ETHIOPIA & PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR
9164 OU24 - Ethiopia – The Tigrayan Family in Government
The government of Ethiopia, made up of the rebels from Tigray, was unlike any other I have known. The relationship between them was not just as colleagues but was more like that of family members. Thus, they had been fighting in the field together for 17 years and their relationships were strong as any between family members. This extended family ran to no more than 100, and probably was as few as 50. I knew most of these 50, and I saw them more often than other members of the government did. Certainly I saw Meles far more often than his own Cabinet did.
I became so close, in fact, that in effect I became part of their family. I was treated as such by them. I well remember, when I was trying to negotiate a deal with RTZ and I asked Seeye what leverage I had in negotiating for him, he said - quite genuinely - "Just tell them who your friends are". I think that was the greatest compliment I have ever been given.
My membership of
the
family was most evident around the time of the first anniversary of the end the
war. The first of the social occasions I attended came out of the blue. I was
sitting in my office, dressed in my sports coat and slacks, when Dr Fassil
bounded in and asked me to go with him to the opening of a an exhibition of
photographs of the war.
I thought little about this and got my driver to take me to the exhibition. Despite the crowds of cars the, we managed to find a parking place. It was only sometime later that I realised why this was case. It turned out that my particular Mercedes had a palace number plate. There were only 20 or so palace cars, and we all had a special number plate. That meant that, wherever I went, I had precedence over all of the other cars. This explained why I had always been able to get around so easily and had no difficulty parking. Potentially, though, it had an important downside -- in that mine was the only palace car that wasn't armoured!
When I got into the grounds of exhibition hall I saw there were various people lined up near the entrance to the building. By then I knew that the Prime Minister, Tamrat, was opening the exhibition, so I started to walk towards them. As I got closer, I realised that there were two quite distinct groups of people. One of them was made up of government people, all black faces. I should say at this stage that because Ethiopia had never -- apart from the short period under the Italians -- been colonised there was no sense of a colour bar there. I, of course, would never have recognised such a bar, but it didn't exist anyway. The other half were all white faces, and seemed to be dressed in their best suits. I decided I had better join the whites.
When I got amongst them, sticking out like a sore thumb in my sports jacket, I realised that they were all referring to each other as 'Your Excellency'. They comprised the ambassadorial group in Ethiopia. Amongst them were the American Ambassador and European Union Ambassador, both of whom rather stood on their dignity. James Glaze wasn't there, since he was up country. The Russian ambassador, on the other hand, was quite friendly as in particular was that from the Vatican -- known, in the obscure language of diplomacy, as the Papal Nuncio.
Just then Seeye arrived and joined the black group. There was something of a commotion amongst the ambassadors, who were nudging each other and saying “He's the Minister of Defence”. Obviously none of them had been able to meet him. Seeye turned round at that point and looked at me. He raced across grass and said "Hello David" This was silly, since I only seen him a few hours before, and in view of the secrecy of our mission I wasn't supposed to know him. So I found myself saying "Go away, you are not supposed to know me". He raced back to the other group, causing some considerable interest amongst the ambassadors who, after that, pressured me to find out what on earth I was doing. I could only say that I was working in the Prime Minister's office, which – in terms of my physical location -was in fact true.
The main celebration that year was the rally in the main square of Addis Ababa. Once a year during the rule of the Derg's dictator, Mengistou, he used to have a massive military parade through the square; followed by a speech in which he ranted on literally for five or six hours at a time.
This time it was to be very different. Even so, I got there early in order to get a place. All the dignitaries were to be on the stand overlooking the massive parade ground. But I chose to be with the Ethiopian people sitting on the ground. I guess that even so I couldn't hide myself away, since I was only one of two white faces amongst all the black ones. Ultimately more and more people poured into the square and I later learned that there were eventually something like three-quarters of a million people attending the meeting. It was wonderful atmosphere and I was even willing to listen to Meles' speech which lasted something like an hour - in Amharic. Then the procession began. It wasn't troops this time, but was far more emotional. First of all there was a hoard of coloured umbrellas moving through the square in front of the stand. This proved very emotional for everyone in the square, since the umbrellas were the traditional symbol of the heads of the churches; and this was the first time they'd been allowed to walk together in this way for the best part of two decades. Then came families carrying pictures of the dead. It might be thought these would be pictures of the dead rebels, but they were in fact the pictures of the dead members of the Derg party -- as I said Mengistou was even more ruthless in killing them than anyone else. As this happened, overhead military helicopters were strewing grass over the crowds. Ethiopians traditionally celebrate by strewing their floors with fresh grass. It was quite spectacular, especially since the helicopters seemed to be almost at head height -- though I guess they must have been flying at about fifty feet. All in all it was a wonderful experience, a very emotional experience, as the nation came together.
When I had first arrived in the square I had noticed a guy in a suit, where in the heat I was in my casuals. He was trying to hide behind lampposts, whilst following me around; and I assumed that he was a member of the secret police. Eventually, as the crowd built up, he came and stood by me; in his best suit and carrying a brief case.
When I said to the government the following morning that everything went well, they said that before it started they had thought there was to be the incident, and they had large numbers of troops mounted on the roofs nearby. I suddenly realised that my secret policman was in reality a bodyguard. What was worse was that I realised his suit was to hide the fact he was wearing a shoulder holster. And, even worse, he almost certainly had - in his attache case - a sub-machinegun to protect me. Fortunately nothing had happened, but I dread to think what would have happened should he have used that sub-machinegun; because we all would have been trampled to death in the resulting panic.
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