Aklilu Habte-Wold
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Tsehafi Taezaz Aklilu Habte-Wold (1912 - 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.
Aklilu Hapte-Wold was the son of a rural Ethiopian Orthodox priest from the Bulga district of Shewa province. He and his brothers, Makonnen Hapte-Wold and Akalework Hapte-Wold were the beneficiaries of Imperial patronage from Emperor Haile Selassie, who had them educated in the country and abroad in his efforts to create a new western educated intelligentia and professional class in his country. Aklilu Hapte-Wold was French educated. He was a protege of the powerful Tsehafi Taezaz Wolde Giorgis Wolde Yohannes, another man of humble birth, who became a powerful figure in Ethiopian government, and close advisor to the Emperor, with his appointment as Tsehafi Taezaz ("Minister of the Pen"). Wolde Giorgis Wolde Yohannes recommended the Hapte-Wold brothers 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 regional nobility. The Emperor regarded members of the aristocracy as having too many of their own ambitions to truly be personally loyal to him as a person, rather than to the institution of the monarchy which he represented. The Emperor's preference for such men as Aklilu Hapte-Wold over the high nobles created resentment among the conservative aristocracy, who believed they were being displaced by these new western educated "technocrats".
Aklilu Hapte-Wold was among those who joined Emperor Haile Selassie during his exile following the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. He acted as a fundraiser for the beleaguered exile community and for the resistance inside Ethiopia. Aklilu lived in Paris for much of this period, and married a French woman, Collette Hapte-Wold. Following the restoration in 1941, Aklilu Hapte-Wold served as a representative to the Peace conference after the end of World War II, then served as Foreign Minister. During this time, Aklilu Hapte-Wold played a key role in the complex process that brought Eritrea into federation with Ethiopia.
Following the fall from favor of his patron Tsehafi Taezaz Wolde Giorgis Wolde Yohannis in 1958, and his banishment from court, the Emperor appointed Aklilu to replace him as Minister of the Pen, giving him the title of "Tsehafi Taezaz". Following the failed 1960 Ethiopian coup, the then Prime Minister, Ras Bitwoded Makonnen Endelkachew stepped down for health reasons, and was replaced with Aklilu Hapte-Wold, who retained the powerful Ministry of the Pen in his portfolio. As both Tsehafi Taezaz and Prime Minister, Aklilu clearly enjoyed 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 Orthodox 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 Prince Asrate Medhin Kassa. Although the Emperor forbade party politics, the two rival camps behaved as such, and manuveured against each other rather vigorously. Many issues such as land reform and constitutional change were blocked largely because of this rivalry.
When student protests, military mutinies and an economic downturn caused by the oil embargo erupted in 1973 into a popular uprising against the government, calls went out for Tsehafi Taezaz Aklilu to be dismissed. After the country became practically ungovernable, the Prime Minister resigned. The Crown Council then pushed the Emperor to appoint a nobleman to the position, and Lij Endelkachew Makonnen, son of the late former Prime Minister, was appointed. The new Premier attempted to address the many demands being put forward by the proponents of reform, and Ethiopia seemed to be on the verge of transforming itself into a democracy and a modern constitutional monarchy. However, a committee of low ranking officers called the Derg, who had been empowered to investigate corruption in the military, arrested Tsehafi Taezaz Aklilu and most of the men who had served in his cabinet, as well as the new Prime Minister and his cabinet. The Derg deposed Emperor Haile Selassie on September 12, 1974 and assumed power as the marxist military junta that would rule the country for almost two decades.
Tsehafi Taezaz Aklilu Hapte-Wold, and his brother Akale Work Hapte-Wold were both executed with 60 other ex-officials of the Emperor's government, on November 23, 1974. None had been given a trial.
