Aman Mikael Andom (; ti, ኣማን ሚካኤል ዓንዶም; 21 June 1924 – 23 November 1974) was an Eritrean general and the first
post-imperial acting
head of state of Ethiopia
This article lists the Emperor of Ethiopia, emperors of Ethiopian Empire, Ethiopia, from the founding of the Zagwe dynasty in the 9th/10th century until Ethiopian Civil War#1970s, 1974, when Haile Selassie, the last emperor from the Solomonic dyn ...
. He was appointed to this position following the coup d'état that ousted
Emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
Haile Selassie
Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...
on 12 September 1974, and served until his death in a shootout with his former supporters.
Early life
Aman Mikael Andom was born in the village of
Tsazega {{refimprove, date=June 2012
Tseazega (Tigrinya: ጸዓዘጋ) is a village in Central Eritrea located in the former province of Hamasien. It is 5.6 miles (9 km) north-west from the capital city, Asmara. It is an entirely Christian village i ...
,
Italian Eritrea. He had four other siblings. Aman was a
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
.
Military career
Educated in
Sudan, Aman returned to Ethiopia with the British forces who defeated the Italians and restored Emperor
Haile Selassie
Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...
to the throne. He proceeded to distinguish himself in a brilliant military career, commanding Ethiopian contingents in Korea and the Congo. In 1962 he was promoted to major general. During the
1964 Ethiopian–Somali Border War
The 1964 Ethiopian–Somali Border War was a two month long conflict between the Somali Republic and the Ethiopian Empire. Fighting erupted in multiple locations on the border following support by the Somali government to insurgents in the Og ...
he was given the nickname the "Desert Lion" after defeating Somali forces in the
Ogaden
Head of State
Aman's official title was Chairman of the
Provisional Military Administrative Council
The Derg (also spelled Dergue; , ), officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the military junta that ruled Ethiopia, then including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when the military leadership formally " ...
(better known as Derg), and he held the position of Head of State in an acting capacity as the military
regime
In politics, a regime (also "régime") is the form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of a government or institution and its interactions with society. According to Yale professor Juan Jo ...
had officially proclaimed Crown Prince
Asfaw Wossen as "King-designate" (an act that would later be rescinded by the Derg, and which was never accepted by the Prince as legitimate).
There is some evidence that indicates he had contacts with the officers of the junta as early as February and March 1974, but by July he was appointed chief of staff to the
military junta
A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...
. On September 15, three days after the junta removed the
Emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
Haile Selassie
Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...
from his
palace to imprisonment at the headquarters of the Fourth Division, this group appointed Aman their chairman and head of state of Ethiopia. At the same time, this group of soldiers assumed the name "Provisional Military Administrative Council" (''Derg'').
From the first day of his of him becoming chairman, the Ottaways note, "the general found himself at odds with a majority of the Derg's members over most major issues, including whether he was chairman of the ruling military body or simply its spokesman. Aman fought the majority of the Derg over three central issues: the size of Derg, which he felt was too large and unwieldy; the policy to be taken towards the
Eritrean Liberation Front
ar, جبهة التحرير الإريترية it, Fronte di Liberazione Eritreo
, war = the Ethiopian Civil War, Eritrean War of Independence and the Eritrean Civil Wars
, image =
, caption = Flag of the ELF ...
(ELF); and over the punishment of the numerous aristocrats and former government officials in Derg's custody. His refusal to sanction the execution of former high officials, including two former
prime ministers
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is no ...
and several royal family members and relatives, put his relations with the majority of Derg on an especially bitter footing.
As an Eritrean, General Aman found himself fiercely at odds with the majority of the Derg. He wanted to negotiate a peaceful settlement; his opponents hoped to crush the ELF by military force. Aman went as far as making two personal visits to
Eritrea—the first 25 August to 6 September 1974, the second in November 1974—giving speeches stating that the end of the Imperial regime was also the end of old practices towards Eritrea, that a government dedicated to national unity and progress would restore peace and prosperity to Eritrea, and lastly that he would begin investigations concerning crimes that the army had perpetrated on Eritreans and punish the guilty.
However, at the same time the Derg had begun the task of eliminating opponents within the military. The three significant units were the
Imperial Bodyguard
Kebur Zabagna or Zebenya ( am, ክቡር ዘበኛ, kəbur zãbãňňya, lit=honorable guard) was the Ethiopian imperial guard. Also known as the First Division, this unit served the dual purposes of providing security for the Emperor of Ethiopi ...
, the
Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...
and the Corps of Engineers; of the three, the most recalcitrant were the Engineers. So on 7 October 1974 soldiers loyal to the Derg stormed the engineers' camp, killing five, wounding several and detaining the rest. As Bahru Zewde observation he said that, "With that, the illusion that the revolution would remain bloodless was exploded."
General Aman responded with a personal campaign to seek support outside the Derg, among the rest of the army and the country where he was popular. On 15 November 1974, he sent a message to all military units that was highly critical of the Derg. During a general assembly of the Derg two days later,
Mengistu Haile Mariam
Mengistu Haile Mariam ( am, መንግሥቱ ኀይለ ማሪያም, pronunciation: ; born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian politician and former army officer who was the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 and General Secretary of the Wor ...
demanded that 5,000 men be dispatched to Eritrea and six imprisoned Imperial officials be executed; Aman refused, resigned his official posts and retired to his house where he secretly sent appeals to his supporters, especially those in the Third Division. But Mengistu managed to intercept these appeals.
Death
On 23 November 1974, Aman died in a battle in his home with several troops sent there to arrest him. That same night, the political prisoners that the Derg had marked for execution were taken from Menelik prison, where they had been held, and shifted to the
Akaki Central Prison
Alem Bekagn ( am, አለም በቃኝ, "Farewell to the World"), or 'Kerchele Prison', was a central prison in Ethiopia until 2004. Located in Addis Ababa, the prison possibly existed as early as 1923, under the reign of Empress Zewditu, but beca ...
to be
executed
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
instead and buried in a mass
grave
A grave is a location where a dead body (typically that of a human, although sometimes that of an animal) is buried or interred after a funeral. Graves are usually located in special areas set aside for the purpose of burial, such as grav ...
. "It appears that the general had outlived his usefulness," Bahru Zewde concludes, and was in fact becoming an obstacle to the Derg's exercise of power.
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aman Andom
1924 births
1974 murders in Ethiopia
1974 deaths
20th-century Ethiopian politicians
Deaths by firearm in Ethiopia
Leaders who took power by coup
Presidents of Ethiopia
Defence ministers of Ethiopia
Unsolved deaths