Haile Selassie, Ras (Prince) Tafari

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Emperor of Ethiopia 1930–74. He pleaded unsuccessfully to the League of Nations against the Italian conquest of his country 1935–36, and was then deposed and fled to the UK. He went to Egypt in 1940 and raised an army, which he led into Ethiopia in January 1941 alongside British forces, and was restored to the throne on 5 May. He was deposed by a military coup in 1974 and died in captivity the following year. Followers of the Rastafarian religion (see Rastafarianism) believe that he was the Messiah, the incarnation of God (Jah).

Born near Harar, in eastern Ethiopia, he was educated by Jesuit missionaries and teachers at the imperial court. At the age of 14 he was appointed governor of Gora Muleta and four years later he took the governorship of Harar, previously held by his father. He was appointed heir to the empress Zauditu in 1916, and became her close adviser, securing Ethiopia's admission into the League of Nations in 1923. After he became emperor in 1930 he worked to centralize power and achieve administrative reform. Following his restoration, he regained Ethiopian sovereignty in 1945 and played a leading role in the establishment of the Organization of African Unity (OAU; later African Union) in 1963. He incorporated Eritrea into Ethiopia in 1962, giving rise to a long-running civil war.

In November 2000, 25 years after his death, he was reburied in the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. He had originally been buried near a latrine.

The cog-wheel and rice plant stand for industry and agriculture. The stars represent the 14 states. Blue symbolizes peace. Red denotes courage. Effective date: 4 January 1974. >>