Mangasha Seyum

Mengesha Seyoum
Prince of Tigray
Taken in Bonn, 1959 during a meeting with West German officials.
Governor of Arsi	1952-1955
Governor of Sidamo	1955-1958
Governor of Tigray	1960-1974
Spouse	Aida Desta
Issue
Stefanos Seyoume Mikael Sehul Lij Yohannes Lij Jaliye Imebet Menen '
House	House of Solomon
Father	Seyum Mangasha
Born	1926 Dengolat, Enderta, Tigray 1926 (age 84–85)
Religion	Ethiopian Orthodox

Ras Mengesha Seyoum (Ge'ez: ራስ መንገሻ ሰዩም) GCVO (born 1926) is a member of the imperial family of the Ethiopian Empire. In 1974, the monarchy was abolished by the Derg, a communist military junta.

Biography

(Leul) (Ras) Mangasha Seyum was born in 1926 in Dengolat, a village in Enderta county, a part of Tigray. He is the son of Ras Seyum Mangasha, the grandson of Ras Mangasha Yohannes, and the great grandson of Emperor Johannes IV. Yohannes IV was the only Emperor of the Tigrayan cadet branch of the Solomonic dynasty (being descended in female lines from Emperors Yohannes I and Eyasu I. Emperor Menelik II of Shoa came to power after the Battle of Metemma when Yohannes IV was killed and the male line of the Solomonic Dynasty was re-established on the Imperial throne. Mangasha Seyum is the heir to the Tigrean royal line and a rival to the Shoan emperor.^[1] Ras Mangasha Seyum's grandfather, Mangasha Yohannes was raised as the nephew of Yohannes IV. However Yohannes IV announced on his deathbed that Mangasha was his "natural" son and designated heir. It is still disputed among Tigrean royal descendants whether Mangasha Yohannes was indeed an actual son of Yohannes IV, or a nephew that Yohannes adopted on his deathbed in order to name him as his successor as his legitimate son Ras Araya Selassie Yohannes had died previously. There was a long standing rivalry between the descendants of Ras Araya Selassie and Ras Mangasha Yohannes over the rule of Tigrai and precedence.

A photograph of Seyum Mangasha, second from right, taken on 18 April 1959 in Bonn, Germany.

With the title of Leul Dejazmatch Mengesha Seyoum was Governor of Arusi from 1952 to 1955. He was Governor of Sidamo from 1955 to 1958. In 1946, Mangasha Seyum married one of Haile Sellassie's granddaughters, Princess Aida Desta. They are the parents of five sons Lij Michael Sehul, Lij Yohannes,Lij Stephanos, Lij Jalye,Lij Seyoum and a daughter Imebet Menen. Mengesha Seyum was also the father of the late Imebet Rebka from his first marriage to Abonesh Demisse cousin of HRH Princess Atsede Asfaw who was also Mengesha Seyum's stepmother. After his father was murdered during the unsuccessful 1960 coup against Emperor Haile Selassie, Mengesha Seyoum was elevated to the title of Leul Ras and became Prince and Governor of Tigray Province. He governed from his capital in Mek'ele and held this position until 1974 when the monarchy was abolished.

In 1965, he was awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

In October 1974, after the monarchy was toppled, representatives of the Derg ordered Seyum Mangasha to the capital to face charges of corruption, but instead he fled to the hills. There Mengesha Seyoum helped to found a group that eventually became the Ethiopian Democratic Union (EDU). The EDU is conservative and pro-monarchy and is the oldest of the Ethiopian political parties. The EDU later merged with the Ethiopian Democratic Party and formed the Ethiopian Democratic Unity Party (EDUP), which later was one of the parties that joined to form the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, one of the two largest opposition parties in Ethiopia. In 2000, the EDU reorganized in Addis Ababa as a legal opposition party after the Tigrayan People's Liberation Front led the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front to power. His wife, Princess Aida Desta, and his daughter were arrested by the Derg in 1974. Although his daughter would eventually escape abroad, his wife remained in prison for 14 years. Ras Mengesha has retreated from all involvement in the political affairs of this party and its successor organizations.

Mengesha Seyoum lives partly in Addis Ababa Ethiopia and partly in the Washington D.C. area with his wife Princess Aida. He maintains a close relationship with his nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He is regarded as the senior surviving nobleman of the Ethiopian Empire, and the senior Prince of a cadet branch of the Imperial dynasty. Although for a significant period during the 1970s and 1980s he was regarded as a possible candidate for the succession by many monarchists, in 1989 he accepted the proclamation of Crown Prince Asfaw Wossen as Emperor in Exile of Ethiopia under the name Amha Selassie. Leul Ras Mengesha was prominent at the funerals of Emperor in Exile Amha Selassie, the reburial of Emperor Haile Selassie, Princess Tenagnework (who was his mother-in-law) and Empress Medferiashwork. With the death of Emperor Amha Selassie, Ras Mengesha is considered the elder member of the extended Imperial family, and at public events where members of the Imperial family appear, such as royal funerals, is given precedence over all male members of the family except Crown Prince Zera Yacob Amha Selassie.

See also

• Monarchies of Ethiopia
• Line of succession to the Ethiopian Throne
• Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles
• List of honorary British Knights
• Aida Desta - Wife
• Stefanos Mangasha Seyum - Son
• Wolete Israel Seyum - Sister

References and notes

1. ^ Mockler, Haile Sellassie's War, p. 396

Sources

• Mockler, Anthony (2002). Haile Sellassie's War. New York: Olive Branch Press. ISBN 9781566564731. 

Further reading

• Charles B. Rosen: "The Governor-General of Tigre Province: Structure & Anti-Structure", Proceedings of the First United States Conference on Ethiopian Studies, (1973), p. 171-183

Persondata
Name	Seyum, Mangasha
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1926
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death