4.4 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 9 September 2024
⏱️ 11 minutes
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Haile Selassie was Emperor of Ethiopia. His dynasty ruled for centuries, supposedly descending from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
In 1974 he was overthrown in a coup by a Marxist-Leninist military junta called the Derg. Over the following months, the insurrectionists executed 60 members of Haile Selassie's government, before murdering the former Emperor in his bed in 1975. Lij Mulugeta Asseratte Kassa is a relative of Haile Selassie. He spent time with the Emperor in the days leading up to the coup and was imprisoned for nine years by the Derg. He speaks to Ben Henderson.
Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.
Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.
(Photo: Emperor Haile Selassie in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Credit: Terry Fincher/Express via Getty Images)
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0:00.0 | Before this BBC podcast kicks off I'd like to tell you about some others you might enjoy. |
0:05.0 | My name's Will Wilkin and I Commission Music Podcast for the BBC. |
0:08.0 | It's a really cool job, but every day we get to tell the incredible stories behind songs, moments and movements, |
0:14.7 | stories of struggle and success, rises and falls, the funny, the ridiculous. |
0:19.2 | And the BBC's position at the heart of British music means we can tell those stories like no one else. |
0:24.5 | We were, are and always will be right there at the center of the narrative. |
0:28.6 | So whether you want an insightful take on music right now or a nostalgic deep dive into some of the most famous and |
0:34.4 | infamous moments in music check out the music podcasts on BBC Sounds. |
0:40.0 | Hello and welcome to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me |
0:49.1 | Ben Henderson. Today we're going back 50 years to the 12th of September 1974 when a military |
0:58.2 | coup ousted Ethiopia's emperor, highly Salassi, ending a monarchy that had ruled for centuries. |
1:06.0 | My father was kneeling down and praying. |
1:10.1 | His sister was there. |
1:11.5 | She came up and said, |
1:13.0 | you shouldn't give in to these people. |
1:15.8 | They would kill you. |
1:17.8 | And he said, no, my loyalty and allegiance to Emperor Hylaiselase is ironclad. |
1:27.4 | I will not leave him. |
1:29.4 | This is Lige Muligeta Asadateurate-Kasa, to his friends. His father was the Emperor's |
1:36.6 | cousin and a close political ally. Weeks before the coup, soldiers came to take his father away. the in the face of adversity. He said that I should look, sorry, come what may I should look after my mother. I bid him farewell. He asked me to give an envelope to the |
2:09.7 | Emperor and I said how could I go to the emperor I said they will contact you and sure enough at 3 p.m. I had a call to say that I should |
2:21.7 | attend the palace and I was ushered in to the Emperor's own bedroom. |
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