Draft:Fanta Belay
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Major General Fanta Belay | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1936 |
| Died | 1989 (aged 52–53) Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | Ethiopia |
Branch | Ethiopian Air Force |
Rank | Major general |
| Commands | Ethiopian Air Force |
Conflicts | Ogaden War |
Major General Fanta Belay (1936–1989) was an Ethiopian military officer, aviator, and government official who served as commander of the Ethiopian Air Force from 1977 to 1987 and later as Minister of Industry.[1][2]
Major General Fanta Belay joined the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force in 1953 and received military aviation training in Ethiopia and the United States.[3] During the Ogaden War, Major General Fanta Belay played a prominent role in the defense of Dire Dawa during the Somali offensive of August 1977.[4]
In the late 1980s, Major General Fanta Belay became involved with senior Ethiopian military officers seeking to remove President Mengistu Haile Mariam from power. He was one of the principal leaders of the unsuccessful May 1989 coup attempt, which took place while Mengistu was visiting East Germany.[5]
Major General Fanta Belay was captured following the failure of the coup and subsequently died while in government custody. Contemporary reports and later accounts differ regarding the circumstances and chronology of his death.[5][6]
Early life and family
[edit]Major General Fanta Belay was born in 1936 into a family from Belesa, in the Gondar region of Ethiopia. His father, Qeñazmach Belay Wendie, was a local military leader who participated in the Ethiopian resistance to the Italian occupation of Ethiopia. His mother, Weyzero Nafeku Belew, also participated in the resistance, including by supplying resistance fighters and gathering intelligence.[7]
Belay Wendie was killed during the Italian occupation. Following Ethiopia's liberation, Emperor Haile Selassie recognized the wartime service of Major General Fanta Belay's parents. Belay Wendie was posthumously promoted from Qeñazmach to the rank of Fitawrari. The family was granted a residence in Gondar, and Major General Fanta Belay and his siblings were given opportunities to pursue formal education.[7]
Education
[edit]Major General Fanta Belay attended Medhane Alem Boarding School in Addis Ababa, which educated children of Ethiopians who had participated in the resistance to the Italian occupation.[8]
According to recollections collected in The Man in the Arena, Major General Fanta Belay advanced rapidly through school. Former classmate Teferi Abetew recalled that Major General Fanta Belay completed grades one through eleven in approximately six years.[8]
Major General Fanta Belay developed an interest in aviation and subsequently applied to join the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force.
Ethiopian Air Force career
[edit]Enlistment and early service
[edit]Major General Fanta Belay initially attempted to join the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force while below its age requirement. He returned the following year and was accepted as an Air Force candidate on 21 July 1953, shortly before his eighteenth birthday. He was assigned Air Force identification number 37/53.[3]
Major General Fanta Belay subsequently underwent aviation and military training and began his career as a pilot and Air Force officer.
Major General Fanta Belay's early career included international and humanitarian assignments. He served during the period in which Ethiopian forces participated in the United Nations Operation in the Congo.[3]
Major General Fanta Belay also participated in Ethiopian Air Force humanitarian operations following severe flooding in Somalia. Ethiopian, British, and American aircraft transported food and medical supplies to affected communities. According to The Man in the Arena, Major General Fanta Belay and Colonel Bizuwork Yigezu flew multiple relief missions and received recognition from the Somali government.[3]
The biography also describes an incident during one of these missions in which an aircraft piloted by Major General Fanta Belay developed an engine problem associated with an oil leak. According to the account, Major General Fanta Belay stabilized the aircraft and landed safely.[3]
Education and military training in the United States
[edit]Major General Fanta Belay received military aviation training in the United States during the 1960s, including pilot training at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas.[9]
While undergoing training in the United States, Major General Fanta Belay decided to supplement his military education with university studies. With authorization and financial support from the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force, Major General Fanta Belay enrolled at Saint Louis University.[9]
Major General Fanta Belay earned a bachelor's degree in Aeronautical Management from Saint Louis University. He subsequently received permission from the Imperial Ethiopian Air Force to continue his education and earned a master's degree in management in 1968. According to The Man in the Arena, Major General Fanta Belay was given one year to complete the master's program and therefore undertook an intensive course load.[9]
Senior Air Force career
[edit]After returning to Ethiopia, Major General Fanta Belay continued to advance through the Ethiopian Air Force command structure.
Among his senior assignments was command of the Second Air Division in Asmara. His tenure there occurred during a period of increasing political and military instability in Eritrea.[10]
Accounts from former Air Force personnel collected in The Man in the Arena credit Major General Fanta Belay with restoring order following unrest at the Asmara air base.[10]
Major General Fanta Belay subsequently served as head of the Air Force Operations Department and later commanded the First Air Division, attaining the rank of colonel.[10]
Ogaden War
[edit]Defense of Dire Dawa
[edit]One of the most prominent episodes of Major General Fanta Belay's military career occurred during the Ogaden War of 1977–1978, when Somali forces invaded eastern Ethiopia.
At the time of the fighting at Dire Dawa, Major General Fanta Belay held the rank of colonel and was head of the Ethiopian Air Force Operations Division and commander responsible for the Dire Dawa Air Force Base.[4]
On 16 August 1977, Somali forces launched an attack on Dire Dawa and advanced toward the air base. The installation was strategically important to Ethiopian air operations in eastern Ethiopia.[4]
According to The Man in the Arena, senior Ethiopian Ministry of Defense officials and Air Force commander General Taye Tilahun ordered Major General Fanta Belay to destroy classified military information, abandon the air base, and withdraw. Major General Fanta Belay destroyed the sensitive documents but remained at the installation.[4]
When Major General Fanta Belay reached the airfield, he reportedly found much of the installation deserted, with Master Technician Tekalign Gashaw among the personnel remaining. Major General Fanta Belay then concentrated on getting aircraft away from the threatened base.[4]
Aircraft at the installation included two F-5A fighters, two F-5E fighters, a C-119 transport aircraft, and an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 707. The two F-5Es and the C-119 departed first. Major General Fanta Belay then located Colonel Birhanu Wubeneh and Major Mengistu Kassa to fly the remaining F-5As. With assistance from Master Technician Tekalign Gashaw, the two aircraft successfully departed the airfield.[4]
Major General Fanta Belay subsequently located Captain Lakew and his crew for the Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 707. According to the biography, the aircraft came under Somali anti-aircraft fire during its departure and sustained damage but reached Addis Ababa.[4]
According to eyewitness accounts collected in The Man in the Arena, after arranging the evacuation of the aircraft, Major General Fanta Belay armed himself with a rifle and joined Ethiopian forces defending the area on the ground. The accounts describe Major General Fanta Belay moving between defensive positions, providing guidance and encouragement to soldiers, and attempting to prevent troops from withdrawing.[4]
Ethiopian forces ultimately retained control of Dire Dawa and its airfield.
Commander of the Ethiopian Air Force
[edit]Following the fighting at Dire Dawa and changes in Ethiopia's senior military leadership, Major General Fanta Belay was selected to command the Ethiopian Air Force.
Mengistu Haile Mariam approved Major General Fanta Belay's appointment on 17 September 1977. The formal appointment was delivered on 19 September.[11]
A contemporary United States diplomatic cable from September 1977 also identified Colonel Fanta Belay as the newly appointed Air Force commander and noted that he had received training in the United States.[12]
Major General Fanta Belay served as commander for approximately nine years and seven months.[11] Later historical accounts list his tenure as 1977–1987.[13]
Major General Fanta Belay's tenure coincided with a major transformation of Ethiopia's armed forces. Following the deterioration of Ethiopia's military relationship with the United States, the Soviet Union became the country's principal military supplier.
Major General Fanta Belay consequently commanded an Air Force increasingly equipped with Soviet aircraft and supported by Soviet military advisers.
Relations with Soviet advisers
[edit]The Man in the Arena describes Major General Fanta Belay's relationship with Soviet military advisers as cooperative in some areas but contentious in others.[14]
According to the biography, Major General Fanta Belay supported the acquisition and use of Soviet equipment but disagreed with advisers over some aspects of training, operational control, and Ethiopia's dependence on foreign military personnel.[14]
The biography states that Major General Fanta Belay advocated expanding the technical capabilities of Ethiopian officers and technicians so that Ethiopian personnel could increasingly operate and maintain military equipment independently.[14]
Leadership and personality
[edit]Former Ethiopian Air Force personnel interviewed for The Man in the Arena described Major General Fanta Belay as reserved, disciplined, and strongly focused on professional matters.[11]
Major General Fanta Belay's longtime aide, Master Technician Mamo Woldu, recalled that Major General Fanta Belay maintained an intensive work schedule and emphasized discipline, self-reliance, and physical fitness. Former colleague General Techane similarly described Major General Fanta Belay as highly work-focused and reserved.[11]
Within some Ethiopian Air Force circles, Major General Fanta Belay was known by the Amharic nickname Kostaraw Gondere, roughly translated in the biography as "the serious Gondere".[11]
Sports
[edit]Major General Fanta Belay participated in several sports, including football, basketball, volleyball, and shooting, and supported organized sports within the Ethiopian armed forces.[15]
The biography also discusses Major General Fanta Belay's association with Ethiopian distance runner Miruts Yifter, who later won the 5,000- and 10,000-metre events at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.[15]
Minister of Industry
[edit]After leaving command of the Ethiopian Air Force, Major General Fanta Belay remained within Ethiopia's senior government establishment and was appointed Minister of Industry.
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights subsequently identified Major General Fanta Belay as "Minister of Industry and former Air Force Commander" in its report concerning people arrested following the May 1989 coup attempt.[1]
Contemporary reporting likewise identified Major General Fanta Belay as Industry Minister and a former commander of the Ethiopian Air Force.[5]
1989 coup attempt
[edit]Planning
[edit]By the late 1980s, Major General Fanta Belay had become involved with senior military officers seeking to remove Mengistu Haile Mariam from power.
According to The Man in the Arena, Major General Fanta Belay, Major General Abera Abebe, and Major General Demissie Bulto held clandestine meetings and later recruited Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Merid Negussie into the conspiracy.[16]
According to the biography, Major General Fanta Belay also sought an indirect line of communication with former Ethiopian official Major Dawit Woldegiorgis through Gebreyesus Bekele. The purpose was to explore whether a change of government could be followed by a ceasefire and negotiations with the Eritrean People's Liberation Front.[16]
Major Dawit subsequently traveled through Sudan and communicated with EPLF representatives. The precise relationship between these contacts and the coup planning has been disputed in later accounts.[17]
The conspirators learned that Mengistu would travel to East Germany on 16 May 1989 and decided to act while he was outside Ethiopia. According to The Man in the Arena, a proposal to shoot down Mengistu's aircraft was discussed but abandoned before the coup because of the risks and possible unintended consequences.[16]
May 16, 1989
[edit]The 1989 Ethiopian coup attempt began on 16 May while Mengistu was on a state visit to East Germany.[5]
Contemporary reporting identified Major General Fanta Belay as one of the principal figures in the uprising, together with other senior military officers.[5]
According to The Man in the Arena, the plan called for coordinated action in Addis Ababa and Asmara, movement of participating military units, and use of Ethiopian Air Force aircraft to transport troops.[16]
The coup encountered coordination and communication problems, and forces loyal to Mengistu retained control of key installations. Fighting occurred around the Ministry of Defense and other military facilities.
Mengistu cut short his visit to East Germany and returned to Ethiopia. Contemporary reports described the coup and the accompanying military rebellion as the most serious internal challenge to Mengistu's government up to that time.[5]
Capture and imprisonment
[edit]Major General Fanta Belay survived the initial fighting but was subsequently captured.
On 19 May 1989, The Washington Post reported that the Ethiopian government said Major General Fanta Belay had been arrested after pro-government forces found him at the Ministry of Defense.[18]
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights reported that on 26 June 1989 its Special Rapporteur sent an urgent appeal to the Ethiopian government concerning 176 people reportedly arrested in connection with the coup. Major General Fanta Belay was specifically listed among those reported arrested.[1]
According to testimony collected in The Man in the Arena, Major General Fanta Belay was subsequently held at Maekelawi prison in Addis Ababa.[6]
Death
[edit]Accounts differ concerning the precise circumstances and chronology of Major General Fanta Belay's death.
Contemporary reporting on 20 May 1989 stated that Major General Fanta Belay had been killed by government soldiers following his capture.[5]
The Man in the Arena, drawing on later eyewitness testimony, presents a different chronology. According to former prisoner Amha Dangew, Major General Fanta Belay was held under restrictive conditions at Maekelawi for several weeks. The account states that prisoners later heard gunfire and saw Major General Fanta Belay emerge from the detention area carrying a firearm while still shackled before he was fatally shot.[6]
The biography cites a separate account associated with former Ethiopian Air Force officer Colonel Berhanu Kebede, according to which Major General Fanta Belay had overpowered a guard, obtained a weapon, and was shot while attempting to escape.[6]
Because contemporary reports and later eyewitness accounts provide different chronologies and details, the precise circumstances and date of Major General Fanta Belay's death remain uncertain.
Recovery and reburial of remains
[edit]According to The Man in the Arena, Major General Fanta Belay's burial location was initially unknown. The biography states that his body was taken to a security facility on the outskirts of Addis Ababa and buried in an unmarked grave.[19]
Following the fall of the Derg government, Major General Fanta Belay's sister, Weyzero Yadegedegu Belay, returned to Ethiopia and sought information about her brother's remains. According to the biography, Major General Haileom Araya assisted the investigation by arranging for former Derg officials to be questioned about the burial site.[19]
A search subsequently located remains believed to be those of Major General Fanta Belay. According to the biography, the remains were identified by his longtime friend, Air Force course mate, and brother-in-law Colonel Bizuwork Yigezu.[19]
Major General Fanta Belay's remains were subsequently reinterred at St. Joseph's Church with other officers who died in connection with the May 1989 coup attempt.[19]
Personal life
[edit]Major General Fanta Belay was married to Dinkenesh Yohannes. They had two children, Belay Fanta and Ayuberhan Fanta.[20]
Accounts collected in The Man in the Arena describe Major General Fanta Belay as private and reserved outside his professional responsibilities and as maintaining a relatively small circle of close friends.[11]
Legacy
[edit]Major General Fanta Belay's career encompassed several major periods of twentieth-century Ethiopian history, including the later years of Emperor Haile Selassie's reign, the 1974 revolution, the Derg period, the Ogaden War, Ethiopia's changing Cold War military relationships, and the conflicts of the 1980s.
The defense of Dire Dawa in August 1977 occupies a prominent place in biographical accounts of Major General Fanta Belay's military career. The Man in the Arena emphasizes his decision to remain at the threatened air base after receiving instructions to evacuate, his efforts to get military and civilian aircraft away from the installation, and eyewitness accounts that he subsequently participated in the ground defense.[4]
Major General Fanta Belay's role in the May 1989 coup attempt is documented by contemporary and later sources. Contemporary reporting identified Major General Fanta Belay as one of the principal figures in the attempt to remove Mengistu Haile Mariam from power.[5]
Major General Fanta Belay's life and career are the subject of the 2025 biography The Man in the Arena: A Biography of Major General Fanta Belay (1936–1989) by Mesay Amberber Belay.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 United Nations Commission on Human Rights (23 January 1990). Report of the Special Rapporteur on Questions Relevant to Torture (Report). United Nations. p. 20. E/CN.4/1990/17.
- ↑ Defense Intelligence Agency. Ethiopia: Key Military Officials (Report). Defense Intelligence Agency.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Amberber Belay, Mesay (2025). The Man in the Arena: A Biography of Major General Fanta Belay (1936–1989). ISBN 979-8-218-64155-9.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Amberber Belay, Mesay (2025). The Man in the Arena: A Biography of Major General Fanta Belay (1936–1989). pp. 102–106. ISBN 979-8-218-64155-9.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Battiata, Mary (20 May 1989). "Ethiopian Coup Attempt Crushed". The Washington Post.
- 1 2 3 4 Amberber Belay, Mesay (2025). The Man in the Arena: A Biography of Major General Fanta Belay (1936–1989). pp. 239–244. ISBN 979-8-218-64155-9.
- 1 2 Amberber Belay, Mesay (2025). The Man in the Arena: A Biography of Major General Fanta Belay (1936–1989). pp. 27–34. ISBN 979-8-218-64155-9.
- 1 2 Amberber Belay, Mesay (2025). The Man in the Arena: A Biography of Major General Fanta Belay (1936–1989). ISBN 979-8-218-64155-9.
- 1 2 3 Amberber Belay, Mesay (2025). The Man in the Arena: A Biography of Major General Fanta Belay (1936–1989). pp. 73–75. ISBN 979-8-218-64155-9.
- 1 2 3 Amberber Belay, Mesay (2025). The Man in the Arena: A Biography of Major General Fanta Belay (1936–1989). ISBN 979-8-218-64155-9.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Amberber Belay, Mesay (2025). The Man in the Arena: A Biography of Major General Fanta Belay (1936–1989). pp. 160–162. ISBN 979-8-218-64155-9.
- ↑ Ethiopia: Government Personnel Changes (Report). United States Department of State. 19 September 1977.
- ↑ Mesfin, Berouk (2002). The Role of Military Power in Ethiopia's National Security (1974–1991).
- 1 2 3 Amberber Belay, Mesay (2025). The Man in the Arena: A Biography of Major General Fanta Belay (1936–1989). ISBN 979-8-218-64155-9.
- 1 2 Amberber Belay, Mesay (2025). The Man in the Arena: A Biography of Major General Fanta Belay (1936–1989). ISBN 979-8-218-64155-9.
- 1 2 3 4 Amberber Belay, Mesay (2025). The Man in the Arena: A Biography of Major General Fanta Belay (1936–1989). pp. 204–208. ISBN 979-8-218-64155-9.
- ↑ "EPLF and the attempted Coup of 1989". Ethiopian Review.
- ↑ "Asmara Mutiny Crushed, Says Ethiopian President". The Washington Post. 19 May 1989.
- 1 2 3 4 Amberber Belay, Mesay (2025). The Man in the Arena: A Biography of Major General Fanta Belay (1936–1989). pp. 242–244. ISBN 979-8-218-64155-9.
- ↑ Amberber Belay, Mesay (2025). The Man in the Arena: A Biography of Major General Fanta Belay (1936–1989). ISBN 979-8-218-64155-9.
Further reading
[edit]- Amberber Belay, Mesay (2025). The Man in the Arena: A Biography of Major General Fanta Belay (1936–1989). ISBN 979-8-218-64155-9.
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