Alem Zewde Tessema (died 1974) was an Ethiopian military figure. He was a

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

of the Airborne Corps, Fourth Division. He was active at the beginning of the

Ethiopian Revolution 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 " c ...

, helping to create the "Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces", which originally was intended to support Prime Minister

Aklilu Habte-Wold '' Tsehafi Taezaz'' Aklilu Habte-Wold ( am, አክሊሉ ሀብተ ወልድ; 12 March 1912 – 23 November 1974) was an Ethiopian politician under Emperor Haile Selassie. He was foreign minister of Ethiopia from 1947 to 1958 and Prime Minister f ...

but came under the control of Majors Atnafu Abate,

Sisay Hapte Sisay, also Sissay, is a male given name of Ethiopian origin. Notable people with the name include: * Sisay Bancha (born 1989), Ethiopian international footballer *Lemn Sissay Lemn Sissay FRSL (born 21 May 1967) is a British author and broadc ...

, and

Tafara Tekleab Mabvuku is a suburb east of Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe. History In 2005, Operation Murambatsvina destroyed slums in Mabvuku and other areas of Harare such as Budiriro and Mbare as well as nearby Chitungwiza. By the mid-2010s, the n ...

, who turned it into the group later known as the Derg. On 22 June 1974, he lost control of his own paratrooper battalion after its defeat at

Bishoftu Bishoftu (; ) is a town in central Ethiopia. Located in the East Shewa Zone of the Oromia Region, it sits at an elevation of 1,920 metres (6,300 ft). It was formerly known as Debre Zeyit () however since the late 1990s it has been officially k ...

with radicals, and was forced to flee to

Gojjam Gojjam ( ''gōjjām'', originally ጐዛም ''gʷazzam'', later ጐዣም ''gʷažžām'', ጎዣም ''gōžžām'') is a historical province in northwestern Ethiopia, with its capital city at Debre Marqos. Gojjam's earliest western boundary ex ...

, where he subsequently died.Keller, ''Revolutionary Ethiopia'', p. 183

References

1974 deaths Ethiopian military personnel Year of birth missing People of the Ethiopian Civil War {{Ethiopia-mil-bio-stub