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Ras Desta Damtew KBE (Amharic: ደስታ ዳምጠው; c. 1892 – 24 February 1937) was an Ethiopian Empire noble, army commander and a son-in-law of Emperor Haile Selassie. He is known for his leadership in the Ethiopian Army during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. He was executed on 24 February 1937, by the Italian Armed Forces shortly after Ethiopia's loss in the war.
In 1916, Desta Damtew supported Tafari Makonnen against Lij Iyasu. Tafari Makonnen was the future Emperor Haile Selassie I. Lij Iyasu was deposed but escaped. In 1920, Desta Damtew was in the party that captured Lij Iyasu.Haile Selassie, p. 25
In 1924, Desta Damtew married Tafari Makonnen's daughter Leult Tenagnework Haile Selassie. They had four daughters and two sons.Mockler, p. 390
Anthony Mockler describes Desta Damtew as "something of an eccentric among Ethiopian nobles", who had run away in his twenties to become a monk at Debre Libanos, as well as having a reputation "as an entrepreneur and an enfant terrible." Mockler continues that Ras Desta "had as little taste as the young progressives of inferior birth for the traditional amusements of the Amharas aristocracy, the feasting, the horsemanship, the boasting and the drunkenness."
According to his obituary in The Times he was a tall and princelike figure, ascetically handsome in face and reserved in manner. He had the soft, almost inaudible voice of the aristocratic Amharas. Although a modernizer on the Imperial pattern, he was perfectly frank about his distrust of foreigners. "The less foreigners visit Ethiopia, the better" was a remark he once made at a European gathering at the British Legation.The Times, Friday, Feb 26, 1937; pg. 18; Issue 47619; col C: 'Ras Desta An Able Ethiopian Chief' (Obituary) Desta Damtew was considered a genius by many of his advisors and fellow-soldiers. He was educated in Ethiopia, Britain and Switzerland and spoke fluent Amharic, English, French, German and Italian, among other languages.
By 1928, Negus Tafari Makonnen appointed his son-in-law Desta Damtew as Dejazmach and as Shum of Kaffa Province.Haile Selassie, p. 25
In 1931, Emperor Haile Selassie I appointed Desta Damtew as a Ras. In the same year, he was appointed Shum of Sidamo Province and of Borena Province.Haile Selassie, p. 25 He succeeded Birru Wolde Gabriel in Sidamo.
In 1933, Ras Desta Damtew traveled to America to return the visit of the United States representative to the coronation of Haile Selassie. It was his only journey outside Ethiopia.The Times, Friday, Feb 26, 1937; pg. 18; Issue 47619; col C: 'Ras Desta An Able Ethiopian Chief' (Obituary) He arrived in New York and was greeted with royal honours, later lunching with President Roosevelt.New York Times, July 19, 1933, Wednesday, Page 19: 'RAS DESTA DEMTU DAZZLES THE CITY; The Son-in-Law of Ethiopia's 'Light of the World' Arrives in Princely Splendor. 19-GUN SALUTE MADE 21 Washington Ordered Royal Honor -- Envoy to Lunch With Roosevelt Today.'
In 1935, Ras Desta commanded troopsThe Times, Friday, Feb 26, 1937; pg. 18; Issue 47619; col C: 'Ras Desta An Able Ethiopian Chief' (Obituary) "...Ras Desta commanded the forces of his provinces, Sidamo and Borana: he was able to raise a total of some 25,000 men.." along the southern border of Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. In January 1936, he was defeated by the Italian General Rodolfo Graziani at the Battle of Ganale Dorya. Desta retreated back to his administrative center at Irgalem, where with the help of Dejazmach Gabremariam he reorganized his surviving supporters to resist the Italian advance.Mockler, p. 95 Desta continued to resist the Italians after the Emperor left the country. According to Bahru Zewde, Desta Damtew vacillated between surrender and continuing the struggle, but a group of who deserted from the Italian forces to join him forced him "to stick it out." A History of Modern Ethiopia, second edition London:, p. 169) In 1936, after the end of the rainy season, Italian General Carlo Geloso, who had been appointed governor of the Italian province of Galla-Sidamo, advanced from the north to dislodge Ras Desta and Dejazmach Gabremariam. However, by the end of October, Geloso had not advanced very far or effectively. It was not until a month later when a second Italian column advanced from the south through the Wadara Forest that Ras Desta at last left Irgalem, which was occupied 1 December. With Dejazmach Gabremariam, Dejazmach Beyene Merid ( Shum of Bale Province) and a dwindling number of soldiers, for the next few months Ras Desta eluded the Italians until they were trapped near Lake Shala in the Battle of Gogetti and annihilated. Wounded, Ras Desta managed to escape, only to be caught and executed on 24 February 1937 near his birthplace by Tigrayan Bandit, under the command of Italian officers.Mockler, p. 172f
In 1948, 10 Italian citizens were charged at the UN War Crimes Commission when the Ethiopian government submitted papers describing Damtew’s status as a prisoner of war, making his killing a war crime.
In 2024 it emerged that Demtwe's Imperial Order of the Star of Ethiopia medal had been stolen by an Italian soldier around the time of his execution and was being offered for sale by auction by a British collector living in Spain. Damtew's family demanded the return of the medal to Ethiopia for display at the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa.
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