Haile
Selassie I was Ethiopia's 225th and last emperor, serving from 1930 until his
overthrow by the Marxist Mengistu Haile
Mariam in 1974. The longtime ruler traced his line back to Menelik I, who was
credited with being the child of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
He
was born in a mud hut in Ejersa Gora on July 23, 1892. Originally named Lij
Tafari Makonnen, he was the only surviving and legitimate son of Ras Makonnen,
the governor of Harar.
Emperor Haile Selassie, the last emperor in
the 3,000-year-old Ethiopian monarchy, who ruled for half a century before he
was deposed by military coup. He was 83 years old.
His
death was played down by the military rulers who succeeded him in Addis Ababa,
who announced it in a normally scheduled radio newscast there at 7 A.M. They
said that he had been found dead in his bed by a servant, and that the cause of
death was probably related to the effects of a prostate operation Haile
Selassie underwent two months ago.
The
broadcast said that the once-revered "Lion of Judah's" only surviving
daughter, Princess Tenagne-Work, visited the former Emperor Tuesday at his
request, after he had determined that his health was rapidly deteriorating.
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