Dejazmach Balcha Safo (; 1863 – 6 November 1936), popularly referred to by his Horse name Abba Nefso, was an Ethiopian military commander and lord protector of the crown, who served in both the First and Second Italo-Ethiopian Wars.[Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 190 n. 8]
He made his reputation, according to oral tradition, at the Battle of Adwa (March 1, 1896), and was rewarded with elevation to the aristocratic status of Dejazmach. [Harold G. Marcus, The Life and Times of Menelik II: Ethiopia 1844-1913, (Lawrenceville: Red Sea Press, 1995), p. 166][Haile Selassie I. My Life and Ethiopia's Progress. Vol. 2, 1999, p. 32.] Later Balcha was appointed a Governor ( Shum). He was later a key member of the conservative provincial elite who, in the 1920s, were often at odds with the modernising reforms and rising power of the Regent, Ras Tafari Makonnen. Tafari Makonnen would later force Dejazmach Balcha into retirement, albeit an honourable one, in 1928, from which he would emerge in 1935 to fight against the Fascist invasion, resulting in his death in 1936.
Biography
Early career
Originally of humble birth, Balcha Safo, along with Habte Giyorgis Dinagde, was one of many castrated prisoners of war taken during Menelik II's expansions into the Hadiya state under
Hassan Enjamo between 1875 and 1889.
His ethnicity is disputed with some sources claiming that he was an ethnic
Gurage people[Richard Caulk, "Between the Jaws of Hyenas": A Diplomatic History of Ethiopia (1876–1896), p. 606][Tsehai Berhane-Selassie, Ethiopian Warriorhood: Defence, Land and Society, 1800-1941 (Eastern Africa Series)] and others claiming he was an ethnic
Oromo people.
Balcha came to the notice of Emperor
Menelik II who brought him back to
Addis Ababa where he was educated.
[
He distinguished himself at the imperial court and showed particular skill in military exercises and theory. He made his reputation during the First Italo-Ethiopian War when he served as the chief gunner of the Ethiopian artillery. According to oral tradition, he would achieve fame and notoriety during the Battle of Adwa when he replaced a dead cannoneer and began to aim the cannon himself.][Richard Caulk, "Between the Jaws of Hyenas": A Diplomatic History of Ethiopia (1876–1896), p. 513][Raymond Jonas, "The Battle of Adwa" (Harvard University Press, 2011), pp. 648.] After the war he was rewarded with elevation to the aristocratic status of dejazmach.[Harold G. Marcus, The Life and Times of Menelik II: Ethiopia 1844–1913, (Lawrenceville: Red Sea Press, 1995), p. 166][
]
From 1898 to 1908, Balcha was Shum (or governor) of Sidamo Province province. After the death of Dejazmach Yilma Mekonen in 1907, he became the Shum of Harar from 1910 to 1914. From 1917 to 1928, he again served as Shum of Sidamo Province.
Conflict with Haile Selassie
A conservative who had been loyal to the memory of the deceased Emperor Menelik, Balcha was one of the leading nobles who challenged the growing power of the regent Ras Tafari (who later became Emperor Haile Selassie). A blunt old warrior, he did not trust the young regent, unlike most other warlords who by this time had all submitted themselves to Tafari in his ambition to consolidate power. In a deft political manoeuver, which has since been seen as an example of Haile Selassie's cunning, in 1928 the regent invited Balcha to the capital for a feast in Balcha's honour. Balcha arrived 11 February with several thousand men, most of whom he left camped right outside of Addis Ababa at an area called Nifas Silk-Lafto. Balcha and around 600 of his men functioning as bodyguards went to the feast itself in Addis, and spent the evening "generally insolent and threatening in conversation."[Harold G. Marcus, Haile Sellassie I: the Formative Years (Lawrenceville: Red Sea Press, 1996), p. 89] Ras Tafari was nervous in private. Zewditu begged Balcha in the name of her late father, Emperor Menelik II.
Meanwhile, the regent sent Ras Kassa Haile Darge to Balcha's camp, where he lied to the troops, stating that Balcha and Tafari were in agreement, and then paid the soldiers Balcha had left there. This led to Balcha's army exchanging their weapons for gold and other monetary or valuable gifts and dispersing. At the same time, the regent quietly appointed Dejazmach Birru Wolde Gabriel to replace Balcha as governor of Sidamo. These simultaneous acts deprived Balcha of his ability to resist, a loss he discovered only after he returned to the camp.[Anthony Mockler, Haile Selassie's War (New York: Olive Branch, 2003), pp. 7f; Bahru Zewde, A History of Modern Ethiopia, second edition (London: James Currey, 2001), pp. 132f.] Balcha promised a peaceful transition to the empress and laid down his sword, which was the traditional way of giving up his power in respect to the Empress.[Marcus, Haile Sellassie, p. 90. Haile Selassie's bloodless victory over Balcha is presented as an example of concealing one's intentions in Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power (New York: Penguin, 1998), pp. 25–27]
Death
During the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, Balcha Safo came out of retirement to fight against the Italians.[ Major Mesfin Sileshi, an agent of the imperial government in exile who was coordinating resistance in occupied Ethiopia, writes of his fate in a letter to Haile Selassie I thus:
]
See also
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Ethiopian coup d'état of 1928
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Gugsa Welle
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Hailu Tekle Haymanot
