Aklilu Habte-Wold

Tsehafi Taezaz ("Minister of the Pen") Aklilu Habte-Wold (1912 - 23 November 1974) was an Ethiopian politician under Emperor Haile Selassie. He was foreign minister of Ethiopia from 1947 to 1958 and Prime minister from 1961 until shortly before his death.

Life

Aklilu Habte-Wold was the son of a rural Ethiopian Orthodox priest from the Bulga district of Shewa province. He and his brothers, Makonnen Habte-Wold and Akalework Habte-Wold benefited from the patronage of Emperor Haile Selassie, who had them educated in the country and abroad in his efforts to create a new western educated intelligentia and professional class in his country. Aklilu Habte-Wold acquired his education in France. He was a protege of the powerful Tsehafi Taezaz Wolde Giyorgis Wolde Yohannes, another man of humble birth, who became a powerful figure in Ethiopian government, and close advisor to the Emperor, with his appointment as Tsehafi Taezaz. Wolde Giyorgis recommended the Habte-Wold brothers to the Emperor, who promoted them through the ranks so that the two eldest, Makonnen and Aklilu, became particularly influential with the monarch. Their humble origins, and the fact that they owed their education and advancement solely to the Emperor, allowed Emperor Haile Selassie to trust them implicitly and to favor them and other commoners of humble origin in government appointments and high positions at the expense of the aristocracy, whose loyalty to his person, rather than to the institution of Emperor he suspected. The Emperor's preference for such men as Aklilu Hapte-Wold over the high nobles created resentment among the aristocracy, who believed they were being displaced by these new western educated "technocrats".

Aklilu Habte-Wold was among those who joined Emperor Haile Selassie during his exile following the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. He acted as a fundraiser for the beleaguered exile community and for the resistance inside Ethiopia. Aklilu lived in Paris for much of this period, and married a French woman, Collette Habte-Wold. Following the restoration in 1941, Aklilu served as a representative to the Peace conference after the end of World War II, then served as Foreign Minister. During this time, Aklilu played a key role in the complex process that brought Eritrea into federation with Ethiopia.

Following the fall from favor of Tsehafi Taezaz Wolde Giyorgis Wolde Yohannes in 1958, the Emperor appointed Aklilu to replace Wolde Giyorgis as Tsehafi Taezaz.. In April 1961, four months after the previous Prime Minister Abebe Aragai had been killed in a failed coup, the emperor promoted Aklilu Habte-Wold to that office, while retaining the powerful Ministry of the Pen in his portfolio. These two posts gave Aklilu a level of confidence with the Emperor that no one outside of the Imperial Family shared.

This appointment, and the following increase of commoner "technocrats" in positions of power and influence greatly disturbed the more conservative elements in the Imperial family, the aristocracy, and the Orthodox Church. Two camps evolved at court, with Prime Minister Aklilu and his fellow non-noble "technocrats" on one side, who dominated the various ministries and the Imperial Cabinet, against the nobility who were represented by the Crown Council, and led by Ras Asrate Medhin Kassa. Although the Emperor forbade party politics, the two rival camps behaved as such, and manuveured against each other rather vigorously. Many issues such as land reform and constitutional change were blocked largely because of this rivalry. On the other hand, Bahru Zewde is of the opinion that "Aklilu's impact on Ethiopian politics is not so easily identifiable. He lacked the capacity for political manipulation shown by his predecessor as tsahafe t'ezaz, Walda-Giyorgis, and his own brother, Makonnen. Aklilu was more of a leading functionary than a power-broker. Former diplomat Paul B. Henze supports this view that Aklilu was not interested in reform, but repeats Aklilu's rival Ras Asrate's opinion that "Aklilu was the primary reactionary influence on the Emperor.

When student protests, military mutinies and an economic downturn caused by the oil embargo erupted in 1973 into a popular uprising against the government, calls went out for Prime Minister Aklilu to be dismissed. On 23 February and the following day, the Emperor made a number of concessions to the various groups of protestors; a few days later Prime Minister Aklilu resigned, the first time a Prime Minister in Ethiopia had fallen due to public pressure. However, instead of placating the protestors, this resignation only emboldened them to make further demands.

The Crown Council then pushed the Emperor to appoint a nobleman to the position, and Lij Endelkachew Makonnen, son of the late former Prime Minister, was appointed. The new Premier attempted to address the many demands being put forward by the proponents of reform, and Ethiopia seemed to be on the verge of transforming itself into a democracy and a modern constitutional monarchy. However, a committee of low ranking officers called the Derg, who had been empowered to investigate corruption in the military, arrested Tsehafi Taezaz Aklilu and most of the men who had served in his cabinet, as well as the new Prime Minister and his cabinet. The Derg deposed Emperor Haile Selassie on September 12, 1974 and assumed power as the marxist military junta that would rule the country for almost two decades.

On the evening of 23 November, Tsehafi Taezaz Aklilu Hapte-Wold, and his brother Akale Work Hapte-Wold were removed from Menelik Palace and taken to Akaki Central Prison where they were summarily executed with 60 other ex-officials of the Emperor's government. This act led to protests around the world, not only from Europe and the United States, but also from a number of African countries who expressed their concern for the well-being of the deposed Emperor.

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