Political History of Tigray: Rivalry for Power (1910-1935) A Thesis Presented to The School of Graduate Studies Of the Addis Ababa University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in History By Hagos G/Yohannes June 2003 ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES DEPARTENT OF HISTORY Political History of Tigray: Rivalry for Power (1910-1935) By Hagos G/Yohannes Hadera Adviser: Tecle-Haimanot G/Selassie (Ph.D.) Approval by Board of Examiners: Adviser Examiner Examiner DECLARATION I, the undersigned declare that this thesis is my work and that all sources used for the thesis have been duly acknowledged. Name: Hagos G/Yohannes Hadera Signature: Place and date of Submission: Addis Ababa University College of Social Sciences Department of History TABLE OF CONTENTS page Table of Contents i Key to Transliteration iii Acknowledgement v Preface … vii Abstract x Chapter I. Background 1 1.1. An overview of the Political History of Tigray from the Battle of Mätäma to the Battle of Koräm .......................................................1 1.2. The Battle of Koräm.........................................................................9 1.3. An overview of Tigray from the Battle of Koräm to the Battle of Ākhora..........................................................................................14 II. The Battle of Ākhora ...............................................................................20 2.1. Prelude and the causes of the Battle of Ākhora ..............................20 2.2. The conduct of the Battle of Ākhora and its results ........................32 2.3. The Battle of Gidära and its results .................................................36 2.4. The central government's handling of the conflict in Tigray and the subsequent attempts for the extradition of D äjja č Gäbrä-Sellassé......................................................................40 2.5. The submission of Däjja č Gäbrä-Sellassé, the restoration of his territories and the opposition against him in Tigray ........................46 III. The escape of Lej Iyasu to Tigray and the Tigrean chiefs' rivalry .... 54 3.1. The escape of Lej Iyasu and the central government's suspicion over Ras Seyum ..............................................................54 3.2. Lej Iyasu's escape to Tigray; Ras Seyum's attitude towards Lej Iyasu and the opinions against Ras Seyum ................................58 3.3. Lej Iyasu's escape to Bora-Selawa; the relation between Ras Seyum and Ras Gugsa and the capture of Lej Iyasu and its i Consequences on R as Seyum. ........................................................64 IV. The rebellion of Däjja č Kassa Abba Yelaq ..........................................69 4.1. The causes for the rebellion of Däjja č Kassa Abba Yelaq ..............69 4.2. The battles conducted during the rebellion of Däjja č Kassa and their results. .....................................................................................71 4.3. The response of the central government to the rebellion of Däjja č Kassa Abba Yelaq; Ras Seyum's return from Addis Ababa and his threatening Awaj . .....................................................74 4.4. Däjja č Kassa's submission to his father ..........................................78 4.5. Däjja č Kassa rebelled again ...........................................................79 4.6. Däjja č Kassa's submission and his fate ..........................................80 V. Tigrean chiefs' rivalry and the centralization process .........................88 5.1. The centralization process and the fate of Tigrean hereditary chiefs ...............................................................................................88 5.2. The attitude of the Tigrian rival chiefs to the revolt of Ras Gugsa Wäle and to the public trial of Ras Haylu Täklä-Haymanot. .............................................................................94 5.3. Emperor Haylä-Sellassé's centralization and Ras Seyum-Ras Gugsa rivalry. ..................................................................................98 5.4. Tigrean chiefs' rivalry and the marriage connections with the leading members of the central government .............................105 VI. The Tigrean chiefs' rivalry and its impact on Italian invasion of Ethiopia ..............................................................................113 6.1. General Italian policy on Ethiopia ..................................................113 6.2. Ras Gugsa and the Italians ..............................................................117 6.3. The death of Ras Gugsa and the continuation of the rivalry between Ras Seyum and Däjja č Haylä-Sellassé Gugsa. .................119 6.4. Däjja č Haylä-Sellassé Gugsa's defection to the Italians ...............126 V11. Conclusion 133 Notes ...........................................................................................................135 Bibliography ...............................................................................................187 ii List of Informants ...........................................................................................196 Appendices ...............................................................................................199 Maps ...............................................................................................245 Key to Transliteration System I. The seven orders of the Ethiopic alphabet are represented as follows:- 1st order u = Bä 2nd order u< = Bu 3rd order u= = Bi 4th order v = Ba 5th order u? = Bé 6th order w = Be 7th order x = Bo II. Regarding the sixth form in the above list, it must be noted that the “e” will be suffixed to the letter only if the letter is vocalized or stressed. Otherwise it would not be required at all. As a general rule also, the “e” is not required when the sixth form is the last letter of a word. Example: SUI` = Mämher wÉ` = Bedder III. Palatalized sounds are represented as follows : g = Š † = Č – = Ň ¶ = Ž iii Ë = J IV. Glottalized sounds are represented as follows: k = Q Ö = T Ú = Č ç/ì = S â = P ® = A = (Pronounced as in Tigri ňa Agamä) N = H = (pronounced as in Tigri ňa Ha ramat) ¤ = Kh (pronounced as in Tigriña Ãkhora) V. Germination is indicated by doubling consonants: E.g: Käbbädä Täsämma IV. General Examples: ›v} = Abatä MÏ , Lej ›[Ò© = Arägawi S”Ñh , Mängäša ›nm = Aqaqi ™™ , Noñño ¯c=Uv = Asimba ×Ã~ , Taytu ¯§^ = Akhora ìHÃ’i , Sähaynäš ¯ÒS = Agamä ewPƒ , Sebhat ÅÍ´T‹ = Däjjazma č â?Øae , Pétros Ú`Ú` = Čärcär ²’u¨`p , Zänäbäwärq Ñ» = Gäž iv OS^ = Humära v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS When I joined the Graduate Programm of the Department of History as a student I have been interested and prepared to write my thesis on another topic inspite of the disapproval of the topic by the department. Hence, I found the task of changing a topic for an M.A. thesis, in a very short period of time, not an easy task. Ato Tsegay Berhe, a staff member of the Addis Ababa University, however, helped and encouraged me, with compliment, to develop an interest in the study of the political history of Tigray (1910-1935). It is, therefore, a pleasure to acknowledge with gratitude the assistance and encouragement I received from him in having an interest in the topic I have worked on. I have drawn up on the help of many people in the research for this thesis. Of the many who helped me to facilitate my research, my brothers, Ato Girmay G/yohannes, Ato Habtom Tsegay and Ato Mekonnen G/Tsadiq, who were very helpful during my fieldwork at Adigrat and in Maqalle, deserve my special thanks. They did all they could to assist in the success of my fieldwork. I recall with great pleasure the hospitality and encouragement I received from them and I am indebted to them very much indeed. I also thank all my informants for sharing with me their wide knowledge and experience and for enduring the many hours of interviews I made with them. From among my informants Dr. Zewde G/Sellasse who also provided me with almost all the photographs, which I included in my thesis, deserves special thanks. vi I will always be grateful to my advisor, Dr. Tecle-Haimanot Gebre-Sellasse, for giving his time and energy, for counseling me, and for reading the draft of my thesis and for critically commenting on it. The constant encouragement of my brothers, Ato Teklay G/yohannes, Ato G/Egeziabher G/yohannes, Ato Mekonnen G/yohannes, Ato Haile-Sellasse G/yohannes and my sister Tsehaynesh G/yohannes, and of my friends, Ato Abadi G/Kidan, Ato Teklu Equar and Ato Tarekegn G/Eyesus has also been a valuable prop throughout the period of my research and preparation of the thesis. I thank them all indeed. My special thanks also go to my Italian language teacher at the Addis Ababa University, Signorina Irene Tosato, whose support in translating some of the Italian texts, necessary for the thesis has been invaluable. It is with immense gratitude that I acknowledge her contribution to the success of my work. An indefatigable lady, Eyerusalem Mahitem, has typed my thesis with hardly a word of complaint about the intricacies of the transliteration system. I thank her very much indeed. Finally, I want to express my indebtedness to my friend and staff member at the Aksum Senior Secondary School, Ato G/Giorgis G/Kidan, for making light of difficulties, which could have been almost insurmountable all through the years of my stay at the university. vii PREFACE The period between 1910 and 1935, in Tigray, was a period of complex games of political