Ataklti Haile Selassie (also ''Atakilty'', ''Haileselassie'', ''Haileselasie'', ''Hailesellassie'') is an Ethiopian who was appointed mayor of

Mekelle Mekelle ( ti, መቐለ, am, መቀሌ, mäqälle, mek’elē) or Mekele is a List of zones of Ethiopia, special zone and capital city, capital of the Tigray Region of Ethiopia. Mekelle was formerly the capital of Enderta province, Enderta Awrajj ...

following the Mekelle offensive of the November 2020

Tigray War The Tigray War; ; . was an armed conflict that lasted from 3 November 2020 to 3 November 2022. The war was primarily fought in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia between the Ethiopian federal government and Eritrea on one side, and the Tigray Peop ...

. He resigned from the mayorship on 30 March 2021.

Academia

In mid-2020, Ataklti was Corporate Communications Director at

Mekelle University Mekelle University ( ti, መቐለ ዩኒቨርሲቲ) is a higher education and training public institution located in Mekelle, Tigray Region, Ethiopia, 783 kilometers north of Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. Mekelle University is one of the lar ...

Politics

Ataklti was one among six independent candidates in the 2020 Tigray regional election who withdrew their candidatures in the election. He stated that his candidature was based on the assumption of free air time on regional media and coverage of printing costs by the regional electoral commission. Ataklti argued that

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

restrictions prevented door-to-door campaigns, so without radio, television or print access to campaigning, he had no chance to present his electoral platform to voters.

Mayorship of Mekelle

Ataklti was appointed mayor of

in mid-December 2020 under the

Transitional Government of Tigray The Transitional Government of Tigray was a caretaker administration that was formally declared by the House of Federation of Ethiopia on 7 November 2020, in the context of a conflict between the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), in po ...

, several weeks after the Mekelle offensive of the November 2020

Tigray conflict The Tigray War; ; . was an armed conflict that lasted from 3 November 2020 to 3 November 2022. The war was primarily fought in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia between the Ethiopian federal government and Eritrea on one side, and the Tigray Peop ...

. On 17 December, Ataklti claimed that the city would return "to full normalcy within a short time". Direct elections for the membership of the Mekelle City Council were planned following Ataklti's nomination. In late March, an explosion that appeared to be an attempt to assassinate Ataklti took place when he was heading to his car after having breakfast. Ataklti's mayorship terminated on 30 March 2021. Mulu Nega, the head of the Transitional Government of Tigray, claimed that Ataklti was dismissed. Ataklti claimed that a dismissal letter was written by Mulu in an attempt to override Ataklti's decision to resign. Ataklti stated that three main reasons for his resignation were the failure of the Transitional Government to travel outside of Mekelle to solve Tigray-wide problems, an issue of military intervention in municipal decision-making regarding land investment and in municipal personnel decisions, and an issue that Ataklti saw as

nepotism Nepotism is an advantage, privilege, or position that is granted to relatives and friends in an occupation or field. These fields may include but are not limited to, business, politics, academia, entertainment, sports, fitness, religion, an ...

and bribery. Ataklti felt that the situation of Mekelle had vastly improved during his leadership, stating that "transport, private businesses, and all public services ererestored back to normal with the exception of education" by the time of his resignation. He said that the "100-days evaluation matrix" used for evaluation of administrative actions by the Transitional Administration rated his performance highly, giving no objective reasons to dismiss him.

References

Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Independent politicians in Ethiopia 21st-century Ethiopian politicians People from Mekelle {{Ethiopia-politician-stub