ourselves today is not whether a petty dictator will go or stay, but what we are prepared to do when the rising tide of freedom carries the flotsam of dictatorship out to sea. Then, what choices are we prepared to make? Will we choose, as Barack did, hope over fear? Humanity over ethnicity or political party? Unity and strength over division and weakness? Truth over falsity? Hatred over understanding? Magnanimity over the petty? The dictators know their fate. That is why they have careened out of control on the turnpike of history. The answer we give them is the same answer Barack gave the cynics: They “fail to understand the ground has shifted beneath them — that the stale political arguments of ethnic division, hatred, that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.” We must believe as does Barack that “the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself.”
This is our time to answer the questions for this and coming generations, to stand up and declare to ourselves and to the world that the stale political arguments of ethnic division and hatred that have consumed us for so long no longer apply; that the lines of tribe, ethnicity, language, region, class will be deleted from our hearts and our minds. It is time for all Ethiopians to embrace the politics of unity and practice the divine arts of reconciliation, respect, mutual concern, appreciation and love for each other. This is our time. Let us seize it!
Human Rights and the Spirit of Service
Barack said the founders of the American Republic “drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man”. He said “those ideals still light the world” from the “grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born.” Our home is only a stone’s throw away from the small village where Barack’s father was born. We also believe in the timeless and universal principles announced to the world in the Declaration of Independence over two centuries ago: That all men and women are created equal; that the ONLY purpose of government is the protection of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; and “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.”
Barack also said “what is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world.” That responsibility begins with each one of us dedicating ourselves to serve humanity; to be “willing to find meaning in something greater than themselves.” He said, it is “it is precisely this spirit of service that must inhabit us all.” It is in the spirit of service we must unite as Ethiopians and promote and defend the cause of freedom, democracy and human rights. In is in the spirit of service to the coming generations that we must take individual and collective responsibility to build bridges across ethnic lines, breakdown linguistic barriers and create bonds of friendship and change hearts and minds.
The Thousand Mile Journey and the Search for A Roadmap
Ancient wisdom says a thousand mile journey begins with the first step. We have taken the first step along this journey. We do not have a complete road map yet, but we have a good sense of the direction we want to take. We know that as long as our compass points in the direction of freedom, democracy and human rights, we are heading to the right destination. We are very encouraged at this early stage. In just a few days, the outpouring of support we have received, the profusion of creative ideas for Diaspora unity that have been sent to us and the good will we have received for a renewed Diaspora effort has been heartwarming and humbling. We now know for sure that we are not alone on this journey; indeed there are hundreds of thousands of fellow Ethiopian travelers all over the world who are — ready to walk the talk — ready, willing and able to take the journey with us, and help us chart the road map. We feel we are getting off to a right start. We know from past experience that laying a strong foundation is necessary so that what we build as we go along will not topple at the sudden winds of discord and disharmony. We have learned from the lessons of those who till the land that the success of autumn crops depends upon the conscientious groundwork done in the spring. And so in this beginning spring of our Diaspora renewal, we appreciate the importance of well thought out beginnings.
We are ever mindful of the fact that even with a seemingly good start, failure and delay sometimes occur. We understand that there will be false starts, missteps, misunderstandings and miscommunication as we begin our efforts. We realize that some along this journey will feel frustrated because we are not able to arrive at our destination quickly enough. They may lose confidence and their spirits may flag. They may even lose sight of the cause and the struggle and the sacrifices that are needed to get to our destination. We are mindful that insignificant details could present themselves as insurmountable obstacles and undermine our initial resolve. We are mindful that our present enthusiasm — “We are fired up and ready to go!” — could wane in time as each one of us is called to take that first step, that first act individually and collectively. But such is the nature of struggle for hearts and minds. But as long as we are convinced that as individuals we have the power to change ourselves and others for the greater good, we can overcome any adversity that may come our way.
We are also mindful that our adversaries expect us to fail miserably because they believe fundamentally that we too weak, too polarized and too self-centered to come together for united action. They will wish that our good intentions will wither and die on the vine, and not bear fruit. Let them believe what they will. Our destiny is shaped by ourselves, by our own will, and not by their intrigue and machinations. We are from this day on in charge of the Freedom Train and everyone is welcome to come aboard, or be left back with the wretched of the earth at the station. We stand at the portal of a new day, a day that will go into a long night of personal sacrifice, hardship and adversity. We are not assured of success in our endeavors; and so we must try, and try to the best of our abilities to make it work because we know the self-evident truth that doing nothing in the face of a brutal dictatorship is not an option for us. Let us embrace Barack’s message to the American people: “Let it be told to the future world … that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive…that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet (it).” Let’s stand together as the children of Mother Ethiopia against the common danger of dictatorship! Let history record that as Diaspora Ethiopians we rose up against dictatorship with nothing in our hands, hope and love in our hearts, truth in our minds and the indomitable spirit of free men and women!
By Fikre Tolossa
People often wonder whether the concept of prime ministry and presidency of the present government of Ethiopia was modeled after the structure of West European governments with their active and too powerful chancellors/prime ministers (the heads of governments) and less active, symbolic or ceremonial presidents (heads of states). Ethiopian and foreign constitutional lawyers have probably replicated Germany or some other European countries in their effort to bring about modernity, unmindful of the fact that such a structuring is not a new phenomenon for Ethiopia. It had existed first 410 years ago with intervals, and then almost continuously beginning 231 years ago, much earlier than it did occur in Germany and Great Britain!
Believe it or not, it has been refined and distilled in Ethiopia for more than a third of a millennium. Considering the fact that Ethiopia is the home of man, and in light of the truth that she has existed as a state for almost 6000 years when many European countries were not even recorded as states on the map of the earth, it is no wonder that she was way ahead and sophisticated in government science than most of them. As a matter of fact, the relationship between the prime ministry and presidency of the current Ethiopian government is strikingly identical, if not the same as the relationship between the enderassies and neguessenegests of 18th and 19th Century Ethiopia. Furthermore, the present emphasis on ethnicity, which many Ethiopians fear will lead to the disintegration of Ethiopia as a state, is reminiscent of the time of the fragmentation of Ethiopia by the feudal lords after the enderassies snatched away the suveighainty of the emperors for almost a century.
Before entering into a discussion of the “enderassie”, I feel it is appropriate to define what it is, and in what form it has existed in Ethiopian society and history. The literal meaning of “enderssie,” is “like myself,” which further translates as “instead of myself,, “on my behalf”, “as my substitute” and “as my representative.” It is the emperor who says “enderassie.” In other words, it is from the perspective of the emperor. Initially, the “enderassie” was supposed to be the representative of the emperor or the empress, as the case may be.
“Enderassie” has existed in three forms in Ethiopian society and history: the “enderassie” appointed by the emperor to serve the emperor’s interest loyally as his personal representative and as his Ras Bitwoded and Bale Mulu Seltan Enderassie, the self-appointed enderassie (the equivalent of a Prime Minister in our day) who also had the title Ras usurping the power of the emperor, and as such, one who was the actual head of the government, powerful enough to enthrone and dethrone an emperor; and the “enderassie” who was much weaker than either of the ones mentioned above, being only the governor of a province representing the emperor, and probably even the stronger “enderassie.” The last one has come down to our time when Haile Selassie I was an Emperor. He had as many “endererassies” as there were provinces. They represented him and governed those provinces under his final and ultimate authority. Our focus in this paper will be on the self-appointed enderassie, who played the role of the head of the Ethiopian government using the emperor as a figurehead.
Pertaining the calendar in this study, the dates I will refer to is in Ethiopian Calendar whether I label them as such or not.
Though Ethiopian emperors have appointed enderassies for a long time in the past to conduct the affairs of the state by proxy, they had absolute power themselves in the beginning. The enderassies simply carried out their orders. It was the highest office in the government next to kingship. Later on, enderassies were elevated to Rases and Bitwodeds, and people looked upon them with awe and envy. It was a great honor and privilege to be the enderassie of the emperor. Up until 1590 (Eth. Cal.) the emperors of Ethiopia exercised unlimited power, so that they were able to appoint, promote and demote enderassies at will. After 1590, however, things reversed themselves. The enderassies became in a position to appoint, promote, demote and even pass a death sentence on emperors turning them into marionettes whose strings they controlled. They put the emperors in the throne cleverly to pacify public revolt, and in effect, the enderassies became emperors without imperial crown who determined the destiny of the nation. My research covers the time which spans between the 16th and the 20th centuries, for it was during this time that the power of the emperors declined and the enderassies usurped it easily ever since the restoration of the so-called Solomonic Dynsty in the 13th Century.
It is generally accepted by scholars of Ethiopian studies, by both Ethiopians and foreigners, that the Zemene Mesafint was born around 1777 when Ras Ali Tiliku became the “Bale Mulu Siltan Enderassie” of Ethiopia after forcing Emperor Teklegiorgis I to abdicate his throne. I go against the current. As far as I am concerned, as I will demonstrate below, the Zemene Mesafint was born in 1590 when an Itege and three mesafints usurped the power of the successors of Emperor Tsersedengil shortly after his death, and one of the mesafints, Ras Zeselassie, killed Emperor Zedengil and started to rule Ethiopia, first exclusively by himself, and later by enthroning for the second time Emperor Ya’ecob as his marionette.
Indeed, Zemene Mesafint was born in 1590, though it matured and came of age around 1777 and manifested itself overtly in the person of Ras Ali Tiliku. In other words, it had two phases: the first phase was between 1590 and 1777; the second, between 1777 and 1848. Between 1590 and 1777 it was struggling to survive and grow, suppressed and choked by powerful emperors from time to time. After 1777, however, it broke loose and stayed around consistently, that is, without any interruption, until 1848 when Emperor Tewodros broke it to pieces and demolished it totally. As such, the year 1590 was a turning point in Ethiopian history, for it was beginning this year that the seeds of discord and anarchy leading to and culminating in Zemene Mesafint were sown. Before this date, ever since the restoration of the Solomonic Dynasty in the 13 Century, the mesafints did not have the audacity and authority to appoint as a figurehead, challenge or kill an emperor and usurp his power. After this date, however, it became clear to them and the populace at large, that the Solomonic monarch and throne were weak and vulnerable to attack and downfall. So, different mesafints continued to challenge the authority and persona of the emperor beginning this date.
In continental Europe, according to Kibur Ato Tekletsadik Mekuria, the French emperors used to appoint “enderassies” beginning the 4th Century AD. Later, the enderassies usurped the power of the emperors, and became the heads of government until the 8th Century. In Great Britain, it was England which started the system of enderassie (prime ministry) after King George I came to the throne in 1714. King George appointed his first enderassie (prime minister) to conduct his affairs and chair his cabinet in his absence. This became a tradition from then on and it was modified and copied by other European countries later on. As aforementioned, Ethiopian emperors had appointed their own enderassies much earlier than most of their European counterparts did. Even if we disregard the years before 1590, and begin counting from this date, Ethiopians were ahead of England and Germany, for instance, in appointing enderassies who were equivalent to prime ministers, for 116 years! Nontheless, the placing of an emperor on the throne as head of state and the seizing of actual power as the head of government in those days seems to be unique to Ethiopia and France only.
In Ethiopia, as I hinted earlier, it started in 1590 when Emperor Tsersedengil died after having reigned over Ethiopia for 34 years as an absolute monarch. His wife, Itege Mariam Sina, plotted together with Dejazmatch Zeselassie of Enaria, her brothers-in-law Ras Atnatewos, Governor of Begemdir, and Ras Kifle-wahid, Governor of Tigre, against the claimants of the throne, Princes Susenyos and Zedingil, and enthroned as a puppet a seven-year old child by the name of Ya’ecob, whom they could maneuver easily. In fact, Ras Atnatewos became the Regent for the child, and the four people divided Ethiopia amongst themselves and started ruling her unchallenged. When the child-emperor came of age, however, he realized what was going on, and managed to restore his sauverignty temporarily by challenging and attempting to disperse the usurpers.
However, the two Rasses and the Itege imprisoned and exiled the young Emperor eventually. Since the throne was empty, they feared public revolt. So, they searched for the exiled Prince Zedingil, dragged him, and enthroned him as a symbolic emperor, and they become de facto rulers of Ethiopia. The exiled Dejazmatch Zeselassie, who promoted himself to a Ras, had his own agenda. He wanted to be emperor himself. Therefore, backed by the people of Gojam, he fought against Emperor Zedingil and the Rasses, killed Zedingil brutally leaving his corps to rot in the elements without a descent burial due to an emperor or even any human being. He then assumed the role of a sovereign. He would have crowned himself and reigned as an emperor if he did not fear popular revolt, since everyone knew of his humble background. For this reason, he enthroned once again the exiled Atse Ya’ecob, and he himself became the actual sovereign of Ethiopia until Emperor Susenyos, supported by his Oromo soldiers, defeated both of them in a battle and was crowned in 1597/98. Emperor Susenyos was ferocious. He restored for 28 years the sovereignty of the emperor which his predecessors had lost. His successors attempted to guard their sauveraignty jealously and fiercely, though not always successfully.
His son Fasil was enthroned in 1625. He was now fully empowered to appoint his own enderassie, Belaten Geta Melke’a Kirstos. Melk’a Kirstos not only served Atse Fasil loyally, but he also loved him dearly. Upon the death of Atse Fasil in 1660, Belaten Geta Melke’a Kirstos helped Fasil’s son, Yohanis I, to inherit the kingdom of his father. In return, Atse Yohanis, who was also known as Tsadiku (the Saint) for being pious, promoted him to Re’esse Mekuanent Bale Mulu Seltan Enderasse (endarsse with full authority). Atse Fasil’s Enderasse was as faithful to him as he was to his father.
Atse Yohanes I died in 1674 and his son Iyassu Adiamseged filled in his place. He elevated Dejazmatch Anistasyos to Ras Bitwoded Enderasse three months after his coronation. He was absolutely in control of his kingdom.
As the monarch got old, he promoted his own son Teklehaimanot to Ras and appointed him as his enderassie to spend his time more in praying and fasting. Unfortunately, his son was ill-advised by his cronies. He could not wait until his father died to be an emperor. So, he declared himself Negusse-Negest in 1698. His father, saddened by his son’s action, retreated to a monastery retiring from a public life. His suspecting son followed him there and had him assassinated brutally. He went into Ethiopian history as “Irgum Teklehaimanot” (Teklehaimanot the Cursed). Ras Faraes was his enderassie.
Meanwhile, the nobles of Gojjam rebelled against him by crowning a member of the royal family, Amdetsion, whom they thought they could maneuver easily and control the state by themselves. They and the Emperor Teklehaimanot’s army fought a fierce battle in 1699. The Emperor won the battle. Nontheless, it didn’t take long for the nobles of Gojjam to kill the Emperor. They killed him shortly after in the wood while he was hunting for wild animals.
After the death of Emperor Teklehaimanot, Ras Faraes, his enderassie, decided to rule Ethiopia by himself by enthroning Teklehaimanot’s son, Naod, who was only four years old, even as Ras Zeselassie, Itege Mariam-Sina and her brothers-in-law had crowned the seven-year old Ya’ecob symbolically to divide Ethiopia among themselves and rule her. Ras Faraes’ rival, Bejironed Yostos, released from Wehni Amba (a mountainous prison where princes were confined until they were called to reign) Prince Tewoflos, the brother of Iyassu Adiamseged and enthroned him in 1700. Atse Tewoflos promoted Bejironed Yostos to Ras and enderassie. When he died in 1703, Ras Yostos, who was suspected in the death of the Atse, crowned himself and usurped the power of the Solomonic emperors altogether. He reigned for four years crushing his opponents. He died a natural death. His followers were trying to even enthrone his son as an emperor if the princes at Wehni Amba didn’t raise hell breaking out of the Amba. Atse Yostos set a bad example to future enderassies by showing them it was possible to seize the throne of the Solomonic Dynasty if one was audacious enough. Even Ras Zeselassie, who had killed Atse Zedingil, did not dare crown himself and take over the Solomonic throne. He was afraid of the people. That was why he put a puppet on the throne. Atse Yostos thus proved to all the mesafints that one could usurp the Solomnic throne and even die a natural death after that. The impact he had had on the mesafints and enderassies who succeeded him is obvious.
Since enderassies like Ras Zeselassie had killed an emperor and continued to rule Ethiopia albeit for a moment without suffering the consequence, he might have thought that it was okay to overtake the kingdom of a dead king who didn’t have children to inherit his throne.
Dawit, the son of Iyassu Adiamseged was crowned as Dwait III in 1708. He restored the sovereignty of the emperor and gave the position of he enderassie to Ras Bitwoded Zegiorgis. He died in 1713. His enderassie ran to Wehni Amba to free and enthrone Abeto Woldegirogis, the brother of the late emperor. Nevertheless, most of the messafints favored Bekafa, the other brother of the deceased emperor, fought the Ras at the Amba, released Bekafa from prison, and enthroned him. Atse Bekafa banished the Ras. He then made Ras Iraklis his enderassie first, and then Ras Amhayes until Ras Amhayes rebelled and ran away from the Atse. Atse Bekafa died in 1723. To fill the power vacuum, Ras Zegiorgis once again attempted to get Prince Woldegiorgis from the Amba and enthrone him, but failed once again. Iyassu II, the son of Atse Bekafa took over his father’s kingdom in 1723. However, real power lay in the hands of his mother Itege Mintwab, who, using the boy’s young age as a pretext, crowned herself and started to rule Ethiopia with absolute authority, dominating her son, who was an emperor nominally. She brought her relatives from Quara to protect herself from the non-Quaran messafints, thus creating friction and animosity between the two. It was when he realized the contradictions between the imperial factions that the former enderassie, Ras Zegiorgis, was encouraged to attempt once again to enthrone Prince Woldegirogis. Iyassu II (BirhanSeged) died in 1747.
After Ras Zegiorgis’ rebellion was quelled, another one erupted. This time the rebel was a mesfin (prince) who resented the Quarans, the relatives of the Queen who were beginning to hold key positions in the Government. He climbed the Amba with a bunch of soldiers, brought down a prince by the name of Hizkiyas, declared that he had made him a king, and surrounded the palace of Atse Iyasu Birhanseged in Gonder. He and his king were defeated after much bloodshed. His intention had been to put a puppet king on the throne and rule Ethiopia himself indirectly. It didn’t work.
Ever since 1590 when Itege Mariam Sina, Dejazmatch Zeslassie, Ras Kiflewahid, and Ras Atnasios enthroned a little boy on the imperial throne to divide Ethiopia amongst themselves and rule her, and beginning the day when Dejazmatch Zesellasie killed Atse Zedingi, an anointed emperor of the Solomonic Dynasty whose person was sacred and untouchable hitherto, and from the moment when Ras Yostos made himself an emperor, it became evident to both the nobles and the commons that it was possible not only to enthrone and dethrone an emperor that was elected and anointed by God, but that it was also not difficult to kill him and go unpunished, besides usurping his throne. From then on, some of the mesafints stopped looking at the emperors in awe and reverence. As a matter of fact, it became the fashion of the epoch to find a prince, enthrone him as a puppet and unseat the existing monarch. Hence, the competition and rivalry among the mesafints to enthrone their own puppets and rule each other. Surely, 1590 ushered in the beginning of Zemene Mesafint. What started in 1590 and continued to exist sporadically for 170 years, began to deepen its roots after Ras Mikael Se’ul, the Enderassie of Atse Iyoas, had his master strangled in 1761 and usurped his power by enthroning a handicapped marionette; and then it planted itself firmly after the people and nobles of Begemdir elected Ras Ali Tiliku as their enderassie and head of government plotting against Emperor Teklegiorgis I in 1777, thus ending the sovereignty of the emperors altogether until the coronation of Atse Tewodros as a sovereign emperor in 1848.
After the death of Emperor Iyassu Birhanseged in 1747, his son, Iyoas, whom he begot from his Oromo wife, Weyzero Welete Bersabeh (originally called Wabi), became the emperor of Ethiopia. The first emperor of Oromo descent was confronted with a major domestic problem at the beginning of his ascension to the throne. It was a power struggle which occurred between his mother and his aging grandmother, Empress Mintiwab, the mother of his late father. He was in dilemma, not knowing whether to side with his mother and her Ormo allies or with his grand mother and her Quaran supporters. There was a fierce rivalry between these factions, each striving to put in power the enderassie which would serve its interest best. Weyzero Wolete-bersabeh (Wabi) wanted her Oromo brother, Ras Birele, to be the enderassie of Ethiopia. Empress Mentiwab elevated her own brother Ras Woldeleul to enderassie. Upon his death, she appointed his younger brother Ras Aeshte, as the enderassie. When Ras Aeshte passed away, she made sure that her son-in-law, Ras Mariam Bariaw took his place as the enderassie of Ethiopia. Ras Mariam Bariaw didn’t get along with Emperor Iyoas, and he demoted him, replacing him with his Oromo uncle, Ras Birele, who had been his first choice, anyway. Thus, Ras Birele became the first full-blooded Oromo who achieved the highest rank in the nation next to kingship. This gave a sense of victory to Weyzero Bersabeh and her Oromo relatives. It outraged Empress Mentiwab as well as her relatives and cronies, the Kuarans, besides the Amharas of Begemdir. As the internal bickering and squabbling intensified and the two opposing forces seemed to be on the verge of waging a war, the Emperor, to quail the disturbance, decided to appoint a neutral enderassie outside GonderRas Mikael Seul of Tigre.
Ras Mikael Seul, who had been the Governor of Tigre and Hamassien, was welcomed by all in the beginning, and proved to be an upright and competent leader for a while with a great skill for diplomacy to balance successfully the two contending camps. Because of the intrigue of Empress Mentiwab who wanted the Emperor and the Ras to fight, eventually the Ras lost favor with the Emperor, even though he had served him loyally and obediently. When the Emperor made several attempts on his life, the Ras had the emperor choked to death, and cast his body to rot in the elements in the same manner as Ras Zeselassie had done to the corps of Atse Zedengil 171 years earlier after he killed him in a battle and replaced him with an emperor he could manipulate easily. It seems that Ras Zeselassie had influenced him badly. Besides denying a proper burial for the emperor he had had assassinated, just like Ras Zeselassie had done, he too, enthroned a puppet, a physically handicapped prince by the name of Yohanes, and in effect, he himself started to rule Ethiopia indirectly. The enderassie once again became “lerassie,” because he was ruling on his own behalf, and not instead of the Emperor. Lords and princes who knew that the symbolic Emperor was powerless, began to rebel against the Enderassie, or rather, against Lerassie, refusing to pay taxes, seeking autonomy of sovereignty and contending for power. Thus Ethiopia was plunged into a state of prolonged anarchy, disunity and a chain of civil-wars known as “Zemene Mesafint” for 86 years, until Emperor Tewodros II who was crowned in 1848, consolidated power and attempted to reunite Ethiopia. Within the span of those 86 years, the enderassies were able to place on the “Solomonic” throne 18 puppet emperors, some of whom they permitted to wear the crown only for a few days or weeks until they replaced them with better marionettes. A few of them they detained in disgrace, and then released them to enthrone and dethrone them again and again, as if they were their house wares. The enderassies themselves would have worn the crowns and sat on the thrones directly had they not feared public uprising, since in the mind of the people, any king who was not of the Solomonic Dynasty was a usurper who should be dealt with a blow.
Indeed, the person of the emperor was a unifying factor before Zemene Mesafint. With the exception of a few rebellious princes or lords who would check and challenge his power from time to time and refuse to pay him tribute, his subjects revered him as a divinely ordained or anointed being whose authority and wisdom was not questioned by none other than God Almighty. In fact, they used to say, “negus ayikeses, semay ayitares.” He was the center and pillar of the nation, and the people in the periphery feared and revered him. He granted them autonomic freedom as long as they recognized his sovereignty and paid taxes. He was the supreme judge of the land, and his citizens brought their cases to him so that justice was served whenever they thought injustice had been inflicted upon them. He was the protector of the downtrodden, and the nation as a whole. He had power to appoint and demote governors in his empire without consulting or seeking the approval of anyone. He was the commander-in-chief of the army. When he called his warlords to go to war with him, they obeyed him in most cases. This way, he was able to unite the country. There were relative stability and peace when the emperors ruled with absolute authority. During Zemene Mesafint, nevertheless, the absence of a central sovereign emperor caused turmoil and division.
When Emperor Yohanes II refused to accompany Ras Mikael to a war against a rebellious feudal lord, the latter reportedly poisoned and killed the first, and got another marionette, Teklehaimanot, the 15 years old son of the late Emperor. He crowned this young boy whom he was able to manipulate better, and continued to rule Ethiopia more ruthlessly and brutally, until his cruelty led to his doom.
People who were fed up of his increasing tyranny, led by Ras Goshu of Gojam, rose against him, captured him in a battle, and imprisoned him in 1764 Eth. Cal. Then Ras Goshu became the enerassie and ruled Ethiopia for about nine years continuing to use Emperor Teklehaimanot as a figurehead.
When the young Emperor attempted to interfer with Ras Goshu’s affairs, he dethroned and imprisoned him. He then enthroned another puppet named Solomon who lasted only two years, leaving the throne for Emperor Teklegiorgis, another figurehead, in 1770.
Emperor Teklegiorgis I made an effort to restore the stolen sovereignty of the monarch, and succeeded to a degree, in that he was able to appoint himself a competent enderassie among his servants: a certain Ali, a Yeju Oromo, the son of a noble man known as Seru Guangul. Later, this Oromo leader will go into Ethiopian history popularly named as Ras Ali Tiliku to contrast him with one of his descendants, Ras Ali Tinishu, who would rule Ethiopia as a Ras and enderassie, in his time. The family members of Ras Ali Tiliku, though of Islamic origin and despite the fact that they bore Arabic names, practiced Christianity in Gonder. They were masterful survivors. As enderassies of Ethiopia, they were wise enough not to violate the customs and taditions of their Amara, Agew, Oromo and Quaran subjects. They spoke both Amharic and Oromo languages. Emperor Teklehaimanot and Ras Ali got along well for some time, until the Emperor dug his own grave by taxing his subjects so heavily.
When Emperor Teklegiorgis I refused to ease the burden of tax for them, the common people and the important figures of Begemdir plotted to get rid off him in 1777. To this end, they called his enderassie, Ras Ali Tiliku secretly, elected him as their leader and advised him to take over the government totally, assuming the role of a sovereign. They also expressed their desire to be ruled from then on only by enderassies like himself instead of emperors, and to “mount” on the throne a member of the royal family as a mere symbol. This is a rare instance in Ethiopian history where people who felt oppressed picked up and chose their own political leader as a sovereign. It reminds us of what happened 200 years later in our own time, 1966, when the people of Ethiopia revolted to get rid off the Negusse-Negest, and establish a republic which was not realized. The Oromo Ras Ali was chosen by an Ethiopian emperor to govern Ethiopia because of his personal merit. Again by his personal competence, he was elected by popular demand and mandated to overtake the government and to overthrow a seating monarch.
However, instead of overthrowing his former lord by force, Ras Ali convinced him to abdicate, and replaced him with a marionette named Emperor Hizkias and ruled Northern Ethiopia with absolute power for four years, thus paving further the way for Zemene Mesafint in which the princes were fighting each other to control the state. To this end, different princes such as Ras Woldeselassie of Enderta, Ras Gebremesskel of Tenbien, the Gojami Rasses, Ras Hailu and Ras Merid, as well as the Lastan, Ras Woldegebriel and his brother Ras Asrat, enthroned their own puppets such as Atse Iyassu, Atse Hizkias and Atse Be’idemariam temporarily, until they were crushed by Ras Ali and his successor, Ras Aligaz, including his relative Ras Gugssa, all of them Oromos.
After the death of Ras Ali, his brother, Ras Aligaz became the sovereign of Ethiopia. Atse Hizkias continued to stay on the “Solomonic” throne as a symbol. When Ras Ali died, Ras Woldegabriel and his brother, Ras Asrat (Agews) ruled Ethiopia as enderassies for six years. Later, Ras Gugssa, the great grandfather of Empress Taitu Bitul, the wife of Emperor Menelik, and the direct descendant of Ras Ali Tiliku, succeeded the two brothers as the enderassie of Ethiopia as a result of a power vacuum created when the two brothers waged war against each other.
Ras Gugssa was a noble man. His wife was a direct descendant of Empress Mentiwab. He was able to rule Ethiopia harmoniously for a long period of time (about 28 years) by getting along with peoples of diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds. He was also a ferocious and victorious warrior. He enthroned three emperors during his reign: Emperor Gigar, Emperor Iyoas and Emperor Egualetsion. He died in 1818 and his son Ras Yimam, inherited his “throne.”
Ras Yimam continued to maneuver Emperor Gigar, who was appointed by his father. His reign, like that of his father, was marked by wars waged against him by the princes of Semien, Tigre, Damot, Gojam and Lasta, who aspired for his position, by enthroning their own puppets. He ruled Ethiopia only two years.
Ras Mariye, Ras Yimam’s brother became the ruler of Ethiopia in 1820. His reign, which lasted only three years because of his premature death in a battle with Dejmazmatch Sebagadis, the governor of Tigre and Hammasien, who refused to submit to his leadership. Dejazmatch Sebagadis was captured in the same battle and executed by Ras Dori, Ras Mariye’s brother and his allies such as Ras Woube of Siemen, who became the governor of Tigre, Hamassien and Siemen respectively, after the death of Dejazmatch Sebagadis, in accordance with a promise Ras Mariye had made to him before the battle took place.
Ras Dori ruled Ethiopia even shorter than any one of his brothers or his predecessors: only three months. It seems that he died a natural death, leaving the government of Ethiopia to his heir, Ras Ali Tinishu, who ruled for 22 years (1823-1845), as the last absolute enderassie of Ethiopia until the rise of Atse Tewodros. In his capacity as the “felach korach” of Ethiopia, he enthroned in his time three marionettes: Atse Gebrekirstos, Atse Sahledengil and Atse Yohanis III. Moreover, he gave the hand of his aging mother, Weyzero Menen, to the last symbolic emperor so that she would have the rank of “Itege.” Ras Ali, too, had to fight many wars to survive as the endarassie of Ethiopia against so many warlords from Tigre, Hamassien, Begemdir, Siemen, Damot, Lasta and Gojam, who sought to seize his power using as a pretext the fact that he and his predecessors were Oromos of a Muslim ancestor, Sheikh Omar of Arabia who had come to Ethiopia during the time of Imam Ahmed Gragn, though they themselves were of the “Solomonic” royal family having intermarried with them, and even though they had assimilated culturally with the peoples they ruled and were converted to Christianity in spite of the fact that some of them bore Arabic names (which are often associated with being Muslims).
With the rise of Atse Tewodros on the Ethiopian political scene (1848), the backbone of “Zemene Messafint” was broken, and Ethiopia came once again under the leadership of one monarch who aspired to see one, united Ethiopia, by any means. Atse Tewodros, was indeed Atse Begulbetu. He had nothing to do whatsoever with the so-called Solomonic Dynasty. He gripped the throne by the might of his sword. As we remember, Atse Yonanis IV of Tigre, another Atse Begulbetu, who had no biological connection with the Solomonic Dynasty, succeeded Atse Tewodros and ruled Ethiopia until he died defending her from foreign agressors. After him reigned Emperors Menilek II (r.1881-1905) and Haileselassie I, (r. 1923-1974).
Contrary to our present rulers, while recognizing the existence of diverse ethnic and linguistic groups, our leaders of old including the enderassies promoted unity, integration, assimilation, and acculturation, through marriage, migration, adoption, commerce and social intercourse. Instead of limiting themselves to their narrow shells, they went out of their shells, strove to expand, consolidate and build one nation under one flag, aspiring in their own ways to be just and fair, as long as they were recognized without resistance and so long as they received their taxes in time. Even when one feudal lord and one ethnic group rose against another, the drive and goal was not secession or separation. The other way round, it was to snatch away power from the powerful, get recognized, and expand territories and grow in might and splendor. Of course, at times, the revolt was an act of defiance and resistance against tyranny when those in power became uncontrollably despotic and ruthless.
In most cases, during Zemene Mesafint, when a dejazmatch or ras defied and waged war against an enderassie, it was to subdue that enderassie and take over his place as a new enderassie of Ethiopia. It was not to be just the enderassie of Tigre, Gojam, Wellega or Wello. Nor was it to be the enderassie of only the Tigre, Amhara or Oromo. Oh, no, those leaders were more visionary and more ambitious than that! Each feudal lord was intelligent enough to comprehend that it was more viable economically, politically, geographically and socially to be in control of a larger united territory than smaller, fragmented regions. Even the ferocious Oromo, during their rise, were expanding on the length and breadth of Ethiopia as well as in East Africa, until they found what they were looking for and settled. They were wise and pragmatic enough not to limit themselves to wherever their original place of abode had been. For the Oromo, after the dust of expansion settled, instead of isolation and domination, there followed diplomacy, integration, intermarriage, assimilation, as well as commercial, linguistic, cultural and religious intercourse with the people they interacted.
Atse Susenyos (born 1571), was captured in a war with some Oromo tribesmen when he was a little boy. He was adopted by an Oromo chieftain and was raised as an Oromo, speaking the language fluently and practicing the religion and culture. He subdued his “Amara” royal enemies with the help of his Oromo friends and ascended to the throne in Gojam in 1604. He appointed his Oromo allies to high government offices. When the Amaras rebelled against him, he sent some of his Oromo generals to subdue them, confiscate their land and be their lords. The two Oromo regiments which he sent for this purpose, Ilmana and Denssa in Gojjam, are now bearing the name of a vicinity as a testimony to such a historical phenomenon. Eventually, some of the Oromo nobles “infiltrated” the so-called Solomonic Dynasty, and ruled Ethiopia for about 230 years influencing the Ethiopian people in diverse ways and enriching Ethiopian civilization.
In contrast with our present rulers, both the symbolic emperors and the actual rulers of old, the enderassies, considered themselves to be Ethiopians, first and foremost. The emperors were symbolic figureheads of the peoples of Ethiopia, whereas the enderassies represented the entire Ethiopia, despite the fact that they were not in control of the whole nation due to their military weakness. Neither the enderassies nor the emperors at the height of their power were partial to and did favors for their own particular ethnic group at the expense of others. Even the most powerful enderassie of Ethiopia, the gallant Ras Mikael Seul, who was also the governor of Tigrai and Hamassien (Eritrea) at the same time, did not treat his tribal region and ethnic group in any special manner, at the zenith of his power. He treated all his subjects and the regions he governed equally, seeing himself as the sovereign of the entire nation of Ethiopia. It was because of his fairness of judgment and uprightness of governance in his earlier career as enderassie, that he became so popular among all the ethnic groups of Ethiopia.
Atse Yohannis IV (r 1864-1881) was an Ethiopian emperor worthy of the name first of all, and a Tigrean next. He carried himself as an Ethiopian leader and died as such defending his motherland against foreign aggressors outside his home territory of Tigray. Had he been a Tigre first and an Ethiopian last, or in another words, if his priority was the development and well being of his own ethnic region and ethnic group, he had the power and authority to plunder the resource of the rest of Ethiopia and build his region and enrich his people at the expense of non-Tigreans. But then, he was a genuine Ethiopian and chose to stand for the whole of Ethiopia, instead of only for Tigrai and for Tigreans.
All the Oromo enderassies, the family of Seru Guangul, saw themeselves as Ethiopians first and foremost. Whether this was right or wrong, there was nothing special they did for the Oromos of Yeju and Wello out of whom they stemmed, except using them to go to war against their Amara, Agew and Tigre rivals, and other than hiding amongst them when they were pursued by their enemies.
Emperor Tewodros did nothing in particular for his quaran tribesmen, because his grand plan was greater Ethiopia. It was the same with all the emperors which followed him, including Menelik and Haileselassie who did nothing in particular for the downtrodden Amaras, supposing these two emperors were “full-fledged” Amaras biologically, which was not the case.
At this juncture, we can raise an important question: Did Amara royals rule Ethiopia all the time without any interruption? Have the so-called Amara emperors been in the picture predominantly ever since the days of Emperor Iyassu Birahnseged (245 years ago), considering Atse Iysssu Birhanseged to be a “pure” Amhara” which is controversial. His forefathers including Yekuno Amlak earlier on, and then later on, his supposed descendants including emperors Menelik and Haile Selassie traced their genealogy to the Axumite (Tigrean), Queen Sheba and the Jew King Solomon, and not to ancient Amara queen and king because there were no Amara queens and kings in those days at Axume. So, wouldn’t it be more truthful to call them Tigreans than Amaras, unless we contend that they were creating a myth to legitimize their ascension to the throne of the so-called Solomonic Dynasty?
How did the Solomonic Dynasty come into existence, anyway? According to the Kebere Negest, Queen Makda of Ethiopia who was born in what is today referred to as Tigrai, went to Jerusalem to hear the wisdom of King Solomon and begot a son, Menlik I, by him. Menelik I thus established the Solomonic Dynasty. This was about 3000 years ago. The Solomonic Dynasty ruled for about 1850 years until it was conquered by an Agew Jewish woman named Yodit around 840 AD who ruled Ethiopia destroying Christianity, churches and books. Members of the Solomonic Dynasty fled to Shoa, (Menz, to be precise) and hid there from “Yodit Gudit,” who is also known as Issato, for burning churches and books with fire. Later on, another group of Agews established the Zagwe Dynasty about 900 AD, basing themselves at Lasta, Lalibela and ruled Ethiopia until around 1245.
A certain Yekuno-Amlak, with the assistance of Abune Tekle-Haimanot in Shoa, “overthrew” the Zagwe Dynasty without bloodshed, claiming to be one of the last surviving members of the Solomonic Dynasty, who had fled to Shoa from Axum, Tigrai, and became the Emperor of Ethiopia in 1245. Either Yekuno-Amlak was genuine or a usurper. If he was genuine, he was the descendant of the last Axumite (Tigrean) Emperor, Dil Ne’ad, as he claimed to be (even though he spoke Amharic, and of course, Geez, the written language of the Axumites, Tigrigna being the spoken language), and as such, he and his Shoan and Gondere successors who passed as Amaras for speaking in Amharic, were of Tigrean origin, provided the present day Tigreans are the remnants of the old Axumites. If Yekunoamlak had nothing to do with the Axumite monarchs genetically, then he was a usurper. However, since he and even his successors, in reality, administered their government modeling it after the Axumite monarchy, and as their second language, if not their first, was Geez, the written language of the Axumites, and since the center and origin of their church and faith, as well as the site of their coronation was in Axum, and because their education was Axumite, one cannot deny that they were more Axumites (Tigreans) culturally and spiritually than they were Amaras, whatever Amara may mean, in this instance.
So also, whether Emperor Iyassu Birhan-Seged was of a Tigrean descent or not, we know one thing for fact: His son, Emperor Iyoas whom he begot from his Oromo wife, Wabi, was half Oromo by blood, and predominantly an Oromo culturally and linguistically, surrounded by his Oromo relatives and soldiers.
To summarize the list of the enderassies who usurped the power of the emperors and the time they reigned during the continuous period of Zemene Mesafint, Ethiopia was first ruled by Ras Mikael Seul of Tigre between 1761 and 1764, disregarding the time before he murdered Iyoas. Ras Goshu of Gojam (1764-1773) defeated the aging Ras Mikael in a battle in 1764 and ruled Ethiopia for about nine years, continuing to use Emperor Tekle-Haimanot II as his puppet. Next reigned Ras Ali Tiliku (1777-1781), then his brother, Ras Aligaz (1781-1786), followed by the Agew brothers Ras Wolde-Gebriel and Ras Asrat (1786-1792), then Ras Gugssa, a descendant of Ras Ali Tiliku (1792-1818), as well as his brother Ras Yimam (1818-1820), then his brother Ras Mariye (1820-1823), including his brother Ras Dori (1823- for three months only), and last, his relative, Ras Ali Tinishu (1823-1845), until Emperor Tewodros II defeated him and his mother Itege Menen and became an absolute monarch, once again establishing the monarchy which was interrupted for 86 years, in an effort to reunite Ethiopia after she was fragmented by the feudal lords during Zemene Mesafint. Atse Tewodros reigned together with his Oromo wife, Etege Tewabech, the daughter of Etege Mentewab and Ras Ali, both of whom he had overthrown. Though both Atses Tewodros and Yohanes attempted to link themselves to the Solomonic Dynasty to attain legitimacy, the public knew that they were “usurpers.” Menelik and Haile-Selassie made themselves believable because of the genealogical record they produced.
The last two emperors indeed claimed that they descended from the Axumite (Tigrean) Queen Sheba, and the Jewish King Solomon, though, in turth, it was more Oromo, and not Tigrean and Jewish blood which flowed in their veins. Atse Menelik is an Oromo on his mother’s side. As in the case of Atse Haile-Selassie, not only he was an Oromo on both his father’s and mother’s side, but his grandfather (Ali), and probably his grandmother from Werehimenu, Welo, were Muslims. Nevertheless, since one had to be a Judeo-Christian to be accepted as a member of the Solomonic Dynasty, nobody was audacious enough to reveal his Islamic and Oromo background when he was an emperor. The two Kassas, Kassa Hailu and Kassa Mircha popularly known as Atse Tewodros and Atse Yohanes, did not have their own powerful enderassies over their empires.
Menilek’s first modern enderassie was his Prime Minister, Fitawrari Habet-Giorgis Binegede, another wise and charismatic Oromo who won the respect of the court and the populace for his wit and leadership quality. Since Menelik was embarking on modernization of Ethiopia modeled after Europe, he formed in 1907 a cabinet of 12 ministers on top of which was Fitawrari Habte-Giorgis, who in essence, played the role of an enderassie. The Fitawrari, as his name implies, was at the same time the Minister of Defense. However, real power lay in Menelik’s own hands until he became ill and bedridden. He then appointed Rass Tessema as his official enderassie and the regent of Lij Iyassu, his grandson, whom he designated to be his heir. Despite the fact that the formal enderassie was Rass Tessema, Itege Taytu Bitul, Menilek’s wife, one of the most powerful and courageous women of Ethiopia, took over as a de facto head of government by playing the role of the enderassie in the traditon of her Oromo forefathers from Ras Ali Tilku all the way down to her great grandfather Ras Gugussa, one of the greatest enderassies of Ethiopia.
With Menelik’s quiet approval, she became the Chair of the Crown Council assuming his role. Despite the opposition of the nobility such as Rass Tessema Nadew and Fitawrari Habte-Giorgis, she ruled Ethiopia for two years, between February 1900 and March 1902, until she was removed from office by Rass Tesema, Fitawrari Habte-Giorgis and their supporters. Rass Tessema asserted his title as the real enderassie of Ethiopia and ruled until his sudden death in February 1903. Lij Iyassu, an Oromo, the grandson of Emperor Menelik, the son of Negus Mikael of Welo, who was called Muhammed Ali before Menelik had him baptized and converted to Christianity becoming his godfather and marrying him with his daughter, Shewarega, became the Negus of Ethiopia without a crown. The young playboy “king” did not retain Menelik’s officials and friends such as Fitawrari Habtegiorgis and lost favor with them. They stripped him off his power after he was defeated in a war. They made Princess Zewditu Menelik the Queen of Ethiopia, and Dejazmatch Teferi Meknonen (later Emperor Haile-Selassie I), the Crown Prince.
Crown Prince Teferi Mekonen also became the enderassie of Empress Zewditu. In his capacity as an enderassie, he treated the Empress as a marionette meddling in all of her state affairs, until she died powerless and grief-stricken. He then sat upon the throne himself, and kept the ministerial council. He appointed several prime ministers as well as provincial enderassies during his reign without giving them a millimeter of power and authority to decide anything without his approval. He was extremely dominant and controlling. As a matter of fact, he was an absolute monarch even though he claimed to be a constitutional monarch, like those emperors who ruled in Gonder before Ras Miakal Seul killed Aste Iyoas and reigned himself without wearing a crown.
Col. Mengistu Hailemariam became President formally at one point, seating in the throne of Haileselassie without the crown, after burying him in the ground under the throne, afraid that he might rise from the dead and retrieve his throne. He was so excited to go into history as the first President of Ethiopia. His enderassie, his Prime Minister, was under his firm control.
Ato Meles Zenawi’s situation is unique. He was first President, and then Prime Minister, two different ranks which even the title-monger Mengistu Hailemariam didn’t attain. Or did he, when he was Chairman of the Party?
In both capacities, Ato Meles Zenawi has proven himself almighty. When he was a president, his prime minister was his subordinate. When he became prime minister, his president was again his subordinate. In essence, now he is playing the role of an enderassie of Ethiopia in the old tradition of the enderassies who ruled from Gonder as the head of the Ethiopian Government, though he prefers to be addressed as Prime Minister since he happens to live in this modern age and era of democracy in which kings without crowns would rather be called presidents, and enderassies without the title “Ras”, disguise themselves as prime ministers. Dr. Negasso Gidada is playing the role of a symbolic Negusse Negest in his capacity as Head of State, as opposed to Head of Government which is none other than Ato Meles Zenawi.
It is evident that Ato Meles Zenawi, the present Prime Minister of Ethiopia, and Dr. Negasso Gidada, the President, are not Amharas. They are a Tigrean and an Oromo respectively, as everyone knows. Kassa Hailu, otherwise identified as Atse Tewodros was not an Amhara either. He was a Kuaran from Gonder, though he was fluent in Amharic, Geez, and Arabic, as one of the Europeans he met reveals. His tribal people had their own language, and he probably spoke it as well. Kassa Mercha, otherwise called Atse Yonhanis IV, was also a non-Amara. In fact, he was a Tigrean.
Wag Shum Gobeze, otherwise referred to as Atse Tekle-girogis II, the self-proclaimed emperor who reigned temporarily in Ethiopia after the suicide of Atse Tewodros, was not an Amara. He was an Agew. The emperors and empresses who ruled Ethiopia after Atse Yohanis IV, such as Atses Menelik, Haileselassie, Lij Iyassu, Itege Taitu, Negeste-Negesstat Zewditu, and Itege Menen, were nobles of Oromo descent. I have pointed out this seven years ago in my article, “Nobles of Oromo Descent Who Ruled Ethiopia.” As I indicated earlier, probably the last “full-fledged Amara” Emperor was Iyassu Birhanseged who ruled Ethiopia 245 years ago, though his Amaraness is debatable. Whether the word “Amara” refers to a tribe is open for argument. At any rate, even the personalities who ruled Ethiopia briefly after the end of Emperor Haileselassie’s reign, such as Generals Aman Andom and Teferi Benti, were not Amharas. The first was an Eritrean, the second an Oromo. Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam, is said to be a non-Amara.
If you argue saying, true, most of the people who ruled Ethiopia for the last 245 years were not full-fledged Amaras, but the system they represented was an Amara, a number of questions arise. Is there a thing called an Amara system? What is an Amara system? Were there one or two particular, original tribes known as Amaras in Ethiopia? How did they come into existence? If there were no tribes known as Amaras in the beginning, how could a system referring to this name exist? Which preceded which, Amaric or Amaras? Is Amaric the language of one tribe or of all those who speak it? Does one become an Amara automatically for speaking Amaric? Do people become Anglo-Saxon because they speak English? I speak English. Therefore, do I belong to the Anglo-Saxon tribe? Was Amaric indeed a language which was created a thousand years ago during the Zagwe Dynasty by different soldiers and craftsmen of diverse ethnic background, as Aleka Atsme-girorgis suggests, or was it a language which “tribalized” all those who spoke it, though their original ethnic background was different before they learned to speak it? Was this a language which emerged much earlier, at the height of Axumite civilization out of Tigrigna and Geez, and later adopted Oromo and other words and proverbs as well as “Kushitic” verb conjugation, as some scholars contend, and with which I am inclined to agree? All these questions need reasonable answers. Granted there was a tribe known as an Amara, what is an Amara system? Isn’t the so-called Amara system the offshoot of the Axumite civilization, be it the form and content of the government, history, church, clergy, literature, music, administration, in a word, religion, politics and culture? And as such, isn’t it better to refer to it as Tigrean than Amara? Does the word Amaric denote a tribe or a language, or both? How about the differences between the different Amara groups such as the Gondere and Shoan Amaras, for instance? Has there been any uniform Amara social, political and economic system? So, what is an Amara system? These questions should be addressed seriously. A superficial approach will not reveal the truth.
To come back to the present situation in Ethiopia, when I think of the prime ministry and presidency, I am reminded of the relationships between the enderassies and emperors of Ethiopia during “Zemene Mesafint”. I see similarities and contrasts. The similarity is the style. The contrast is the substance. The similarity is evidenced by the fact that real power is being exercised by the Prime Minister as it used to be exercised by the enderassies. The contrast is that all the enderassies considered themselves first and foremost to be Ethiopians, without paying much attention to their own ethnicity, aspiring to safeguard the interest of Ethiopia at large. In other words, they considered to be Ethiopians first. Their ethnicity played a secondary role. Our current leaders stress ethnicity first. For them, Ethiopianess is secondary and irrelevant. Hence, their primary focus on their ethnicity. Despite the fact that they are supposed to be representing all of Ethiopia by virtue of being rulers, they glorify their ethnicity and feel embarrassed and hesitate much to admit that they are Ethiopians. Rulers who are ashamed of the country they rule and are not proud to be identified with the name of the county they govern, as well as leaders who do not appreciate and love the country they lead, are unheard of in world history, unless they were foreign invaders who were interested in that country only for its natural and human resources. On the one hand, they enjoy ruling Ethiopia. On the other hand, they are reluctant to be associated with her directly. It seems that they want to have the cake and eat it too. Unquestionably, in reality, they represent Ethiopia, first and foremost, whether they like it or not, as long as they are in office. If that is not the case they have no business in the palace and other government buildings in the Capital. Leaders who represent Ethiopia should be Ethiopians first and anything else they desire to be, next. When their term of office expires (and it seems Ethiopian rulers’ office terms, like that of many other African rulers, will never expire until they expire themselves), they can go back to their ethnicity and celebrate it, if that is their wish. The paradox is that one cannot force them to be Ethiopians at heart if they don’t cherish a burning love for Ethiopia naturally. A feeling of nationalism cannot exist in one’s heart if one is not attached to a country emotionally, culturally, geographically and historically, as it is the case with our rulers.
The current leaders should humble themselves and make an effort to change their hearts for the sake of national reconciliation and unity. They should tone down ethnicity and heighten Ethiopian nationalism. The feelings of nationalism and patriotism which were displayed by the peoples of Ethiopia in the wake of the military aggression by the Issayas Afeworki regime in Eritrea would have been stepping stones to achieve these objectives. There was no better opportunity than this for unity based on equality and reconciliation with the opposition. The leaders are lagging behind the people they are supposed to lead, in this instance. Sadly, the Government is still rigid and unwilling to compromise an inch, shunning the plight of the Ethiopian people. Those Ethiopians including myself who supported the Government’s effort to stop the Issayas Afeworki’s war of aggression, are disappointed with the Government for ignoring the plight of the people after the war ended in favor of Ethiopia.
Besides the problem of democracy, human rights, political prisoners, economic and ethnic inequality, the people of Ethiopia demand that the question of Ethiopia’s sea port be addressed promptly. All the winners of the Second World War, the Allies, had agreed in principle in the United Nations at the end of the War, that Assab was an integral part of Ethiopia historically, which the Italians should have relinquished to Ethiopia without buts and ifs. If Emperor Haileselassie didn’t insist on reuniting with Ethiopia the remaining part of Eritrea together with its inhabitants, Ethiopia could have had Assab without any challenge.
Colonial boundaries should not be accepted since they were designed by criminal colonialists to serve their own colonial agenda. Moreover, Eritrea’s case is different than other African countries affected by colonialism since it was federated with Ethiopia mandated by and under the auspices of the United Nations while other African countries were still under the yoke of colonialism. It is up to the Government of Ethiopia to gather and file the necessary documents to prove the fact that Assab has always belonged to Ethiopia or to find other legal means and international laws which will give 60 million Ethiopians a free access to the Red Sea. Why should Ethiopia depend on and pay a fortune to foreign ports when it has its own. Ethiopia could reclaim the port in light of new developments with Eritrea regardless of international pressure. Apart from this, if the government is already doing enough preparation to retrieve Assab by legal means, then it should share this information with the public. It cannot keep the Ethiopian people in the dark pertaining the negotiation it is holding with the Eritrean regime.
In fact, they have the right to demand that every point of negotiation with the Eritrean regime be discussed publicly and presented for a referendum. It is unjust for any government to use its people in times of calamity such as war, and display arrogance and keep them in the dark in time of peace in matters concerning a major national interest.
The more I delve into Ethiopian history and culture, the more I respect my ancestors, my Ethiopian forefathers and fore-mothers, and the more I am intrigued by their political sophistication and their art of governance. My generation being ignorant of its history and culture looks down upon them and searches for a paradigm and a role model elsewhere in Europe and America. This is tragic! It has resulted in confusion, identity crisis, low self-esteem, anarchy, and bloodshed. What my generation forgets is that our ancestors were far ahead or on the same level as Europeans in many ways. For instance, the British people have kept the royal Windsor Family as heads of state, to maintain their long established tradition, while the Prime Minister is the actual head of the Government. Many people including Ethiopians admire this. Our ancestors had done exactly the same thing 200 years ago even though we are not aware of it, when they elected Ras Ali Tilku to be the head of their government, keeping an emperor on the throne as the head of state, to maintain the tradition of the monarchy which had existed for 4000 years prior to that. “We are fed up of the tyranny of monarchs,” they told Ras Ali, “from now on, we don’t want to be ruled by them. We prefer to be ruled by the mesafint. However, in order not to bereft ourselves of our history and tradition, let’s keep a symbolic emperor on the throne.” Ras Ali bowed to popular demand, enthroned a symbolic emperor, and ruled as a benevolent enderassie passing the office to his descendants later on.
To sum up, even though the prime ministry and the presidency seem to be a modern European import, in reality, they are a home grown game which had been already played during the era of the fragmentation of Ethiopia known as “Zemene Mesafint.” What is amazing is that, this phenomenon is presenting itself as a new happening, at a time when people fear that Ethiopia will be divided ethnically and be fragmented as in the “Era of Princes.” True, the current government has a council of ministers and a parliament. Nontheless, it is the Prime Minister who has the final say and it is his ideas which are passed as resolutions whenever the two bodies meet. It should be noted that the old feudal system too, had a council of the crown (crown council) and an assembly of elders (parliament) which discussed issues and proposed solutions. However, it was the enderassies who had the final say. Indeed, if historical events repeat themselves, they seem to happen once again in Ethiopia at the present time. As King Solomon said, “There is nothing new under the heavens.” And as the Russians say, “the new is nothing but the very same old thing which was forgotten very, very much.”
Acknowledgement: The author is indebted to Professors Negussay Ayele and Getatchew Haile for their valuable feedbacks which were instrumental in improving the original manuscript of this article.
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Fikre Tolossa, Ph.D., is world-renowned Ethiopian poet and playwright. He resides in California. Originally printed in April 2001
