Abiye Abebe
አብይ አበበ
Abiye in 1967
Minister of Defence
In office
28 February 1974 – 22 July 1974
Prime MinisterEndelkachew Makonnen
Preceded byMerid Mengesha
Succeeded byAman Andom
President of the Senate
In office
15 July 1964 – 28 February 1974
MonarchHaile Selassie I
Preceded byLe'ul Ras Asrate Kassa
Succeeded byLegislature abolished
Governor-General of Eritrea[1]
Chief Administrator (1960–1962)
Chief Executive (1959–1960)
In office
20 May 1959 – 12 February 1964
MonarchHaile Selassie I
Preceded byBitwoded Asfaha Woldemikael as Chief Executive
Succeeded byLe'ul Ras Asrate Kassa
Personal details
Born1917[2]
Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Empire
Died23 November 1974(1974-11-23) (aged 56–57)
Akaki Central Prison, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Spouse(s)Princess Tsehai Haile-Selassie
Woizero Amarech Nasibu
Parent

Lij Abiye Abebe (Amharic: አብይ አበበ; born 1917 – 23 November 1974) was an Ethiopian politician and son-in-law of Emperor Haile Selassie.

Biography

Son of Liqa Mequas Abebe Atnaf Seggad, Abiye was born 1918 in Addis Ababa[2] as a Lij. He attended the Holeta Military Academy.[3] In the 1940s and 1950s he was Minister of Defence, and later served as Minister of Justice and Minister of the Interior.[4] He chaired the High National Security Commission during the Ethiopian Revolution until his arrest by the Derg on 16 July 1974.[5] 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.[6] Abiye was one of 60 former government officials executed the night of 22–23 November at Akaki Central Prison by the Derg.[7]

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. After this marriage, Lt. General Abiye Abebe was 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 history

  • Brigadier-General (24 April 1942)
  • Governor-General of Wollega province (1942–1943)[2]
  • Minister for War 1949–1955; Acting (1943–1947)
  • Minister of Justice (1958–1961)[2]
  • Minister of Interior (1961–1964)[2]
  • Ambassador to France (1955–1958)[2]
  • Viceroy of Eritrea (1959–1964)
  • President of the Ethiopian Senate (1964–1974)[2]
  • Minister for Defence and Chief of Staff (28 February 1974 – 22 July 1974)

Honours

National

  • Grand Cross of the Order of Menelik II
  • Military Medal of Merit of the Order of St George
  • Haile Selassie I Gold Medal
  • Patriot Medal & three torches (1944)
  • Refugee Medal (1944)
  • Jubilee Medal (1955)
  • Jubilee Medal (1966)

Foreign

References

  1. ↑ In 1959 the legislatively-elected post of Chief Executive was replaced by the imperially-appointed office of Chief Administrator. On 15 November 1962 Eritrea became an ordinary province of Ethiopia, and the office was in turn replaced with that of Governor-General.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Shinn, David; Ofcansky, Thomas (2013). Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-7457-2.
  3. ↑ Shinn, David H. (2004). Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia (2 ed.). Scarecrow Press. pp. 3–. ISBN 9780810865662.
  4. ↑ Bahru Zewde, A History of Modern Ethiopia, second edition (London: James Currey, 2003), p. 205
  5. ↑ Andargachew Tiruneh, The Ethiopian revolution, 1974-1987 (Cambridge: University Press, 1993), p. 68
  6. ↑ Spencer, Ethiopia at Bay: A personal account of the Haile Selassie years (Algonac: Reference Publications, 1984), p. 337
  7. ↑ Marina and David Ottaway, Ethiopia: Empire in Revolution (New York: Africana, 1978), p. 61
  8. ↑ Nationaal Archief, inventory 2.02.32, dossier 373, registry number 854
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