Woyane rebellion
Woyane rebellion ቀዳማይ ወያነ | |||||||
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British administration at the time | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Ethiopia Supported by: United Kingdom[1] | Woyane rebels | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Haile Selassie Abebe Aregai |
Yeebio Woldai Negusse Bezabih Gugsa Mengesha Hailemariam Redda | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
200 killed[4] 375 wounded 33 missing | Several thousands[5] |
The woyane rebellion began in the Tigray province.
,The Woyane rebellion (Tigrinya: ቀዳማይ ወያነ, romanized: k’edamay Weyane, lit. 'first Woyane') was an uprising in the Tigray Province, Ethiopia against the centralization process from the government of Emperor Haile Selassie which took place in May–November 1943.[6][3] The rebels called themselves the Woyane, a name borrowed from a game played locally between competing groups of young men from different villages, which connoted a spirit of resistance and unity.[7] After nearly succeeding in overrunning the whole province, the rebels were defeated with the support of aircraft from the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force.[8][9] Out of all the rebellions that engulfed Ethiopia during Haile Selassie's rule, this was the most serious internal threat that he faced.[10]
Background
In an Imperial determination to weaken the power of the regional
The Woyane uprising in Tigray seems to have arisen when administrative corruption and greed ignited a situation of existing instability and insecurity, one awash with weaponry in the wake of the Italian defeat.
Goals
Their proclamation after liberating Mekelle had five main points.
- Autonomous self-administration under Ethiopian flag and unity
- Administration by Tigrayan Customary laws
- Appointment of one's own leaders free of domination by Shoan Imperial elite
- Eradication of thieves and bandits
- Objection to payment of excessive taxation and payment to an appointee of the Emperor
Leadership
- H.E. Fitawrari Yeebio Woldai (Wedi Weldai), b. Samre-Enderta, Tigray. Chief leader and commander of the 1943 Woyane rebellion in Tigray
- H.E. Dejazamtch Negusse Bezabih, b. Da' Meskel-Mekelle, Enderta, Tigray. Top leader and commander of the 1943 Woyane rebellion in Tigray
- H.E. Bashay Gugsa Mengesha, b. Adi-Seleste, Hintalo-Enderta, Tigray. Top leader and commander of the 1943 Woyane rebellion in Tigray.[18]
- H.E. Blata Hailemariam Reda, b. Dandera-Enderta, Tigray. Commander of the 1943 Woyane rebellion in Tigray.
Rebellion
In 1943, open resistance broke out all over southern and eastern Tigray under the slogan, "there is no government; let's organize and govern ourselves.", Raya, Kilete-Awlaelo and Tembien, local assemblies, called "gerreb", were immediately formed. The gerreb sent representatives to a central congress, called the "shengo", which elected leadership and established a military command system.
The rebels established their headquarters at
A similar victory was achieved by the rebels under the top leaders of the Woyane movement namely
The Woyane leaders precipitated the final decisive battle by launching a three-pronged attack on government positions with perhaps 10,000 men. The war is spread to Alaje in Raya, Wukro in Kilte Awlalo, and Tembien whereby the rebels mostly peasants beat the huge government forces equipped with tanks and modern weapons led by Ras Abebe Aregai, General Abebe Damtew, and aided by British
Aftermath
Ras Abebe Aregai was appointed as governor of Tigray and was given authority with the pacification of that province. His pacification was brutal. The imperial army wreaked such havoc in Tigray that even the British officers were shocked and complained to their headquarters in Addis Ababa. The nature of the repression was to have a strong impact on future Tigray politics, particularly because it was so slanted socially against the ordinary peasants. Most of the leaders belonging to the nobility (usually from families close to Ras Haile Selassie Gugsa) were pardoned within two to three years. But ordinary peasants were massacred, cattle were stolen, houses were torched, and Blatta Haile
Mariam Redda remained in jail for 22 years. This was not to be forgotten in the collective memory of the people of Tigray.
Although the Woyane rebellion of 1943 had shortcomings as a prototype revolution, historians however agree that the Woyane rebellion had involved a fairly high level of spontaneity and peasant initiative.[33] It demonstrated considerable popular participation and reflected widely shared grievances. The uprising was unequivocally and specifically directed against the central Shoan Amhara regime of Haile Selassie I, rather than the Tigrayan imperial elite.[34]
Second Woyane
Second Woyane refers to the Ethiopian Civil War, where the TPLF fought a 15-year-long war against the Derg regime of 1974–1991.[35][36]
In that context, the Woyane rebellion that is the subject of this article is called Old Woyane or First Woyane (ቀዳማይ ወያነ).
See also
References
- ^ Alex De Waal (September 1991). EVIL DAYS 30 YEARS OF WAR AND FAMINE IN ETHIOPIA An Africa Watch Report (PDF). p. 55.
- ^ Alex De Waal (September 1991). EVIL DAYS 30 YEARS OF WAR AND FAMINE IN ETHIOPIA An Africa Watch Report (PDF). p. 55.
- ^ a b Omna Tigray. "Info Deck – WOYANE". Omna Tigray.
- ^ Abbay, Alemseged (1998). Identity Jilted, Or, Re-imagining Identity?: The Divergent Paths of the Eritrean and Tigrayan Nationalist Struggles. The Red Sea Press. p. 52.
- ^ Abbay, Alemseged (1998). Identity Jilted, Or, Re-imagining Identity?: The Divergent Paths of the Eritrean and Tigrayan Nationalist Struggles. The Red Sea Press. p. 52.
- ^ Alex De Waal (September 1991). EVIL DAYS 30 YEARS OF WAR AND FAMINE IN ETHIOPIA, An Africa Watch Report (PDF). Human Rights Watch. p. 55.
- S2CID 154025316.
- ^ http://www.jstor.org/stable/181225 Killingray, David. “'A Swift Agent of Government': Air Power in British Colonial Africa, 1916-1939.” The Journal of African History, vol. 25, no. 4, 1984, pp. 429–444. Accessed 16 July 2021.
- ^ https://tand-tesfana.webs.com/The_Origins_Of_TPLF-Aregawi.pdf Aregawi Berhe, 2004. The Origins of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. African Affairs, 103/413, 569—592. Accessed 16 July 2021.
- ^ Alex De Waal (September 1991). EVIL DAYS 30 YEARS OF WAR AND FAMINE IN ETHIOPIA , An Africa Watch Report (PDF). Human Rights Watch. p. 55.
- ^ Sarah Vaughan, "Ethnicity and Power in Ethiopia", PhD dissertation, p. 123, 2003
- ^ Clapham, Christopher, Transformation and continuity in Revolutionary Ethiopia, Cambridge University press, pg. 27, 1988.
- ^ Sarah Vaughan, "Ethnicity and Power", p. 126.
- ^ Paul Henze (December 1985). "Rebels and Separatists in Ethiopia, Regional Resistance to a Marxist Regime prepared for the office of the under secretary of defense for policy" (PDF): 42.
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(help) - ^ Kinfe Abraham, Professor. "WHAT LED TO THE TPLF REBELLION: THE RISE OF WEYANE UPRISING I ─ PART ONE" (PDF). Ethiopian International Institute for Peace and Development (EIIPD) and HADAD: 2.
- ^ Paul Henze (December 1985). "Rebels and Separatists in Ethiopia, Regional Resistance to a Marxist Regime prepared for the office of the under secretary of defense for policy" (PDF): 42.
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: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - S2CID 154025316.
- ^ Mamoka Maki, The wayyane in Tigray and the reconstruction of the Ethiopian government in the 1940s, In: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, ed. by Svein Ege, Harald Aspen, Birhanu Teferra and Shiferaw Bekele, Trondheim 2009, p. 5.
- ^ Household and Society in Ethiopia, African studies center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, 1977.
- ^ Mamoka Maki, The wayyane in Tigray and the reconstruction of the Ethiopia government in the 1940s, In: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, ed. by Svein Ege, Harald Aspen, Birhanu Teferra and Shiferaw Bekele, Trondheim 2009, p.5.
- ^ Mamoka Maki, The wayyane in Tigray and the reconstruction of the Ethiopia government in the 1940s, In: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, ed. by Svein Ege, Harald Aspen, Birhanu Teferra and Shiferaw Bekele, Trondheim 2009, p.6.
- ^ Kinfe Abraham, Professor. "THE RISE OF WEYANE REBELLION II OR THE TPLF ─ PART TWO" (PDF). Ethiopian International Institute for Peace and Development (EIIPD) and HADAD.
- ^ Kinfe Abraham, Professor. "THE RISE OF WEYANE REBELLION II OR THE TPLF ─ PART TWO" (PDF). Ethiopian International Institute for Peace and Development (EIIPD) and HADAD.
- ^ Berhe, Fisseha (2011). "Studies on the biography of Blatta Hayle Mariam Redda (1909-1995)". Ityopis. 1.
- ^ a b Rebels and Separatists in Ethiopia, Regional Resistance to a Marxist Regime by Paul Henze, Rand corporation-- prepared for the office of the under secretary of defense for policy, p. 42, December 1985.
- ^ Blata Hailemariam Reda, Wegahta Magazine, Nos. 1, 2, and 4, 1993.
- ^ Ethiopian register, Volume 5. 1998. p. 27.
- ^ Gilkes, Patrick (1975). The Dying Lion Feudalism and Modernization in Ethiopia. p. 190.
- S2CID 154025316.
- ^ Alex De Waal (September 1991). EVIL DAYS 30 YEARS OF WAR AND FAMINE IN ETHIOPIA , An Africa Watch Report (PDF). Human Rights Watch. p. 55.
- ^ Haggain Erlich "British involvement and Haile Selassie's emerging absolution northern Ethiopia, 1941-1943", Asian and African studies 15, 2 (1981), p. 219.
- ^ a b c Mamoka Maki, The wayyane in Tigray and the reconstruction of the Ethiopia government in the 1940s, In: Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, ed. by Svein Ege, Harald Aspen, Birhanu Teferra and Shiferaw Bekele, Trondheim 2009, p.8.
- ^ Gebru Tareke, Ethiopia: Power and Protest, p. 121.
- ^ Gebru Tareke, Ethiopia: Power and Protest, p. 122.
- S2CID 154025316.
- ^ Kinfe Abraham, Prof. "THE RISE OF WEYANE REBELLION II OR THE TPLF ─ PART TWO" (PDF). President, Ethiopian International Institute for Peace and Development (EIIPD) and President, HADAD.
Further reading
- Tareke, Gebru (1984). "Peasant Resistance in Ethiopia: the Case of Weyane". Journal of African History. 25 (1): 77–92. S2CID 162562776.