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| Princesse Seble. |
La princesse Seble (Sybil) Desta est décédée le 3 janvier 2023 en Virginie. Elle avait quatre-vingt-onze ans.
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| Princesse Tenagnework. |
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| Princesse Tenagnework et princesse Seble. |
La princesse est née à Addis-Abeba le 1er septembre 1931, quatrième enfant et troisième fille de la princesse Tenagnework Haile Selassie d'Éthiopie (1912-2003) et de son premier mari Ras Desta Damtew (~1892-1937).
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| La princesse Aida Desta, Lij Amaha Desta, la princesse Ruth Desta, le contre-amiral Iskinder Desta, le prince Sahle Selassie Haile Selassie et la princesse Seble Desta. |
La princesse Seble a rejoint trois frères et sœurs plus âgés : la princesse Aida Desta (1927-2013), Amha Desta (1928-1944) et la princesse Hirut « Ruth » Desta (1930-2014). La princesse Seble a été suivie par deux frères et sœurs plus jeunes : la princesse Sofia « Sophia » Desta (1934-2021) et le prince Iskander Desta (1934-1974). Pendant l'occupation italienne de l'Éthiopie de 1936 à 1941, la princesse Seble a vécu en exil au Royaume-Uni avec le reste de la famille impériale. La princesse Seble a terminé ses études en Grande-Bretagne, d'abord à la Clarendon School d'Abergale, puis au Lady Margaret Hall College de l'université d'Oxford.
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| L'impératrice Menen et l'empereur Hailé Sélassié. |
Les grands-parents maternels de la princesse Seble étaient l'empereur Hailé Sélassié Ier d'Éthiopie (1892-1975) et l'impératrice Menen Asfaw (1882-1962).
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| La princesse Seble Desta et Kassa Wolde-Miriam le jour de leur mariage. |
Le 31 janvier 1959, à la cathédrale Holy Trinity d'Addis-Abeba, la princesse Seble Desta épouse Kassa Wolde Mariam (1932-1979), universitaire et descendant d'une famille noble éthiopienne. Seble et son mari se sont mariés lors d'une cérémonie conjointe avec la sœur de Seble, Sofia, qui a épousé le capitaine Dereje Haile Mariam. Kassa et Selbe ont eu cinq enfants, un fils et quatre filles : Jote Kassa (né en 1960), Yashimmabet « Yeshi » Kassa (né en 1962), Debritu Laly Kassa (né en 1963), Kokeb Kassa (né en 1967), Amha. Kassa (né en 1973).
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| La famille royale éthiopienne rencontre le président Eisenhower. De gauche à droite : le président Dwight Eisenhower, la première dame Mamie Eisenhower, la princesse Seble Desta, le prince Sahle et l'empereur, 1954. |
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| Marlon Brando, la princesse Selbe et l'empereur lors d'une visite aux États-Unis. |
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| La princesse Seble Desta salue le roi Hussein de Jordanie sous le regard de son grand-père impérial. |
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| L'empereur Hailé Sélassié et la princesse Seble. |
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| The Emperor of Ethiopia is escorted from the Jubilee Palace to a prison. |
In September 1974, a military junta overthrew Emperor Haile Selassie and imprisoned the Imperial Family, including Princess Tenagnework and her three daughters. Princess Seble had recently given birth to her son and was allowed to remain temporarily free. Until her imprisonment, she unsuccessfully sought help for the Emperor and the imprisoned family members from various foreign embassies. Princess Seble spent fourteen years in jail, initially under house arrest in the former palace of her uncle the late Duke of Harrar, and then in fifteen-foot cell in Alem Bekagn (The End of the World) prison along with the other women of the Imperial family. The horrors that Princess Seble and her family experienced during their imprisonment were documented in a 1977 hearing before the Subcommittee on Africa of the Committee on International Relations in the US House of Representatives:
Several female relatives of former Emperior Haile Selassie and his government ministers were arrested in 1974, at first under house arrest. In September 1975, they were suddenly taken away to Akaki prison in Addis Ababa, where they have been since without trial or charge. On 1 March 1976, Dr. Meyer-Lie visited Akaki prison where the women prisoners were held. This was with the written permission of the Derg and after discussions with the Director of The Ethiopian Prisons Authority and his four branch heads, and the Minister of the Interior. His visit was sponsored by a Swedish humanitarian organization concerned about political prisoners in Ethiopia.
The women detainees were held in a former clinic, a white stone house with cement floor and bars on the windows, the total area being 5 X 10 metres. The building had two rooms, the larger 5 X 6 metres containing 30 to 35women, the other room, about 5 X 4 metres, with about 15 members of the former royal family. Neither room had beds, only mattresses spread out on the floor, and no other furniture or heating arrangements. Each room had a primitive toilet and shower. Dr. Meyer-Lie was only permitted to ask a few questions in the presence of a prison official, and could not carry out any medical examinations. One women told him that before he came people had cleaned and disinfected the room, which had taken away the terrible stench. She said the worst problem was that they were forbidden to communicate with their relatives outside the prison. (Criminal prisoners, it should be noted, are allowed a weekly visit from their relatives.) The women received food each day from their relatives outside, who were paid 120 Ethiopian dollars per month (US $60) supposedly in compensation for the confiscation of their property to provide them with food, brought once a day by a relative who was not allowed to see the prisoner. A few books, magazines, and materials for needlework and knitting were also permitted. Visits from priests were not allowed.When Dr. Meyer-Lie visited visited Ethiopia again in November 1976, he was not permitted to visit the prisoners. By then prison conditions had deteriorated and during 1976 no visits from relatives were allowed, though after Dr. Meyer-Lie’s first visit, the women detainees were allowed to write a short note on a tiny slip of paper to their relatives once a week . From other sources Dr. Meyer-Lie learned that the rooms in which they were held were infested with rats, lice and cockroaches, and the overcrowding in the larger room had increased with a total of almost 100 women held there. Under those conditions sanitation and hygiene also sharply deteriorated, and their personal morale too. More girls had been detained and a shed of wood with a zinc roof had been constructed to hold 25 girls aged between 12 and 19, arrested when their menfolk were not found by the soldiers searching for them. None of the women has had a full medical examination during detention, though there is a prison doctor and medical orderly. It is reported that there are delays in obtaining a doctor’s visit and in getting medication prescribed. The women request drugs from their relatives outside the prison, such as tranquilizers, painkillers and sleeping tablets, which they administer without medical supervision. Their general condition of health and morale deteriorated seriously in 1976, and many suffer from nervous tension, high blood pressure and other complaints from before the time when they were detained. Yeshashe-Worg Yilma, who is 83 and a diabetic, was taken to the hospital in 1976 reportedly suffering from nervous exhaustion, and Ijegayehu Asfe-Wessen, 42 year-old grand-daughter of former Emperor Haile Selassie, died in the police hospital on 31 January 1977. She was reportedly suffering from extreme dehydration and was in a poor condition for intestinal section surgery. She died a few days later, and it appears that her poor conditions of detention contributed to her illness and subsequent death. Seble Desta, and Aida Desta were both very thin when they were seen by their children in January 1977, Yeshashe-Worq looked very feeble and had to use a stick to walk, and Tenagne Worq had developed a shaking in her hands and body. Sophia Desta and Mimi Asrate (arrested at the age of 17) both suffer severely from psychological troubles, exacerbated by their conditions of detention. In this state of physical deprivation and very low morale, it is feared that many of the older and weaker women will eventually succumb to fatal illness. It is generally thought that the Derg will not release them, that they could be executed at any time (indeed there have been several rumours that the Derg was considering executing them, e.g.,. in September 1975, February and March 1977) but that the Derg may prefer to let them die by neglect. They are in a very poor state to survive their difficult conditions of detention.
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| Princess Tenagnework, including her four daughters, and her sister-in-law Princess Sara, 1988. |
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| Princess Seble. |
The biography above tells you the facts of Princess Seble’s life. But it does not tell you who Mammy, as we knew her, or Emama Seble, as many knew her, was as a person.
Mammy was an exemplary and devoted granddaughter, daughter, and sister, remaining exceptionally close to her mother and sisters throughout her life and always putting the needs of others before her own.
When the murderous Derg regime imprisoned her husband and entire family but allowed her a few months of freedom with her newborn son, she spent that time, at tremendous risk to her own life, calling on embassies and human rights organizations, pleading for the release of her elderly grandfather and family.
Mammy was a mother to not only her biological children but to countless children whom she and Dejazmatch Kassa, or Kassilu as his children knew him, raised as their own. As Kassilu was posted to different parts of Ethiopa, they brought the entire large clan along with them, much to our collective delight.
While Princess Seble grew up in the formal atmosphere of the Imperial Palace and state visits, she had a very different side as a fun and loving mother, grandmother, and auntie who doted on children especially. The house that she and Kassilu built together is warmly remembered as a place where
children would gather to enjoy the trampoline, swimming lessons, and festive birthday parties. She and Kassilu would lead children’s camping trips where kids were actively encouraged to make themselves seen and heard. Often, she would advocate on behalf of younger family members with their parents and grandparents, gently arguing for strict rules to be tempered with leniency and high expectations to be balanced with freedom to learn and explore.
Over the years she kept up with a network of hundreds of relatives and friends, including Kassilu’s large family after his death, and had an extraordinary memory for the life stories, birthdays, and milestones of her loved ones. She could constantly be found on the phone, checking in on cousins, siblings, aunties, and uncles and all of those that she and Kassilu had turned into family, or at the kitchen table, writing letters and notes. Her home was always a gathering place, especially for holidays and life celebrations. Her thick address books—one for Ethiopia, one for the England, and one for America and the rest of the world—were a testament to her belief that no one should be left behind. She refused to let any member of her clan drift away, constantly reaching out and pulling them back into the family fold.
Her love of her country and all Ethiopians was endless. Although naturally very shy, she nurtured many connections and a strong network, which she used for extensive informal social work, helping others find jobs, advance their education, and connect to community, always helping those in need and promoting Ethiopia. From the cashier at her supermarket to her fellow volunteer librarians in Annandale to the bus driver in Nazret, she took time to get to know people, identifying their joys and troubles and getting involved.
She had a way of making anyone feel at ease. From the old to the young, from European royalty to farmers from the Ethiopian countryside, everyone responded to her kindness, respect for all regardless of station, and genuine interest in the lives of others. Even the hardened guards and fellow prisoners at Alem Bekagn spoke warmly of L’ilt Seble years later.
To her grandchildren, she was “Nana,” who took them swimming, taught them bike riding, and chauffeured them to their various ballet, gym and football games. She was an avid “tifozo” of football and spectator. But Nana also firmly reminded her grandkids about the importance of care for family, faith in God, and kindness. It is a testament to who Nana was that every one of her grandkids adored her and found her fascinating.
Mais le fondement inébranlable de Mammy, et celui dont nous nous souviendrons le plus, était sa foi chrétienne profonde et sa confiance profonde en Dieu. Sa foi l'a réconfortée dans des épreuves inimaginables, et Mammy a attribué à la miséricorde de Dieu le fait d'avoir permis à sa famille et à elle de survivre aux années les plus sombres d'Alem Bekagn. Pendant ses 14 ans de prison et les décennies qui ont suivi, elle a fidèlement remercié Dieu pour chaque jour passé avec ses proches. Elle a trouvé une joie quotidienne dans la création de Dieu et une gratitude quotidienne pour chaque cadeau de soleil, de fleurs et d'oiseaux. Sa vie de foi tranquille était un brillant témoignage du pouvoir du pardon et du fait de tout laisser entre les mains de Dieu. Nous confions son âme éternelle à son Créateur, dans la foi qu'Il accueillera à la maison Son fidèle serviteur.
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| Le cercueil de la princesse entre dans la cathédrale. |
Les funérailles et l'enterrement de la princesse Seble Desta ont eu lieu le jeudi 12 janvier à la cathédrale de la Sainte-Trinité d'Addis-Abeba. Les services ont été présidés par Sa Sainteté le patriarche Abune Mathias Ier, patriarche d'Éthiopie, archevêque d'Axoum et échevin du siège de Saint-Tekle Haimanot. Étaient également présents Son Éminence l'archevêque Abune Abraham, administrateur général du patriarcat et archevêque de Bahr Dar, plusieurs autres archevêques de l'Église orthodoxe et des responsables de l'Église, ainsi que des membres de la famille impériale et leurs amis. Le patriarche a évoqué les contributions de la princesse Seble à la société éthiopienne et l'a félicitée pour son travail inlassable. Les restes de la princesse Seble ont été inhumés dans la crypte de la cathédrale.
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