Germame Neway (; 14 August 1924 – 24 December 1960) was an Ethiopian politician known for his role in

1960 Ethiopian coup d'état attempt The 1960 Ethiopian coup d'etat attempt ( Amharic: የታህሳሱ ግርግር) was an attempted coup d'etat and a series of shootouts in the Ethiopian Empire on 13 December 1960 against Emperor Haile Selassie. The Council of the Revolution, fo ...

. He was leader of the Wolayita province, and the Somali province. Germame was a member of the aristocracy of

Shewa Shewa ( am, ሸዋ; , om, Shawaa), formerly romanized as Shua, Shoa, Showa, Shuwa (''Scioà'' in Italian language, Italian), is a historical region of Ethiopia which was formerly an autonomous monarchy, kingdom within the Ethiopian Empire. The ...

. He died by suicide on 24 December 1960.

Background

Of ethnic Amhara heritage. Germame was born in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

in 1924. After his primary and secondary education in the prestigious Teferi Mekonnen School and Haile Sellassie I School in

, he went to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

for further studies. He graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

at Wisconsin University and

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in social science at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1954. In 1958, Germame was appointed as the governor of Wolaita province, but he stayed only for one year here, and in 1959 transformed to govern the

Somali Region The Somali Region ( so, Deegaanka Soomaalida, am, ሱማሌ ክልል, Sumalē Kilil, ar, المنطقة الصومالية), also known as Soomaali Galbeed (''Western Somalia'') and officially the Somali Regional State, is a regional state ...

. Also in this region, Germame led only for one year. Though he led a reform in these two places, the people opposed his administration and that put him into short term of leadership.

Coup

Gemame became grieved for the action that taken upon him by

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 (' ...

. Following this he also participated in the

.Paul B. Henze, ''Layers of Time'' (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 254; Keller, ''Revolutionary Ethiopia'', p. 132 Germame committed suicide on 24 December 1960 when he and his brother

Mengistu Neway Mengistu Neway (1919 – 30 March 1961) was an Ethiopian commander of the Imperial Guard during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie. He is noted for being one of the early dissidents of the Emperor's regime and for organizing the 1960 coup atte ...

, were surrounded by the army near

Mojo, Ethiopia Mojo ( om, Moojoo, am, ሞጆ) is a town in central Ethiopia, named after the nearby Modjo River. Located in the East Shewa Zone of the Oromia Region, it has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation between 1788 and 1825 meters above sea ...

References

1924 births 1960 suicides Ethiopian activists Suicides by firearm in Ethiopia Ethiopian military personnel {{Ethiopia-politician-stub