Abiye Abebe

Lij Abiye Abebe
Born 1918 [1]
Died 23 November 1974 (aged 55-56)
Addis Ababa
Spouse Princess Tsehai
Woizero Amarech Nasibu
Father Liqa Mequas Abebe Atnaf Seggad
Religion Orthodox Christianity

Lieutenant-General Lij Abiye Abebe, KBE,[2] (1918 – 23 November 1974) was an Ethiopian politician and son-in-law of Emperor Haile Selassie.

Biography

Son of Liqa Mequas Abebe Atnaf Seggad, Abye was born 1918 in Addis Ababa as a Lij.[3] He attended the Holeta Military Academy.[4] In the 1940s and 1950s he was Minister of Defence, and later served as Minister of Justice and Minister of the Interior.[5] He chaired the High National Security Commission during the Ethiopian Revolution until his arrest by the Derg 16 July 1974.[6] Lt. General Abiye was serving as Chief of the General Staff when he was arrested.

According to John Spencer, when Prime Minister Aklilu Habte-Wold sought to resign his post in 1973, he suggested to the Emperor that he be replaced by General Abiye. Other sources indicate that Aklilu Habte-Wold's rival Prince Asrate Kassa was the person who put General Abiye forward as a fellow aristocrat. However Abiye consented to becoming Prime Minister only if his nomination, and those of his cabinet, were approved by the Ethiopian parliament, a condition Emperor Haile Selassie found unacceptable. As a result, Haile Selassie decided to appoint Endelkachew Makonnen Prime Minister instead.[7] Abiye was one of 60 former government officials executed the night of 22–23 November at Akaki Central Prison by the Derg.[8]

General Abiye was married three times. At Addis Ababa, on 26 April 1942, he married Princess Tsehai of Ethiopia who died in childbirth a year later. Subsequent to this marriage Lt. General Abiye Abebe wa accorded the dignities and protocol rank of the Emperor's son-in-law, even after he remarried. In 1946, married Woizero Amarech Nasibu, and then later to Woizero Tsige, his widow.

Career

Honours

National

Foreign

References

  1. ↑ Royal Ark
  2. ↑ Royal Ark
  3. ↑ Royal Ark
  4. ↑ Shinn, David H. (2004). Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia (2 ed.). Scarecrow Press. pp. 3–. ISBN 9780810865662.
  5. ↑ Bahru Zewde, A History of Modern Ethiopia, second edition (London: James Currey, 2003), p. 205
  6. ↑ Andargachew Tiruneh, The Ethiopian revolution, 1974-1987 (Cambridge: University Press, 1993), p. 68
  7. ↑ Spencer, Ethiopia at Bay: A personal account of the Haile Selassie years (Algonac: Reference Publications, 1984), p. 337
  8. ↑ Marina and David Ottaway, Ethiopia: Empire in Revolution (New York: Africana, 1978), p. 61
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