Haile Selassie dead

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33933, 28 August 1975, Page 13

Haile Selassie dead

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

LONDON, August 27. Haile Selassie, the former Emperor of Ethiopia, has died in his sleep, aged 83. Radio Addis Ababa, monitored in London, carried the announcement of his death in a news bulletin at 11 p.m. New Zealand time. It said that he died from an illness affecting the prostate gland. He had undergone surgery two months ago. Haile Selassie, who had held absolute power over his subjects for almost half a century, was dethroned on September 12, 1974, after a military coup d’etat. During his reign, he was praised as Africa’s eider statesman, a symbol of stability, and a moderating influence on the continent as a whole. When he was overthrown, however, he was publicly accused of having salted away millions of illegallyacquired dollars in foreign banks, and of having sent abroad tons of gold mined by slave labour —in effect, political prisoners. On the night before his long rule came to an end, the Ethiopian television service reported that the Emperor had refused to repatriate the illegal hoard when asked to do so to alleviate the suffering of people in drought-stricken parts of the country. Haile Selassie, so the country’s new rulers said, had continued to squeeze money out of a number of supposedly public companies even after the military had begun dismantling the feudal system and taking away the Emperor’s powers piecemeal. Had he stepped down a year before his dethronement, the bearded autocrat would no doubt have gone down in history as one of Africa’s, if not the world’s, great statesmen.

But he ignored the signs of the times, clung stubbornly to his prerogatives, and adamantly refused to go.

tie had been lauded for having achieved a degree of modernisation in his backward country, but when he was removed from his magnificent palace last September, and was taken to a three-roomed mud hut in an Addis Ababa army camp, fewregretted his departure: there were scenes of-jubilation, and the tanks sent to his palace were soon bedecked with flowers. The Emperor’s overthrow followed a carefully-orches-trated campaign aimed at discrediting him as indifferent to the dismal living conditions of most Ethiopians. His opponents had always insisted that his arrogance know’ no bounds, and when he was escorted from his palace to a humble Volkswagen beetle by a group of military officers, he haughtily asked: “What? In this?” The self-appointed voice of Africa, Haile Selassie waged a determined battle against Left-wing tendencies in the Organisation of African Unitv. insisting that African countries must be nonaligned, though entitled to receive aid from both East and West. As one diplomat said: “The Emperor nut Ethiopia on the map of modern Africa. But this fact provided little solace tn the tenant farmer, who still makes up the vast maioritv of the Ethiopian population. paving up to two-thi’-'i' o f his crop in tithes. Haile Se’assie nlaved a kev role in efforts to bring together the two sides in Niaerja’s Moody Civil War (1967 to 1970), and had the

satisfaction finally of seeing peace restored. He helped to mediate in the civil war between the Sudanese Government in Khartoum and rebels in the south, and the agreement ending the strife was signed in Addis Ababa in 1972. But such achievements did nothing to help the area’s illiteracy, to eradicate disease, and to end the poverty in his own country. Official Ethiopian publications listed as one of Haile Selassie’s great achievements that he had given his nation its first written Constitution. Then, four years later. Selassie promulgated a new Constitution. providing for the direct election of deputies by secret ballot and guaranteeing freedom of speech and the press. Today, there is neither.

But the Constitution’s article 4 perhaps reflected better than anything else the spirit of his rule. It said: “By virtue of his imperia] blood, as well as by the anointing which he has received, the person of the Emperor is sacred, his dignity is inviolable. and his power is indisputable. “He is, consequently, entitled to all the honours due to him in accordance with tradition and the present Constitution. Anyone so bold as to seek to injure the Emperor will be punished.” . Haile Selassie’s long stay in power was based on a skilful policy of divide-and-rule. A coup d’etat bid against him in 1960 failed because he had managed to set the various arms of the armed forces against each other. Not even his worst enemies disputed Haile Selassie’s qualities as a wilv political operator. Neither is there any doubt over his achievement in the field of foreign policy. Haile Selassie tried, with a measure of success, to turn Addis Ababa into a kind of PanAmerican capital. The 0.A.U., whose founding fathers included the former Emperor, established its headquarters there, and the World Bank, the World Health Organisation and the International Labour Office established African headquarters in the capital.