Negarit 2 page 1

Negarit has always been the official Court Circular of the Crown of Ethiopia: the source of record for the Solomonic Crown. That the Crown is currently in exile does not minimize the fact that the Crown continues to serve Ethiopia, and will always be part of the life of the Ethiopian peoples, as it has been for the past 3,000 years. Negarit derives its name from the ancient practice by which criers, preceded by drums, would go throughout the cities and towns proclaiming the news and pronouncements of the Imperial Court, and rallying the people to action. In later years, under the Constitutional Monarchy period of HIM Emperor Haile Selassie I, Negarit, under the Minister of the Pen, was a more formal record of official positions, promotions and changes within the Civil Service and Armed Forces, and a place in which the achievements of Ethiopians could be broadcast. On the facing page, Ethiopians will be pleased to read, in Amharic, a scholarly description of the origins of the name.

Today, the Crown is in Exile and in an Interregnum, and the Crown and Throne of Solomon are represented by the Constitutionally-appointed Imperial Crown Council of Ethiopia (

). The current Crown Council was re-convened by HIM Emperor Amha Selassie I in 1993, and His Imperial Highness Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie, the Grandson of HIM Emperor Haile Selassie I, was named President of the Council. HIH Prince Bekere Fikre-Selassie was named Enderassé, or Viceroy. The Crown Council moved, upon the death in January 1997 of HIM Emperor Amha Selassie, to ensure that the Crown would be revitalized. And since that time, the Crown has indeed acted to help re-united the Ethiopian Peoples as they face challenges on all fronts.

Principal among these challenges facing Ethiopia today is the multi-faceted security threat posed by the Eritrean military invasion of our sovereign territory, coupled with the now-open declaration by the effective powers in Sudan that dismemberment of Ethiopia is an avowed objective. These military threats come at a time when Ethiopia is still weak following more than two decades of civil war and civil unrest. Democracy — which was beginning to flourish in Ethiopia under Emperor Haile Selassie — is still not restored to our land, and nor are our peoples brought back together after years of bitter internecine warfare in which the different nations of our Empire were forced to fight one another.

The Crown of Ethiopia is the Crown of all Ethiopians, and a uniting symbol of our Empire of Peoples, whatever their language, whatever their religion, whatever their ethnicity. Ethiopia’s Crown represents the oldest unbroken chain of civilization in the World; it is a treasure beyond price. The Crown is the tool of the Peoples of Ethiopia in their quest to build a better, united society, an example not only to Africa, but to all societies.

Ethiopia’s most famous victim of the current Addis Ababa administration and onetime leader of the All-Amhara People’s Organization (AAPO), Professor Asrat Woldeyes, passed away on May 14, 1999, at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, USA. He died from complications from a heart ailment which had been exacerbated by the effects of his long and internationally-con- demned imprisonment and ill-treatment at the hands of the Meles administration.

The Crown Council immediately said that Dr Asrat’s untimely death was “virtual state liquidation”, and was directly attributable to the Meles administration.

Prof. Asrat, a medical doctor and one of Ethiopia’s leading scientists and humanitarians, had been suffering from a variety of ailments, mostly centering around a heart disorder, when Meles administration officials — faced with daily protests around the world and mounting hostility from major governments — released him to seek medical treatment abroad just before Western Christmas 1998. He has been hospitalized ever since.

He had been personal physician to the late Emperor Haile Selassie I for a quarter century. He had been dismissed from his post at the Black Lion Hospital, in Addis Ababa, when the TPLF administration of Meles Zenawi seized power in 1991.

Prof. Asrat’s family, including his two sons, had gathered to be with him at the hospital at the end. As well, the President of the Crown Council, Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie and Princess Gelila Fesseha, a niece of the Professor, were with him. Le’ult Gelila helped spearhead the campaign to have Dr Asrat released from his illegal imprisonment.

The Professor, who was in his seventies when he died, was preparing his legacy manifesto before his condition worsened in early May.

“Professor Asrat has already created his greatest legacy,” Crown Council President Prince Ermias said. “His legacy is that he has reaffirmed Ethiopia can only survive as a united, democratic country, and that this prize is worth sacrifice to achieve. Professor Asrat has always been a man of peace, dignity and intelligent reason. His imprisonment on trumped-up charges only serves to highlight the nobility of his non-violent protest and the bankruptcy of policies which are imposed by those who fear the will of the people. We cannot allow his sacrifice to be in vain. We cannot forget that his life has been shortened by what amounts to State murder, because he should have been able to complete his medical and teaching career in peace, and he should have been able to look forward to a long and happy retirement. All of this was denied to him, as such freedom is being denied to so many Ethiopians under illegal detainment by the Meles administration.”

The Meles administration released Dr Asrat when it became clear that his condition was deteriorating rapidly in prison. He had already become one of the focal points of protest against the administration, and officials feared that he would become a martyr if he died in prison.

“There is no doubt that Dr Asrat, who never saw himself as a martyr but rather as someone who needed to uphold principles of integrity and Ethiopianness, is now an even greater symbol of Ethiopia’s need for unity and for an end to the kind of repression which has characterized the totalitarianism of the Meles administration,” said one foreign diplomat in Addis Ababa, contacted by Negarit following Dr Asrat’s death. “His death, even released from custody, reflects on Meles.”

Crown Council President His Imperial Highness Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie meets in Washington DC with Nigerian President-elect Olusegun Obasanjo to discuss ways to restore peace to the Horn of Africa.

Washington DC: — Responding to media questions, Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie, President of the Crown Council of Ethiopia, confirmed that he had met with the President-elect of Nigeria, General Olusegun Obasanjo, during the Nigerian leader’s April Washington visit.

“We had very positive discussions about African problems in general and specifically about the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea,” Prince Ermias said. “President-elect Obasanjo is very well-informed about the problem and is taking a strong interest in helping to resolve it.”

“The meeting was a private one and so I cannot go into details as to what was discussed, other than to say that President-elect Obasanjo was keen to hear our views.”

Prince Ermias confirmed that he had taken a letter of congratulations from the Crown Council to the Nigerian President-elect, on his recent election victory, and had presented the leader with a copy of the new book, Ethiopia Reaches Her Hand Unto God.

The Nigerian leader held a series of meetings in Washington DC with US Administration officials, including President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, National Security Advisor Sandy Berger and key State Department Africa desk officials. President-elect Obasanjo confirmed that he had been taking an interest in the Ethiopia-Eritrea dispute, and had also received briefings on the dispute from, among others, the Italian President.

The President-elect expressed a strong desire to Prince Ermias that the new Nigerian Government should actively involve itself in seeking a resolution to the conflict in the Horn of Africa. Prince Ermias congratulated General Obasanjo on his electoral victory which, he said, gave hope of free and fair elections for Ethiopians in the future.


Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie (left) talks with HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (right), during a meeting in Barbados, during the Crown Council’s three-nation tour. The President of the International Strategic Studies Association, Gregory Copley, is shown center.	Former Nigerian Head-of-State General Yokubu Gowon, who now runs a major political institute in Nigeria, met in Barbados with Prince Ermias. The two had met previously, and General Gowon also was well-known to the late Emperor Haile Selassie I. “I looked upon the Emperor as a father to me,” General Gowon said.	The Governor-General of Antigua & Barbuda, His Excellency Sir James Carlisle (left) relaxes over a working lunch with Prince Ermias at Nelson’s Dockyard, in Antigua.

Washington DC, May 8, 1999: — The President of the Crown Council of Ethiopia, Prince Ermias Sahle-Selassie Haile-Selassie returned tonight to Washington DC after a busy, four-day schedule of visits to three Caribbean nations where he discussed African and Ethiopian issues with several national leaders.

Prince Ermias held extremely cordial meetings in Antigua with the Governor-General, His Excellency Sir James Carlisle, before going to Barbados where he met with the Minister for Education, Culture and Youth Affairs, Mia Mottley. Prince Ermias discussed Ethiopian and Pan-African issues with Ms Mottley in what were described as “extremely productive” talks.

In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Prince Ermias met with the Prime Minister, Sir James Mitchell, and also held detailed discussions with the Minister for Trade and Industry, John Horne.

While in Barbados, Prince Ermias also held cordial talks with His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who has paid several visits to Ethiopia in the past, and who was invested by the late Emperor Haile Selassie with the Order of the Queen of Sheba. As well, in Barbados, Prince Ermias held lengthy and friendly talks with former Nigerian head-of-state General Yakubu Gowon.

The Caribbean visit was part of an ongoing worldwide diplomatic initiative by the Crown Council to familiarize world leaders with events in Ethiopia — particularly the significance globally of the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea — and with the Crown’s initiatives to restore stability to the Horn of Africa.

While in Barbados, the Crown Council delegation visited the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and educational center and met with Abba Liqa Maemiran Zacharias, who briefed Prince Ermias about the programs being undertaken in the Caribbean by the Church. Of particular interest was the initiative, Let’s Save the Children, spearheaded by Abba Liqa Maemiran Zacharias at the World Council of Churches in Zimbabwe last December. More details on this in the next edition.

The Ethiopian Crown Council has reported a landslide of applications and expressions of interests in the special scholarships which have been placed at the disposal of the Crown for Ethiopian students. Ambassador International University, which a month ago granted the Crown 15 four-year scholarships worth $1.2-million, said that the University, as well as the Council, had been receiving a constant flow of enquiries about the scholarships.

The University has referred all the enquiries to the Crown Council. The Council has begun the process of establishing a committee in Addis Ababa which will review all applications before final selection for the Haile Selassie Fund Scholarships.

The Crown Council of Ethiopia’s program of scholarships, being offered to Ethiopian students to study at Ambassador International University in Texas, in the United States, has captured the imagination of the Ethiopian community, and the Council has been overwhelmed by the high volume and high quality of responses from the community.

The 15 scholarships, 10 for Ethiopians from the homeland and five for Ethiopians from the diaspora, are valued at US$1.2-million. Applications are now being considered in the following disciplines:

The scholarships will be awarded in the name of the charity, the Haile Selassie Fund for Ethiopia’s Children. The University has referred all Ethiopian applications for scholarships to the Crown Council and the Charity.

Applicants will need to apply directly to the Crown Council, which is managing the process for Ethiopia’s Children. It is possible that the Committee being established to evaluate the candidates in Addis Ababa will also interview applicants before final decisions will be made.

Any interested parties should write directly to: The Scholarship Committee, Ethiopian Crown Council, PO Box 20863, Alexandria, VA 22320, USA.

Applicants should state their desired area of study, within the disciplines available; their educational background; and provide a brief written essay, in English, and another in Amharic, as to why they wish to study in the US and what they would do with their training once they return to Ethiopia. Full contact details should be provided.