Aklilu Habte-Wold

The Crown Council had pushed the Emperor to appoint a nobleman to the position, and initially Lt. General Abiye Abebe was favored to be named the new Prime Minister. However and when General Abiye's request that he be made responsible to the elected parliament rather than the Emperor was presented, the Council balked and the General asked to be dropped from consideration. Lij Endelkachew Makonnen, son of the late former Prime Minister, was appointed. The new Premier attempted to address the many demands being put forward by the proponents of reform, and Ethiopia seemed to be on the verge of transforming itself into a democracy and a modern constitutional monarchy. However, a committee of low ranking officers called the Derg, who had been empowered to investigate corruption in the military, arrested Tsehafi Taezaz Aklilu and most of the men who had served in his cabinet, as well as the new Prime Minister and his cabinet. The Derg deposed Emperor Haile Selassie on 12 September 1974 and assumed power as the Marxist military junta that would rule the country for almost two decades.

When student protests, military mutinies and an economic downturn caused by the oil embargo erupted in 1973 into a popular uprising against the government, calls went out for Prime Minister Aklilu to be dismissed. On 23 February, then the next day, the Emperor made a number of concessions to the various groups of protesters.

This appointment, and the following increase of commoner "technocrats" in positions of power and influence greatly disturbed the more conservative elements in the Imperial Family, the aristocracy, and the Ethiopian Church. Two camps evolved at court, with Prime Minister Aklilu and his fellow non-noble "technocrats" on one side, who dominated the various ministries and the Imperial Cabinet, against the nobility who were represented by the Crown Council, and led by Ras Asrate Medhin Kassa. Although the Emperor forbade party politics, the two rival camps behaved as such, and maneuvered against each other rather vigorously. Many issues such as land reform and constitutional change were blocked largely because of this rivalry. On the other hand, Bahru Zewde is of the opinion that "Aklilu's impact on Ethiopian politics is not so easily identifiable. He lacked the capacity for political manipulation shown by his predecessor as tsahafe t'ezaz, Walda-Giyorgis, and his own brother, Makonnen. Aklilu was more of a leading functionary than a power-broker." Former diplomat Paul B. Henze supports this view that Aklilu was not interested in reform, but repeats Aklilu's rival Ras Asrate's opinion that "Aklilu was the primary reactionary influence on the Emperor." On the other hand, John Spencer, who knew Aklilu personally, described him as "a remarkably clear and logical thinker and a formidable antagonist in encounters with foreign representatives." Spencer further explains that Aklilu's ability was limited due, to the favoritism Emperor Haile Selassie showed him, which led to resentment and isolation from his compatriots. "In that isolation his power and stature declined in direct ratio to that of His Majesty," Spencer notes, concluding that with his brother Makonnen's death in the 1960 Ethiopian coup attempt, he lost a vital window into the psychological reactions and secret movements of his peers.

Following the fall from favor of Tsehafi Taezaz Wolde Giyorgis in 1958, the Emperor appointed Aklilu to replace him as Tsehafi Taezaz. In April 1961, four months after the previous Prime Minister Abebe Aragai had been killed in a failed coup, the Emperor promoted Aklilu Habte-Wold to that office, while retaining the powerful office of Tsehafi Taezaz in his portfolio. These two posts gave Aklilu a level of confidence with the Emperor that no one outside of the Imperial Family shared.

When Ethiopia was defeated in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, Aklilu Habte-Wold was in France with his brother Makonnen; upon the defection of the head of the Ethiopian legation to France, Blatengeta Wolde Mariyam Ayele, Aklilu was made charge d'affairs. Aklilu lived in Paris and married a French woman, Collette Valade. With the fall of Paris in June 1940, Aklilu managed to escape on a forged passport, and with the help of the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs he was able to reach Cairo. Following the restoration in 1941, Aklilu served as a representative to the Peace conference after the end of World War II, then served as Foreign Minister. During this time, Aklilu played a key role in the complex process that brought Eritrea into federation with Ethiopia.

Tsehafi Taezaz Aklilu Habte-Wold (Amharic: አክሊሉ ሀብተ ወልድ; 12 March 1912 – 23 November 1974) was an Ethiopian politician under Emperor Haile Selassie. He was foreign minister of Ethiopia from 1947 to 1958 and Prime Minister from 1961 until his death by the Derg execution in 1974.