[Previous entry: "Man's Claims May Be a Look at Dark Side of War on Terror"] [Next entry: "Rushdie Says Bush Policies Help Islamic Terrorism"]

04/12/2005:

"Bearing Haile Selassie's Face, Commoner Claims His Blood"

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Mekbeb Abebe Welde is the spitting image of Ethiopia's fallen emperor, Haile Selassie. Mr. Abebe has the same pointy chin, down-turned nose and slight build. When he picks up a cup of macchiato and puts it to his lips, as he did in a local cafe the other day, he does so ever so gracefully, more like a prince than a cabdriver.

But Mr. Abebe, 33, is a cabdriver. He lives a humble life in Ethiopia's crowded capital, scrounging to survive as so many others here do.

Still, Mr. Abebe's friends call him "Prince" and bow down when they see him, deference that stems from more than his resemblance to the emperor. Some here think Mr. Abebe really is a son born out of wedlock to the ruler, who claimed blood ties to the biblical King Solomon.

The monarchy was wiped out in this country in 1975, after the emperor died at age 83, but everyone knows the emperor's official kin. Mr. Abebe, on the other hand, exists in a netherworld, gossiped about, pointed at and subjected at times to angry diatribes about the emperor's misrule but not accepted by the emperor's acknowledged flesh and blood.

Mr. Abebe has petitioned the royal family to recognize him, to no avail. No one seems interested in his offer to undergo a DNA test.

Even if he were welcomed into the family, he would not necessarily win great treasure. The emperor's relatives live well, but most of their vast holdings were long ago seized by the state. He might enjoy prestige among devotees of the emperor, but he would have to suffer scorn from the emperor's many detractors. Mr. Abebe says it is acceptance by blood relations that motivates him, not treasure or acclaim.

Still, it would not be so bad to be able to travel the world, as the emperor's acknowledged relatives do. Mr. Abebe could perhaps go off to some "big name" university to get an education. He might get a big gated home to replace his modest dwelling. As the emperor's son, he could walk into the Sheraton Addis, where the cost of a glass of orange juice exceeds many Ethiopians' daily wage, and afford to quench his thirst.

It is family lore more than anything else that Mr. Abebe offers as evidence of his blood ties. His mother, Almaz Tadesse Goshu, was one of the emperor's many servants. They supposedly had a liaison late in the emperor's tenure, long after his wife had died.

Mr. Abebe says his mother's husband divorced her when he learned the child she was carrying was the emperor's. She died when Mekbeb was 7; he was taken in by a general who had been close to the emperor.
Full Article: nytimes.com