40 Years Ago: Communist Coup Deposed Ethiopia’s Last Emperor

on September 22, 2014

Forty years ago on September 12, 1974, a band of ten junior-level, leftist Ethiopian military officers and armed thugs calling themselves the Derg (“Committee”) deposed the peace-loving, 225th and last Emperor of Ethiopia. Arriving at Addis Ababa’s Jubilee Palace, they read Emperor Haile Selassie (1892-1975) a message from the larger Derg, a Marxist-Leninist military junta, in which they declared that they were deposing him as Emperor. They then led away the last monarch of Ethiopia’s ancient dynasty, the 3,000-year old House of Solomon that claimed descent from ancient Israel’s King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.

Escorting him under heavy guard out of his palace, they placed the Emperor in a light blue Volkswagen bug, and drove him away to imprisonment. The Derg then commenced one of the most brutal dictatorships in east Africa’s history, changing Ethiopia forever. Openly embracing the communist ideology in 1975, the same year as Haile Selassie’s death, the Derg terrorized Ethiopians until 1987, when the regime finally changed. Tens of thousands of Ethiopian opponents of the Derg, along with numerous innocent victims of torture and purges, suffered under the communist regime, which received open support from the Soviet Union.

During the Derg’s nearly fifteen years of terror-inflicted control over Ethiopia, the ruling junta savagely persecuted the country’s most ancient and venerated institution, the Ethiopian Tewahedo Church. Closely tied to the non-Chalcedonian Coptic Church in Egypt, the Ethiopian Church is part of the non-Chalcedonian family of churches, often termed “Oriental Orthodox” since the beginning of the Christian ecumenical movement by those who see the differences between them and the Eastern Orthodox as minor.

The Ethiopian Church is unique in that it adheres closely to elements of Mosaic Law other Christian churches believe were superseded with the New Covenant, such as male circumcision and most kosher dietary regulations. The Ethiopian Church contains several books of Scripture within its canon that are extracanonical to the rest of Christendom, most notably the Kebra Nagast (Ge’ez: Glory of Kings), a highly symbolic, complex text which purports to describe how Queen Makeda of Axum (known to the West as the “Queen of Sheba”) met King Solomon and gave birth to his son, Menelek, who, according to the account, brought the Ark of the Covenant to Ethiopia with him when he succeeded his mother as king there.

The Ethiopian Church is also uniquely African in that its worship involves highly coordinated, elaborate rhythmic dances and chants accompanying spiritual songs, called mesmers (alternatively spelled “mezmurs”). Here is just one example of the numerous, beautiful Ethiopian hymns one may find online.

Due to the Derg’s savage persecution of the Church and Ethiopian Christians, as well as mass starvation caused by endemic droughts, millions of Ethiopians fled their homeland, seeking to build new lives for themselves in the United States, Canada, Britain, and continental Europe. The Ethiopian Diaspora remains one of the largest in the world today.

Emperor Haile Selassie was crowned Emperor  upon the death of his predecessor and cousin Empress Zewditu I in 1930, receiving the title “His Imperial Majesty the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Haile Selassie I, Elect of God, Emperor of Ethiopia and King of Kings”. The last title, “King of Kings” (Ge’ez: Negusa Negast) has been the Ethiopian emperor’s official title since the time of Solomon and Queen Makeda. Selassie argued passionately for a strong League of Nations following the first World War, and became the first Ethiopian monarch to travel abroad, building international support for Ethiopia’s entry into the League in 1923.

During the repeated Italian invasions of his country during Benito Mussolini’s fascist dictatorship, the Emperor served as the head of resistance to the invasions, and appealed to the international community for assistance. Initially forced to live abroad in exile, the Emperor returned to Ethiopia and reassumed rule over the country in 1941. Following the Second World War, he initiated sweeping economic reforms, promulgating a new constitution which enhanced his people’s civil rights while serving to consolidate his own political power.

Widely revered throughout Ethiopia and the Diaspora as a supra-political figure devoted to the Ethiopian Church and its traditions, Selassie also inspired the Rastafari religious movement, which, despite that Selassie remained a Christian throughout his life, claims Selassie to be the messiah. Far from holding any sort of messianic pretentions, the Emperor’s regnal name, Haile Selassie, actually means “Might of the Trinity”.

As Biography.com’s article on the Emperor notes, Haile Selassie died under questionable circumstances: “Reports initially circulated claiming that he had died of natural causes, but later evidence revealed that he had probably been strangled to death on the orders of the new government. . . In November 2000, the late Emperor received a proper burial when his body was laid to rest in Adis Ababa’s Trinity Cathedral.”

It remains uncertain whether or not Ethiopia’s last reigning Emperor was assassinated by the Derg, or died of natural causes. What is certain is that his forced removal from the Ethiopian throne initiated the most brutal dictatorship in the ancient country’s history. While the Derg has long since been driven from power, the communist junta’s terror-filled regime casts a long shadow over the country, and its dark legacy remains with Ethiopia today as the country struggles with a high poverty rate and many unsolved cases of “disappeared” people. It is my hope and prayer that God continue to bring healing and peace to this ancient Christian land, and that, following Emperor Haile Selassie’s example of peaceful resistance to the Derg, Ethiopians of all walks of life may continue to rebuild their country in Christ-inspired peace and harmony.

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