By Mohamed Hassan and Mohamed Ibrahim
Preface
The Horn of Africa, hosing antagonistic nations, albeit with its long coastline, has been a strategic battleground for major powers since the early 16th century; the region witnessed conquests, re-conquests, and diplomatic maneuvers. In the Ethiopian Empire, before the Dergue’s rule (between 1974 and 1991), nation-state building projects were founded by the ‘Fetha Nagast’ (the Law of the Kings) legend, a concept that merged faith, nation-state, and monarchy with a mythical past. This concepts, organized in the Kebra Nagast legacy (Glory of Kings) sought to urge subjects to believe rulers as if they were descendants of the ‘Solomon line’. Office holders rationalized and legitimized the monarchy, and anyone opposing the ruler was characterized as “…rebels against the ordinances of God, his creator. Those who rebel against the rulers secure their condemnation … [since] God has appointed all these rulers and given them authority.” The utility of the Kebre Nagast held value throughout the 14th to the 19th centuries, and more so for the era when the current Abyssinian state was created by Emperor Menelik I.
The Scramble for Africa came at a time when the “era of the princes (Zemana Masafinti) ended, enabling the emerging kings and ultimately Emperor Menelik II to take advantage of the rivalry among the European powers. As such, Abyssinian leaders were able to obtain the resources necessary to expand their territory, conquering new lands, people, and resources of neighboring ethno-nations, thus establishing the Ethiopian Empire. By the turn of the 20th century, Abyssinia’s boundaries had been enlarged and secured through conquests and treaties with neighboring colonial powers. Therefore, Emperor Menelik II left Abyssinia “…expanding its size, centralizing its power, and assimilating …its new subjects.” Hence, the historical events and the way the Empire-state was built have been interpreted differently, for advocates as “unification” and “colonization” by its detractors. The revised version of Ethiopia’s constitution in 1955, particularly its fourth Article, declared that the “…supreme power rests in the hands of the emperor…, with his person [considered] sacred…, his dignity inviolable, …and his power indisputable.” However, the constitution’s failure to recognize the country’s diverse ethnic and religious composition ultimately led to the emperor’s overthrow in a military coup in 1974.
Despite some progressive measures taken by the military regime, the Derg’s political structure still mirrored its predecessors, maintaining an ethnic composition in the top-ranking military leadership reminiscent of the imperial era.
By Mohamed Hassan and Mohamed Ibrahim