Haile Selassie

Haile Selassie I (Ge'ez: ቀዳማዊ ኃይለ ሥላሴ qädamawi haylä səllasé^{[nb 1]}; Amharic: [ha.ɪlɜ sɨlːase]^{[nb 2]}  listen (help·info))(23 July 1892 – 27 August 1975), born Tafari Makonnen Woldemikael,^[4] was Ethiopia's regent from 1916 to 1930 and Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He was the heir to a dynasty that traced its origins by tradition from King Solomon and Queen Makeda, Empress of Axum, known in the Abrahamic tradition as the Queen of Sheba. Haile Selassie is a defining figure in both Ethiopian and African history.^[5][6]

At the League of Nations in 1936, the Emperor condemned the use of chemical weapons by Italy against his people during the Second Italo–Ethiopian War.^[7] His internationalist views led to Ethiopia becoming a charter member of the United Nations, and his political thought and experience in promoting multilateralism and collective security have proved seminal and enduring.^[8] His suppression of rebellions among the nobles (mekwannint), as well as what some^[who?] perceived to be Ethiopia's failure to modernize adequately,^[9] earned him criticism among some contemporaries and historians.^[10]

Among the Rastafari movement, whose followers are estimated at between 200,000 and 800,000, Haile Selassie is revered as the returned messiah of the Bible, God incarnate.^[11][12] Beginning in Jamaica in the 1930s, the Rastafari movement perceives Haile Selassie as a messianic figure who will lead a future golden age of eternal peace, righteousness, and prosperity.^[13] Haile Selassie was an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian throughout his life.

Early life  

Haile Selassie I's royal line (through his father's mother) originated from the Amhara people,^[21] but he also had Oromo, and Gurage^[22]roots. He was born on 23 July 1892, in the village of Ejersa Goro, in the Harar province of Ethiopia. His mother was Woizero ("Lady") Yeshimebet Ali Abajifar, daughter of the renowned Oromo ruler of Wollo province Dejazmach Ali Abajifar.^[23] His maternal grandmother was of Gurage heritage.^[24] Tafari's father was RasMakonnen Woldemikael Gudessa, the governor of Harar. Ras Makonnen served as a general in the First Italo–Ethiopian War, playing a key role at the Battle of Adwa;^[23] he too was paternally Oromo but maternally Amhara.^[24] Haile Selassie was thus able to ascend to the imperial throne through his paternal grandmother, Woizero Tenagnework Sahle Selassie, who was an aunt of Emperor Menelik II and daughter of Negus Sahle Selassie of Shewa. As such, Haile Selassie claimed direct descent from Makeda, the Queen of Sheba, and King Solomon of ancient Israel.^[25]

Ras Makonnen arranged for Tafari as well as his first cousin, Imru Haile Selassie to receive instruction in Harar from Abba Samuel Wolde Kahin, an Ethiopiancapuchin monk, and from Dr. Vitalien, a surgeon from Guadeloupe. Tafari was named Dejazmach (literally "commander of the gate", roughly equivalent to "count")^[26] at the age of 13, on 1 November 1905.^[27] Shortly thereafter, his father Ras Makonnen died at Kulibi, in 1906.^[28]

Death and interment

On 28 August 1975, the state media reported that the "ex-monarch" Haile Selassie had died on 27 August of "respiratory failure" following complications from a prostate operation.^[130] His doctor,Asrat Woldeyes, denied that complications had occurred and rejected the government version of his death. Some imperial loyalists believed that the emperor had in fact been assassinated, and this belief remains widely held to this day.^[131] One western correspondent in Ethiopia at the time commented, "While it is not known what actually happened, there are strong indications that no efforts were made to save him. It is unlikely that he was actually killed. Such rumors were bound to arise no matter what happened, given the atmosphere of suspicion and distrust prevailing in Addis Ababa at the time."^[132] Court testimony given by the emperor's servants, however, indicates that they were ordered to leave his rooms for the night, and that they returned in the morning to find him dead in his bed, with a strong chemical smell in the room.^{[citation needed]} They further testified that the emperor had been in perfect health the night before when they had left him. Professor Asrat Woldeyes also testified that his patient had completely recovered from the effects of the surgery and that there had been no complications.^{[citation needed]}

The Soviet-backed Derg fell in 1991. In 1992, the emperor's bones were found under a concrete slab on the palace grounds;^[131] some reports suggest that his remains were discovered beneath alatrine.^[133] For almost a decade thereafter, as Ethiopian courts attempted to sort out the circumstances of his death, his coffin rested in Bhata Church, near his great uncle Menelik II's imperial resting place.^[134] On 5 November 2000, Haile Selassie was given an imperial-style funeral by the Ethiopian Orthodox church. The post-communist government refused calls to declare the ceremony an official imperial funeral.^[134]

Although such prominent Rastafarian figures as Rita Marley and others participated in the grand funeral, most Rastafari rejected the event and refused to accept that the bones were the remains of Haile Selassie. There remains some debate within the Rastafari movement as to whether Haile Selassie actually died in 1975.^[135]