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1996: Ebbisaa Addunyaa, extrajudicially executed
On this date in 1996, Oromo singer Ebbissaa Addunyaa was slain in his Addis Ababa home. He “appeared to have been extrajudicially executed on suspicion of supporting the OLF,” according to Amnesty...
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1977: Atnafu Abate, Mengistu’s last rival
On this date in 1977,* Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam eliminated one of his last political rivals with the execution of Atnafu Abate. The men’s relationship had long been complex and unclear;...
View Article1936: Aberra Kassa and Asfawossen Kassa, Ethiopian royalty
On this date in 1936, Italian forces consolidating control of occupied Ethiopia mopped up a couple of royal relatives who had resisted a bit too long. Brothers Aberra Kassa and Asfawossen Kassa had...
View Article1977: Girma Kebede in the Ethiopian Red Terror
There’s a reason why “may you live in interesting times” is a curse. The eras we call a “Terror” — Stalin’s Russia, Robespierre‘s France, Pol Pot’s Cambodia — are pretty interesting. Ethiopia in the...
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1868: The native prisoners of Emperor Tewodros II
On this date in 1868, on the eve of his rout at the hands of a British expeditionary force, the frustrated Emperor Tewodros II had hundreds of prisoners executed en masse. Our setting is the 1868...
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1541: Cristóvão da Gama, Portuguese crusader in Ethiopia
On this date in 1541, Cristóvão da Gama — “the most chivalrous soldier of a chivalrous age” — was beheaded in Ethiopia. This moment was the apex of Lisbon’s empire-building, most vividly symbolized by...
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1937: Desta Damtew, Haile Selassie’s son
On this date in 1937, Ethiopian prince Desta Damtew — the son-in-law of Emperor Haile Selassie — was captured by the Italian troops occupying his country, and summarily executed. An aristocrat who...
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