Aklilu Habte-Wold

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Aklilu Habte-Wold bigraphy, stories - Ethiopian Prime Minister

Aklilu Habte-Wold : biography

12 March 1912 – 23 November 1974

Tsehafi Taezaz ("Minister of the Pen") Aklilu Habte-Wold (12 March 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. Aklilu Habte-Wold attended the French lycee in Alexandria, then afterwards studied in France.Bahru Zewde, Pioneers of Change in Ethiopia (Oxford: James Currey, 2002), p. 82

Upon returning to Ethiopia, Aklilu became the protégé of the powerful Tsehafi Taezaz ("Minister of the Pen") Wolde Giyorgis Wolde Yohannes, another man of humble birth, who had become a powerful figure in Ethiopian government, and a close advisor to the Emperor, with his appointment as Tsehafi Taezaz. Wolde Giyorgis recommended the sons of Habte-Wold 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 Habte-Wold over the high nobles created resentment among the aristocracy, who believed they were being displaced by these new western educated "technocrats".

When Ethiopia was defeated in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, Aklilu Habte-Wold was in France with his brother Makonnen; upon the defection of the head of the Ethiopian legation to France, Blatengeta Wolde Mariyam Ayele, Aklilu was made charge d’affairs.Haile Selassie, My Life and Ethiopia’s Progress, translated by Harold Marcus (Chicago: Frontline, 1999), vol. 2 p. 47 Aklilu lived in Paris and married a French woman, Collette Habte-Wold. With the fall of Paris in June 1940, Aklilu managed to escape on a forged passport, and with the help of the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs he was able to reach Cairo.John Spencer, Ethiopia at Bay: A personal account of the Haile Selassie years (Algonac: Reference Publications, 1984), p. 80 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.

Premiereship

Following the fall from favor of Tsehafi Taezaz Wolde Giyorgis in 1958, the Emperor appointed Aklilu to replace him as Tsehafi Taezaz.Bahru Zewde, A History of Modern Ethiopia, second edition (London: James Currey, 2003), states that Wolde Giyorgis’ fall was due to the efforts of Aklilu’s older brother, Makonnen (p. 205). 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 office of Tsehafi Taezaz 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 Ethiopian 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 maneuvered 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."A History, second edition, p. 205 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."Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time, A History of Ethiopia (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 176 n. 91 On the other hand, John Spencer, who knew Aklilu personally, described him as "a remarkably clear and logical thinker and a formidable antagonist in encounters with foreign representatives."Spencer, Ethiopia at bay, p. 115 Spencer further explains that Aklilu’s ability was limited due, to the favoritism Emperor Haile Selassie showed him, which led to resentment and isolation from his compatriots. "In that isolation his power and stature declined in direct ratio to that of His Majesty," Spencer notes, concluding that with his brother Makonnen’s death in the 1960 Ethiopian coup attempt, he lost a vital window into the psychological reactions and secret movements of his peers.Spencer, Ethiopia at bay, p. 117