By Major Yared Bitaw

In December 1960, while Emperor Haile-Selassie (1892-1975), the last emperor of Ethiopia, was visiting Brazil, members of the security and military forces led by the commander of the Imperial bodyguard, Gen. Menghistu Neway attempted a coup d’état. The coup was put down by force, but its after-effects had reverberated as the first and important revolt against the archaic feudal system which was finally abolished in 1975. As we approach the 60th anniversary of the abortive coup, Ethiopia Observer is publishing the second installment of the reminiscence of a man who took an active role in the process. You could find the first installment here.

Times of Retreat

When we left the palace through the back gate, we did not encounter any members of the Army there. We made for the Raguel Church in Entoto through the Medhane Alem Church in Kechene. Our adventure thenceforth I would name “Times of Retreat”.

As soon as we reached Kechene Medhane Alem Church, Gen. Menghistu wanted to take off his military hat and to wrap himself in disguise with a cotton garment. He bought such a garment from a peasant who was driving his donkey to the marketplace, put it on; and we continued our journey.

As soon as we reached Raguel Church, night was approaching. We, therefore, decided to pass the night there. Consequently, we held a meeting for deciding on our future course of action. Various routes of escape were discussed during the meeting. One could go to Sudan through Gojjam; and one could make for Somalia through the Ogaden. The question was how to get to the Ethiopian border.

One could hide in the bush during daytime and travel under the cover of darkness. It was also possible to travel by day under the guise of peasants. Both were fraught with danger. It was particularly thought to be difficult to travel by day because of the conditions of the hairstyle. Whether one was traveling by day or night, I had the idea that doing so together was not advisable. However, I was reluctant to suggest that we should retreat individually and not as a group. This was because I had known that neither Ghirmame nor the general was favorably disposed towards those who had wanted to flee as individuals.

As we were sleeping during the night, a shot was fired by one of us. We were overtaken by panic and inquired what had happened. We were told that the general’s driver, Takele, had committed suicide. A little later on in the wee hours of Saturday morning, we hid in dense bush behind the Raguel Church.

We bought something to eat from a nearby village and stayed there until we could see our way around. Saturday evening, we traveled east until midnight by following the riverbed. On the pretext that I was going to the toilet, I finally abandoned the group.

By eating ripe ears of corn, by sleeping by day and traveling under the cover of darkness, I reached a friend’s house near Mount Yerer. From there I studied under what conditions members of the Bodyguard who were surrendering themselves to the army were being treated through my own informants. And, on Wednesday, I surrendered to the army with my arms.

I spent the morning at the third battalion where I had surrendered; and I was taken in the afternoon to the Jubilee Palace – now the National Palace. At that moment in time, the major preoccupation of the Emperor was to examine pictures of officers like Col. Workineh who had died and to interview others who were charged with high responsibilities. Addressing Major Tefera, the Emperor was asking him persistently: “How can you betray us Tefera?” To this, Major Tefera was thoughtless enough to reply: “Your Majesty, I didn’t betray you. Didn’t you tell us to obey our commanders? What I now find regrettable is that I did not arrest Gen. Merrid in accordance with the order given to me.”

During the interview, the Emperor was on his throne, flanked by Gen. Merrid Mengesha and other high-ranking military officers. It is said that Major Tefera was sentenced to 15 years of rigorous imprisonment for making the foregoing daring statements.

However, I was not summoned before the Emperor; and was, instead, taken at 7 p.m. to the Fourth Army Division near the Railway Station. In so far as my own contribution to the history of the December disturbances is concerned, I was playing a very minuscule role. That is perhaps why I was not presented to the Emperor for questioning.

Fourth Division

Before being justly or unjustly committed to various prisons, all of us were detained for six months at the Fourth Division. An investigative commission was then set up. What we had done individually and collectively were being meticulously looked into. As soon as the preliminary investigations were carried out, the wheels of justice began to turn slowly following the political decision made by the Emperor that the matter should go to courts. My own case was one of them. Lt. Digaf Tedla was the third defendant with Gen. Menghistu who was arraigned before a court of justice as one of the officers who had carried out the execution of the officials and dignitaries. The charge against Lt. Digaf was based on the allegation by a man whose life was saved mysteriously that he had seen him shooting the group of officials.

Lt. Digaf had called his own witness that he was not at the palace at all during the disturbances. However, for fear of being incriminated himself, the officer did not want to confirm this fact to the court.

I do not remember if Lt. Digaf had asked me to testify for him. I did not also hear the officer refusing to testify for him. However, what I can never forget is that Lt. Digaf was smiling so broadly when I assured him that I would testify that he was not at the palace on that tragic day. I did not get overly worried about the aggravating consequences of the testimony for my own case. It is clear that I was at the palace from Friday morning to 4 p.m. when we had fled. That is why I was confident that my testimony would absolve Lt. Digaf’s name of guilt.

On the appointed date, I was taken to a court presided over by three judges. I explained to the court that when the execution took place Lt. Digaf was not present at the palace at all. One of the judges was a high-ranking military officer. The rest were civilians. It was there that I saw Gen. Menghistu before he was hanged. The general himself had known that Lt. Digaf was not anywhere near the scene of palace carnage; and he supported my own testimony with his signature.

Finally, the military judge unequivocally accepted my own testimony. By doing so he succeeded in saving the life of Lt. Digaf. If I were asked what contributions I had made to the December disturbances, it is what I had done to save the life of an innocent man like Lt. Digaf.

Members of the preliminary investigation commission were hand-picked from the Army and the police force. Our cases were then submitted to a higher commission. The investigation was mostly concerned with a few officers who were thought to have been deeply involved in the attempted overthrow of the imperial regime. It is estimated that these officers did not number more than twenty.

 As one of the innocent suspects, I tried to explain to the commission that I was not a party to any secrets regarding the plot. I was particularly alarmed by the following question: “According to your own statement you were at the palace from Friday morning to Friday evening. If that is the case, it means that you have witnessed the execution of the officials and dignitaries. Or, where were you then?”

My answer was the following: “The officials were said to have been executed in a basement room of the palace. However, I was, most of the time, on an upper floor of the palace. When I was there, I could not say whether the sound of gunfire was coming from inside or outside the palace.”

Question: By the way, when did you learn about the execution of the officials and dignitaries; and from whom did you learn it?”

Answer: It was Negash who told me about it.” I remembered that he had fled and; that he did not surrender to the army. I replied in the foregoing manner to save my own neck. However, my exact position at the palace was as follows. I was in a basement room. Ras Abebe Aregay and Ato Makonnen Habte-Wold (I don’t know about the presence of others) were told that they were free to leave; and were shot in their back on the doorstep of their room. I did not see how those who were in the reception room were executed. However, it was my belief that the decision that they should be killed was made by the two brothers. I had also witnessed the fact that both Ghirmame and Gen. Menghistu were personally taking part in the shootings. Still, I have not seen any other person who was pulling the trigger during the execution.

At the conclusion of the investigation, when Negash was eventually arrested, I was asked to testify on what I had said about him. On my refusal to do so, I was cross-examined thoroughly; and my testimony was later ignored.

To say more on the investigations, during imprisonment one of the most unbearable things in life is to be completely isolated from society. If one is in prison, and if one can chat with other prisoners, this too is a great privilege.

During the week when thorough investigations were being conducted some officers were taken away from the common room and were kept in solitary confinement. One could not see other people or talk to them. One could not tell whether it was day or night when one is in solitary confinement in a dark room. I was one of the innocent suspects among the detained officers.

When I was in solitary confinement for 18 days my hands were in chains except when I was eating something for a brief moment. We were taken to the investigation room by night. After the investigations were conducted we were threatened with torture, being told indirectly that we would be severely beaten up. Even if I was scared to death, the answer I was giving was carefully considered. However, what had helped me most was the nonsensical character of the question directed to me. The following are some of them: “Were you ever sent to India for military training? Was a new car bought for you when you returned from training abroad? Were you a special advisor to the general by working in a new military directory? Have you given orders to some officers to look after the safety of their superiors?”

The questions all boiled down to this: “Were you a party to military secrets as a cream of the Bodyguard officers?” When they could not get anything out of us that way, people who could obtain confessions through torture were sent to us. These people began to ask me the questions put to me by the investigating commission all over again. When the same answers were given to them, manacles appeared. I had never seen such formidable manacles before. My hands were tied behind my back. They would stop for a moment and repeat the questions. When they continued tightening the screw on the manacle, I could not give an answer through exhaustion.

There was no fear in my deadened mind. My body was insensible to the torture. However, I was under the constant impression that I had shed all my blood through my fingers. Another thing I remember is that I was in tears with floods of sweat flowing over my body. I do not remember how I eventually got back to the darkroom. The following morning, I realized that my left hand was paralyzed.

We were finally all taken to the common prison room. The rest of the officers were subjected to similar torture. Some of them, like Major Tefera Wolde-Tensay, were subjected to more severe torture. Because of the torture, to this day, the small finger of my left hand had lost its feeling of touch. The Red Cross was eventually granted permission to come to our assistance. I do not know to what extent the pills I was given had helped alleviate my suffering. Still, my due thanks must go to all those who had come to our assistance by defying the political pressure applied against them.

As soon as the military investigation into our political activities was carried out, sentences were served on us on two counts. 1) Officers and civilians against whom sufficient evidence was gathered should be individually brought before the courts which should punish them according to their guilt. 2) Some eight of us against whom there was not sufficient evidence were sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment not by the courts but by officers who had not sat in judgment over our cases. It was decided that the rank and file of the Imperial Bodyguard should be released from detention and should serve in the Armed Forces.

Prison

Most of us were imprisoned in Addis Ababa. There were also other civilian prisoners who were found guilty of making some contributions to the military plot morally and materially. One of these civilians was Assefa Dula who had chosen to throw his weight behind the movement by responding adequately to the national call. It was a well-known fact among Ethiopian intellectuals that Assefa Dula was a lawyer who had a highly perceptive mind.

It is not without reason that I mention the name of Assefa Dula. Many years ago, I came across the fame of the courageous lawyer when he was acting as attorney to one officer who was being court-martialed led by the Ministry of Defense. I could not forget to this day to what extent the witness for the defense was confounded by the cross-examination to which he was subjected by Assefa Dula. Even if the attorney for the defense was speaking with courage, it was difficult to doubt his power of persuasion.

Most of us officers were living in overcrowded rooms in the central prison. The only exception was Assefa Dula. He was an honored prisoner because he was a conscientious and outspoken man who had always stood for the cause of the oppressed masses.

It is a well-known fact that the Haile-Selassie government was being sustained by the feudal aristocracy. That demonic government was oppressing and exploiting the people as an elect of God. There is a popular Ethiopian saying that a fragile eggshell can occasionally break a piece of rock. It is to be recalled that the son of Ras Mesfin was taunting Assefa Dula with a racist slur. It was customary in Ethiopia to submit to such insults slavishly. Otherwise, confronting insult with insult would be tantamount to challenging the authority of the Emperor in person. It is sad to observe that being governed by being constantly humiliated is in practice to this very day.

As it would be remembered, hospitals were ordered by palace dignitaries not to provide medical treatment to Assefa Dula when he was mortally wounded during his shoot-out with Jarra Mesfin.

The December disturbances were the outcome of a popular uprising. It is, therefore; only legitimate to consider the sacrifices incurred by Assefa Dula through his death on September 14, 1967, as martyrdom on behalf of the downtrodden people of Ethiopia. Both the popular uprising of 1960 and the martyrdom of Assefa Dula were revolts against feudal oppression. There is no doubting the fact that to call someone the son of a pauper or the offspring of a slave is a serious offence against an entire people.

That is precisely why all the people of Ethiopia from the lowest to the highest were on the side of Assefa Dula – who was given a hero’s burial – when he fell on the battlefield by getting rid of the arrogant son of a notorious feudal bloodsucker.

Otherwise, the rest of us prisoners were being treated as decent human beings with our military titles intact – and without being subjected to hard labor. We were allowed to receive food from our relatives twice a week; and our prison terms were reduced from three to two years. When we were finally released, however, we had to sign an agreement that we could only live in rural centers by leaving Addis Ababa. We thus left the city for our particular places of choice.

Exile

Some ten of us officers chose to live in Nazareth (Adama), about 100k.m. south-east of Addis Ababa. Among these, Captain Solomon Wolde-Tsadik, Major Berhanu Guelet and myself decided to rent a house and live together. When we were in prison we were eating the meals provided to others. However, in exile we were being paid pocket money to eat what we liked; and to live as we wished. Later, the Council of Ministers proved unhappy with the pocket money being paid us. It, therefore, made the ministerial decision that all of us living in exile should earn our bread through the sweat of our own brows. So we did everything in our power to look for jobs; and lead a peaceful civilian life.

Of course, as a result of the uneasy political situation then prevailing, both private and public institutions were reluctant to provide employment opportunities to former rebels without authorization from the authorities. Personally speaking, I got a job at the nearby Wonji Sugar Mills by presenting to the factory a permit for work from Brig. General Yilma Shibeshi, the Emperor’s Security chief. 

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