Aklilu habte biography of barack

Aklilu lived in Paris and married a French woman, Collette Valade. With the fall of Paris in June , 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. Publications Pages Publications Pages. Recently viewed 0 Save Search. Dictionary of African Biography. Find at OUP.

Read More. Share Link Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. Sign in Get help with access You could not be signed in, please check and try again. General Abiye be his successor; however when he resigned it was Endelkachew Makonnen who became the new prime minister. Aklilu's resignation, instead of placating the protesters, this resignation only emboldened them to make further demands.

The Crown Council had pushed the Emperor to appoint a nobleman to the position, and initially Lt. General Abiye Abebe was favored to be named the new prime minister. However and when General Abiye's request that he be made responsible to the elected parliament rather than the Emperor was presented, the Council balked and the General asked to be dropped from consideration.

Lij Endelkachew Makonnen, son of the late former prime minister, was appointed. 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.

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.

Aklilu habte biography of barack

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. 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. When student protests, military mutinies and an economic downturn caused by the oil embargo erupted in into a popular uprising against the government, calls went out for Prime Minister Aklilu to be dismissed.

On 23 February, then the next day, the Emperor made a number of concessions to the various groups of protesters. Meanwhile, Aklilu had grown frustrated and weary of holding a position with much responsibility but no authority. John Spencer offers one example, only a few months prior to this crisis, of Aklilu's loss of power:. By the time of the popular uprising, Aklilu Habte-Wold had resolved to resign, a decision opposed by Lt.

Both criticized him for abandoning the government without first having safeguarded authority, law and order in this situation.