GUGSA WALE

Ras Gugsa Wale (April 1877-March 31, 1930) was a provincial governor, a military leader, and one of the most enlightened persons among the Ethiopian nobility in the first three decades of the 20th century.

He was born and brought up at Marto, Yaju, in Wallo province, where his father, Dajazmach Wale, governed the central provinces of Yaju, Lasta, Wadla, Dalanta, Maqet, and Shadaho. He received a church education under a tutor at his father’s court, and in consequence was a dedicated churchman all his life. As a youth, his main aim was to be entrusted with responsibilities. With this in view, he rebelled, at the age of 15, against his father, after which he asked for pardon through some clergymen, and was then given a district to govern, under his father’s authority

During the Italo-Ethiopian war of 1895-96, he led a contingent of his father’s army in the Adwa campaign, in which the Italians were defeated. After the war his aunt, the Empress Taytu Betul, took him to Addis Ababa to be trained in royal etiquette. In April 1900 he married the princess Zawditu, daughter of Emperor Menilek II, and was subsequently appointed Ras and governor of Bagemder province. He held the office until 1910, when his royal aunt was removed from office by a coup d’etat. He was regarded as one of her most powerful supporters, and was imprisoned later the same year. His wife was separated from him under the pretext that she was needed to nurse her dying father, and she, too, was imprisoned.

Gugsa was reinstated in 1918 by the new government, led by his separated wife, who was, how-ever, not allowed to return to him even after the fall of his enemies. He wielded absolute power over Bagemder province, but his administration was generally fair. He was a renowned poet and a great lover of books, which astonished foreign travelers. But his literary contribution is preserved mainly in oral tradition. He was a pious man, and a great friend of the clergy, spending all his wealth in building churches and in feeding church members.

In 1929-30 he was commissioned by the central government to quell a rebellion in Wahirat province, in Yaju, but was subsequently accused of playing politics and of disloyalty to the central government. It was also alleged that, against the interests of the central government, he secretly corresponded with the Italians in Eritrea. He was summoned to Addis Ababa, but would not obey the summons. When a large army was dispatched against him in March 1930, he mobilised his own forces against it. He encountered the army on the plains of Wadla, on the borders of Bagemder and Wallo provinces, where he fought and was killed.

BAIRU TAFLA